COLUMN:

Bangkok

Sojourn
in the
Land of Smiles

by Linda Hagen Miller

The term sweatshop takes on a whole new meaning in the airless alleys of Bangkok’s Chatuchak Market. My tank top is plastered to my back, I’ve gone through two bottles of water in an hour, and I think I’ve lost my husband in the 8,000-stall equivalent of the Aloha Stadium Flea Market. Bob will eventually turn up. In the meantime, I couldn’t be happier.

Above: The Damnoen Saduak Floating Market is well worth the hour or so drive from Bangkok. Hire a car or join a tour group, but be sure to go early; the market closes at noon. Photo courtesy of the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT). Opposite page, clockwise from top left): Pretty girls greet visitors at Jim Thompson’s House. Photo by Linda Hagen Miller. Wats (temples) are visible from Chao Phraya River; Skytrain steaks through the city; the Grand Palace. Photos courtesy of TAT.

Around 200,000 Thais and tourists prowl this weekend bazaar in search of everything from antiques to zoris. Stuffed in floor-to-ceiling stalls the size of a bathroom are crafts, textiles, leather, lace, exotic reptiles, aquarium fish and much more. Food vendors supply snacks, and massage therapists pummel and stroke shoppers’ weary legs and feet in open-air studios.

Two smiling silk vendors—mother and daughter—wave me into a tiny booth where diaphanous fabric hangs from the ceiling. Instantly, I’m surrounded by color-saturated lengths costing less that $10 apiece. Next door, the silk has been fashioned into table runners, pillow covers, boxes, purses and more, all equally inexpensive.

American Jim Thompson is credited with reviving the languishing Thai silk industry nearly 50 years ago. After he spent time in Asia as a U.S. Army intelligence officer, he went home to Greenville, Delaware, divorced his wife and returned to Bangkok where he pursued his interest in silk. One day, he took a hike in the Malaysian jungle and disappeared. He was 61 years old.

Today, Thompson’s Thai Silk Company is a multimillion-dollar business, and his compound on the Saen Saep Canal is a major tourist attraction featuring traditional Thai teak buildings and vibrant orchid-filled gardens.

Clockwise from above: The Royal Barge sails past Wat Phra Kaew. Photo courtesy of TAT. Food in Thailand is always artfully arranged, whether in a restaurant or (inset) on the street. Dragon parade at Chatuchak Market. Photos by Linda Hagen Miller.

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Cruising the Chao Phraya

When Thailand’s King Rama I established his new capital on a bend in the Chao Phraya River in 1782, there were few roads but hundreds of canals (khlongs) that were the lifeblood of commerce and transport.

Wat Arun, the Temple of the Dawn. Photo courtesy of TAT. Inset: Silk sellers welcome shoppers at Chatuchak Market. Photo by Linda Hagen Miller.

We sign up for an organized tour of his Asian Venice led by bubbly guide Pim who’s wearing black polyester pants, pointed heels and a corduroy jacket. In the 90-degree heat, I sweat just looking at her. Our long-tail speedboat zips along the Chao Phraya past temples shimmering in the sun and barges hauling rice and cement, then scoots into a khlong for a quieter view of Thai life.

Shanties and modest homes line the canal—some on stilts, some resting on concrete abutments at the water’s edge. Laundry hangs limp in the heat beside huge pots of neon purple and dusty orange bougainvillea. Old men in undershirts sit smoking in doorways, children wave and leap into the murky water, and a four-foot-long lizard lounges in the sun. When the boat slows so we can throw balls of bread to voracious catfish, a smiling vendor in a conical hat paddles over to offer cold Singha beer.

Chao Phraya definitely is worth exploring, but instead of taking a tour, it’s best to hire your own long-tail boat and do it at your own pace.

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Pockets of Peace

Over 90 percent of Thais practice serene, non-violent Theravadic Buddhism, which might explain how they can tolerate the city’s chaotic traffic. Believing humans move closer and closer to spiritual enlightenment through each reincarnation, they are intent on “making merit” or doing good.

With elaborately decorated walls, gold-flecked fascias, open courtyards and rooflines curled to the heavens, Thai wats (temples) are magnificent examples of art and architecture and busy places that meet secular and social needs by housing schools, orphanages, markets, and gathering places alongside worship and meditation centers.

The stunning Wat Phra Kaew is home to Thailand’s most sacred relic, the Emerald Buddha, discovered in Chiang Rai in 1434 when a lightening bolt unearthed the statue hidden under layers of stucco. A succession of Thai kings moved it around northern Thailand until Rama I settled the relic at the northeast corner of Bangkok’s Grand Palace grounds in 1779.

One of Bangkok’s best-loved landmarks, Wat Arun or the Temple of Dawn, actually is best visited at dusk when its 20-story main pagoda is backlit by the setting sun and millions of pieces of colorful Chinese porcelain reflect the last light.

Across the river at Wat Pho, the 147-foot-long Reclining Buddha lies on its side in a deceptively lackadaisical pose that represents the “moment of final release” or nirvana. Wat Pho is a learning center for traditional Thai medicine and massage.

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Fabulous Cuisine

According to Thai lore, the courtesans of Rama V vied for his affections with food (among other things no doubt), resulting in highly evolved recipes passed from generation to generation. Add influences from India, Portugal, China, Malaysia, Japan and Holland, and pungent spices like lemongrass and turmeric, and you have one of the most varied and exquisite cuisines in Asia.

Thais snag sit-down meals in open restaurants with rickety tables and mismatched chairs, and grab food to go from mobile street vendors. Skewers of sizzling chicken, bowls of steaming noodles and freshly blended juices cost a few dollars. If you’re hesitant to try street food, head to the restaurants on Soi 36 near Sukhumvit Road and Lang Suan near Lumphini Park. Many hotel buffets are surprisingly good as well, and the food displays alone are worth the higher prices. Every table, every dish, is a beautiful still life of artfully carved edibles and flowers.

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Land of Smiles

A tiny Thai woman in a worn cotton top and cheap zoris plops herself beside me on the Skytrain, Bangkok’s streamlined mass transit system, and asks, “Do you speak English?” Japoran says she has lived in Switzerland for 25 years, is home visiting her family and wants to practice English. She chats about Bangkok, her village to the north, the best places to eat authentic Thai food. As we pull into our stop, I ask her to write her name in my journal. She adds her address “in case you visit.”

Everywhere we go, Thai people are as hospitable as Japoran, saying “Sawasdee” with a gentle smile, often accompanied by hands in a prayerful pose and a slight bow. The women seem to glide on invisible roller skates, and the men are calm and stoic in spite of Bangkok’s endless chaos. It’s no wonder Thailand has been dubbed the “Land of Smiles.” Bangkok, certainly, lives up to its reputation as one of Asia’s most welcoming, gracious cities.

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