Friday, March 30, 2018

OUTSIDE BANGKOK AND INTO THE CITY

Damnoen Saduak Floating Market

We woke up at 5:30 am to prepare and was at the hotel lobby by 6:30 am for the pick up that came 20 minutes late and were taken to Khao San Road, marked with a green sticker, transferred to another van, and driven off to Ratchaburi Province by a willowy driver who will put Michael Schumacher to shame, weaving through the highway while alternately sipping from a can of Schweppes and Red Bull, and were at the Damnoen Floating Market by 9:30 am where a local tour guide valiantly tried to brief us while being interrupted by an elderly Indian couple and a loud Chinese man so we peeled off, brought our own tickets and ended up on the same boat with the same elderly Indian couple and two fat Chinese guys, bumped into other tourist-laden slow and speed boats, the elderly Indian couple triumphantly haggling a wooden Harley-Davidson at half the price while the fat Chinese guys settled for two elephant-inspired coffee mugs during a stop over at a canal-side souvenir shop, us buying nothing and just trying to appreciate and enjoy the slow bumpy boat ride.     



We had not have breakfast and it was 11 am so we explored the dry land market for a place to eat, deciding between roasted duck with rice or noodles, settling for the latter which we found to have duck blood too and ordering fried oysters and omelette as an after thought, paid the bill and went back to the dry land market to hunt for cheap souvenirs like salted tamarind candies at 100 baht for 3 packs and 3 sets of elephant key chains at 70 baht each which is cheap, sat on a bench to inspect our loot where the tour guide found us and herded us with a group for the floating market village tour that comes with the package, and was amazed how such bigger high-powered long boats can go so fast and effortlessly navigate the narrow canals as we gawked at traditional and modern Thai houses which to me is the highlight of the tour, that and the long sleep on the trip back to Bangkok.     



Siam Square

Back in the city, we refresh ourselves with a bath and fresh clothes, uploaded photos to Facebook and braced for an afternoon of sampling three of the Nerd Nomads' "7 Places to Eat Thai Food in Bangkok" namely [1] Prachack for the roasted duck, [2] Rot Dee Det for the beef noodle soup and [3] Sawang Noodle for all other noodle soups, dropping Sawang in the end because it was too out of way in our city itinerary, booked an Uber to Prachack which we found to be almost like On Luk Yon in terms of the stainless tables and plastic stools that is the trademark of ordinary places where everyday people go for great local food, ordered a combination of roasted duck and pork that came drenched in a sweet sauce that tasted like kecap manis, too much of it that the sauce drowned the flavors of the roasted meats but still good, before walking to the Saphan Taksin Skytrain station for the search for Rot Dee Det which we found around the Siam Square area, had our beef noodle which is good also but not great as we expected, the beef balls turning out as beef balls ala fish ball and not the type we have for Soup No. 5.    



I don't really like uptown Bangkok but this trip is for the wife and since we were already in Siam Square, I showed her around starting at Siam Discovery where we disembarked from the Skytrain and was immediately rewarded with a free viewing of a live Thai boxing match, my first too, while crossing into high end Siam Paragon to take a look at merchandise that we can't afford, gawking at insanely expensive bags and shoes, and indulging a saleslady who demonstrated how to clean nails and remove wrinkles with a magic potion before crossing over to the lower end Siam Square One where we came upon an outdoor market selling much cheaper items, happy that the wife is just content walking through since the baht in my wallet has frighteningly thinned into a few hundreds and twenties.   



Lo and behold, a food fair at Siam Square One but we were still full of roasted duck and beef noodles so we just walked around, had a free sample of what tasted like kalamay and some sour baby mangoes tempered in a sweet dip of sorts, entertaining ourselves with savoring the aroma wafting from each food stall and watching a coconut man dissect a whole ball of white coconut meat and water from the coconut shell, not really trying to buy or taste anything, just killing time, before I decided it's time for MBK. 



