BEYOND BARGAINS AND BUDDHAS
Tom Swart goes off the beaten tourist trail in Bangkok
MOST people regard Bangkok as a stop-over point en route to the sun and surf of the Thai islands. Some may do a city-temple tour, a floating-market tour or visit Khao San Road, then feel they have done Bangkok justice. How wrong they are!
As a couple interested in people, culture and history, we found there was too much to do and to see, even in the 15 days we spent in the city. We used the Insight Guide, Bangkok
Step by Step, and bought Philip Cornwel-Smith’s Very Thai: Everyday Popular Culture in Bangkok.
With these references and input from our hotel’s staff, we could get off the tourist track and do things with the locals, including a barge trip on the San Sap Canal, which transports locals to and from work. We went to Ban Bu village to visit bronzesmith Jiam Sangsajja, the last remaining descendent practising this original art created by the settlers who fled Ayutthaya, the capital of Siam, after it was destroyed by the Burmese in 1767.
We stopped at the Chao Mae Tuptim shrine, consisting entirely of phalluses of all sizes made from wood, stone, wax and cement, left by women hoping to conceive a child. We visited the Ban Batra community, where the last five remaining families that make monk’s alms bowls in the Ayutthayan tradition still ply their trade. We sat watching 78-year old Somsak Buppachat craft a monk’s bowl from seven pieces of metal.
I mention these places of interest because we were the only tourists at all there — just us and the friendly local people, who shared their history, crafts and traditions with us.
Of course, Bangkok is a modern, bustling city: the shopping is to die for; the cuisine is heavenly and very varied; and traffic is chaotic. In all this, you are charmed by the gentleness of its inhabitants: one never sees a local displaying road rage or losing his or her temper. You are constantly made to feel welcome.
So next time you consider Bangkok, by all means focus on its abundant night life, head for its splendid shopping malls, gasp at its temples and the emerald Buddha in the Royal Palace. But then allow yourself time to do so much more, especially as the locals do: wander through Lumphini Park and watch the weightlifters working out in the open-air gym; take a motorcycle taxi to a Muay Thai match; buy a monk basket in the sacred aisle of a TescoLotus hypermarket to make merit with this gift to a monastery. Then experience al fresco dining in a rooftop restaurant while admiring the iconic architecture of a city that speaks to all your senses, day and night.