MBK is the short of Mahboonkrong and at 8 stories housing 2,000 stores and hosting 100,000 visitors everyday was once Asia's largest shopping mall, and I sense this is where we'll gonna do the shopping so I changed my last $100 into 3,100 bahts, 2 baht more to a dollar than the airport exchange rate, and walked all 8 floors, looking for shoes, buying specialized t-shirts and fake branded underwear for the kids at 100 baht per piece or a discounted 6 for 500 baht, cooling off with cold mango and coconut smoothies in the food center at the top floor before going down to the taxi stand, the queue too long I decided to haggle with a tuktuk driver who turned out to be Alain Prost and for 170 baht, whizzed us through the Bangkok traffic to our hotel like there is no tomorrow, scared but mostly thrilled to have a final authentic Bangkok experience before flying going back home.   

Thursday, March 29, 2018

A VISITA IGLESIA IN BANGKOK

Visita Iglesia is a Filipino tradition of visiting seven churches either on Maundy Thursday or Good Friday while reciting the 14 Stations of the Cross, two in each church.

It could have originated from the Via Francigena pilgrim route from England, most probably from the Canterbury Cathedral, and ends in the basilicas of St. Peter and St. Paul in Rome covering a total distance of 1,743 kilometers.


The "Seven Churches Walk" tradition was started in 1553 by St. Philip Neri who is said to be the Third Apostle after Peter and Paul, and was part of the legacy we Filipinos inherited from colonial Spain with the same purpose of reducing punishment for the amount of sins committed (read: indulgence).     


We took the trip to Bangkok during the Roman Catholic Holy Week not for the Visita Iglesia but because it is the most convenient time for us to do so.


We just want to walk to Bangkok's Buddhist temples but it turned out that on a Maundy Thursday, we unconsciously did our Visita Iglesia.


[1] Kalawar Church (Holy Rosary Church)


Since it was a Maundy Thursday, I said to the wife that we should start the day by visiting one of Bangkok's oldest Christian churches, so we took a 4.3 kilometer Uber ride to the Kalawar Church which is near our planned itinerary, something I intend on doing for some time now.


Portuguese refugees established the church in 1769 after the Burmese invasion of Ayutthaya, which explains why the church is called  "Kalawar" which is Portuguese for "calvario", and the present church is the third to be built (1891-1897) since then. 

   

[2] U Phai Rat Bamrung Temple

We walked the 900 meters distance from Kalawar to our next destination of Wat Traimit and along the way, we passed by the U Phai Rat Bamrung Temple that was built by Vietnamese immigrants and is one of the first Vietnamese Buddhist temples to be established in Thailand.

Visiting the temple is not part of our plan and it must have been providential that we did since it was the piece that made us complete the required visit to seven places of religious worship.  


[3] Wat Tramit (Temple of the Golden Buddha)

Wat Traimit is a relatively new temple and it is famous for housing a golden image of the Buddha that weigh 5.5 tons with a current market value of $250 million.

The Golden Buddha was probably made some time between the 13th and 14th centuries and was later plastered with a thick layer of stucco to hide it from the invading Burmese army who sacked the old Thai capital of Ayuthayya in 1767.

It remained in the ruins of the old capital until 1801 when King Rama I ordered all old Buddha images to be brought to Bangkok that was established as the new capital.

The Golden Buddha was accidentally discovered only in 1955 when the stucco broke to reveal the gold inside while the image was being moved to a new location.  


BREAKFAST: From Wat Traimit, we walked 1.9 kilometers through Chinatown's Yaowarat Road in search of a highly recommended breakfast place, and we found On Lok Yun after stopping three times to ask for directions.

The joint is an old school coffee shop that has been in business for more than 80 years and offers an all day breakfast plate (eggs, ham, sausages), bread with butter and sugar, soft boiled eggs and cold milk tea which we all ordered.



[4] Wat Phra Kaew (Temple of the Emerald Buddha)

1.3 kilometers away from On Lok Yun is Wat Phra Kaew, Thailand's holiest Buddhist temple and home to the 26-inch Emerald Buddha that is carved from a single piece of jade and found in 1434 after a Buddha statue fell to reveal the image inside when lightning struck a temple in Chang Rai.

That is the legend and the more factual theory is it might have been carved in Thailand, India or Sri Lanka in the 14th century.

The temple was built in 1782, simultaneous to the building of the Grand Palace which is the official residence of the Thai monarchy, after the capital was moved to Bangkok from Ayuthayya, where the Emerald Buddha was enshrined in 1875 to mark the start of the reigning Chakri Dynasty.

We were not able to take a photo of the Emerald Buddha since it is not allowed.  



[5] Wat Pho (Temple of the Reclining Buddha)

1.1 kilometers away from the Emerald Buddha is Wat Pho, one of Bangkok's oldest temple that has been established at around the 1600s before the capital was moved to the city, the originator of the Thai massage as a traditional form of medicine, considered as Thailand's first public university, and where a 15-meter high and 45 meters long Buddha reclines in a very relaxing posture.   

And with this visit comes the bragging rights of experiencing authentic traditional Thai massage where it was invented hundreds of years ago.



LUNCH: We had lunch before crossing the Chao Phraya River into Wat Arun through the ferry service at the old Tha Tian Market (17th century), and we had it at the best place I can find in the area, "The Sixth", small with only 4 tables but worth the endorsement from Trip Advisor and the rest of social media, the Pad Thai cooked in its original recipe, the Tom Yum soup creamy and immensely flavor-packed, and the papaya salad crunchy with just the right blend of sweet and saltiness.


[6] Wat Arun (Temple of the Dawn)

A 4 baht/person short ferry ride took us from the Wat Pho area to Wat Arun, also known as the Temple of the Dawn for the "lustrous rainbow-like play of colors caused by differential refraction of light waves that tends to change as the angle of view changes" that is caused by the morning rays of the sun bouncing off the temple surface.

Considered as one of the most beautiful temples in Thailand, it was probably built between 1656 and 1688 and once housed the Emerald Buddha before it was moved to Wat Phra Kaew.



[7] Wat Saket (Temple of the Golden Mount)

A 2.2 kilometer tuktuk ride from the Tha Tian Market took us to our last destination, Wat Saket, which traces its history back to the Ayuthayya Era (1351-1767) although the artificial hill where the temple was erected was built only during the reign of King Rama III (1787-1851) while the actual temple structure was started to be constructed during the reign of King Rama IV (853-1910).

Hence, its moniker as the Temple of the Golden Mount which is actually a man-made hill and from there, we walked the last one kilometer to our hotel, legs hurting in a nice way and drenched in sweet sweat from a day-long happy experience.

That was when we realized we actually did a full Visita Iglesia.   



DINNER: That night, I took the wife for dinner at rowdy Khao San Road where the raucousness there is an example of the reason why the Visita Iglesia was invented.

I showed her fried scorpions, sampled coconut ice cream and mango-and-sticky rice, and had a so-so dinner of omelette and grilled red snapper at Green House before hailing a taxi who charged us an atrocious 200 baht for the 2.2 kilometer trip back to hotel.

Judas is still alive on Maundy Thursday.

Monday, March 26, 2018

ODE TO CHATRIUM

Oh Chatrium
almost perfect but lethally dull
Avani Atrium's toilet don't flush
but this I wake up to everyday.


Chatrium I beseech
thy free, prior and informed consent
for my social license to operate
so I may like thee again.



But Chatrium
the noodles at Avani suck
but they've got names like Khao Soi
and Lao Beer to help endure.



And Chatrium
the omelette made me stiff
the grilled pork gave me a lift 
I didn't missed you a bit. 

Monday, March 19, 2018

THE BITCH

The Beech is
Robin Padilla melting under intense light
so near I hear his voice
so far I can't see his face


The Beach was
someplace I've been but without the swim
with men who wear funny hats
with women pretending to be queens



The Bits are
cracked ice melting in blended whiskey
fishhead steamed in tin foils
pork fat burning on the grill


The Bitch is
a clueless vamp with a grain for a head 
she invite tears like a peeled onion 
she has teeth like sunflower seeds 

Tuesday, March 13, 2018

100 KILOMETERS

turned right finally
dogs mate in a disused bridge
prelude to Baler


the Governor crooned
iced scotch chased with cold beer
cheap soda for gas


two days of seven
a chicken killed and offered
here's to a hundred

Monday, March 05, 2018

BANGKOK, AND BACK TO BIKE

-15-

Cubao is Bangkok
both in 4 hours, bus and plane
EDSA, Rama IX



-16-

smoked pork outed
haystack, onions and bikers
three days on the trail