Operation "Blunderbuss" Part 9

Chapter 9 - Ya Yo Gakk

"Ya yo gakk, ya yo gakk, ya yo gakk, bye-bye"

I had a good nights sleep & met Andy & Ho for breakfast, i needed some food to set me up for what would be a long day. When we'd done we got a lift with a Thai chap called David who Andy has known for some years. David dropped us at the entrance of the Grand Palace, it was really busy with taxis dropping someone off almost every second & loads of people milling about & making their way in.

There is a promenade of about 60 metres to walk up before you get to the ticket office, yes you have to pay to get in, about 300baht/£6 but Thais get in free. I was surprised that even in Thailand where money rules (i suppose it does everywhere but more so here) you have to pay to get into a place like this. You also have to dress respectfully which means long trousers for men. We paid & walked into the palace area proper, the first thing i saw was a small prayer area with a Buddha at the centre, people were lighting candles & incense & presenting these to Buddha along with some flowers. You could buy a "prayer kit" so I had a go, lit my candle & incense, placed them with the flowers & prayed. Now, i'm not a religious person by any means but if i had to pick one it would definitely be Buddhism, they never seem to be at war with anyone. Anyway, i prayed for enlightenment & grace, im a believer that knowledge is king over physicality, presence & feeling & i could always do with a bit more grace, time will tell if Buddha answers my call.

The palace was busy but no so much that it made getting around a hassle. As we moved on i was in awe of the attention to detail the structures, buildings & statues had, all were absolutely fantastic & the beauty of the Grand Palace really knocked me out. We made our way to one of the temples in the palace which was the "Temple of the Emerald Buddha", you have to take your shoes off before you go in & not point your feet towards Buddha. The temple itself was magnificent inside, it was about 30 metres long by about 25 high, the Emerald Buddha was right at the top & about 1/2 a metre high, you could easily miss it. The Buddha sits atop what looks the front of a house, every inch of which is covered gold, gems or other shiny expensive things, it is amazing to look at. You can sit on the floor in there for as long as you want but there is a constant stream of people coming in or out so probably best not to spend too long there. We left & put our shoes back on before having another walk around the grounds. It was a fairly hot day but nothing too heavy so i was fairly comfortable in long cargo pants, i thought having to wear long trousers might be a hassle it wasnt too bad. We made our way to another temple (cant remember the name) & went in. Unfortunately Ho wasn't allowed to join us as she was wearing jeans & for some reason ladies can only go inside this temple if they have a skirt on! The temple was smaller than the Emerald Buddha temple but just as spectacular if much more plain in design. The centrepiece were about 4 golden life size male statues, i think the main statue was of a previous king but i'm not sure, the only puzzling thing was that statue had what appeared to be a black wig placed on top of it! That aside the statues were beautifully constructed & finished i would love to have seen them being made. There were less people inside here than the previous temple & it had an air of serenity to it which was quite special, i felt privileged to have access to these marvellous areas & to be able to see the delights within.

As we walked round the grounds again i noticed that on some walls there was a large mural, i believe this tells the story of how the scriptures were transported to India but i might be wrong. The mural is nice to look at & in keeping with everything else in the Grand Palace the attention to detail is brilliant. We spent another hour or so looking around & all of it was fantastic, the Grand Palace is one of the best places i have been to. If you go to Thailand, go there!

We left the Grand Palace & got a taxi to Wat Pho, another temple where inside was the Reclining Buddha, along with James Bond island this was one of the main things i had come to Thailand to see. On entering Wat Pho i was disappointed to see the general state of it was in a slight disrepair, unlike Grand Palace which was immaculate. As a result we didn't stay here too long & made our way straight to the star of the show. The Reclining Buddha is housed in a large building in the centre of Wat Pho, it is about 50 metres long 15 metres high and is literally a massive golden Buddha laid down just chilling out. It is absolutely brilliant & one of the best things i have seen in my life. You enter at the "head" enter & walk all the way around it before leaving at the "head" again. This is the ideal place for photo opportunities, i would hate to have left there without some lasting "hard copy" memory of it. There isn't much else to see in Wat Pho so we left & went for a walk to the riverside.

I forget the name of the river but there was a fish market next to it selling fish & sea creatures the like of which i had never seen before let alone tasted. As we walked through there it led into an indoor market selling various goods, at the end of that was a turnstile that led to a river ferry. We got on it & crossed the river, at the other side there was a man stood adjacent to the ferry drop off point selling bread, i thought that was strange, only bread, i wonder why that could be? Anyway on this side of the river was a park & more temples, there was a large high temple in the centre & i could see people climbing up a steep staircase to get to the top. To be honest i wouldn't have minded going up there but i was "templed out" & ready to go back to the hotel. We had an ice cream & a quick walk in the park but then made our way back to the ferry. As we did so i saw the bread man again & realised why he was selling bread only. A young couple had bought some bread which they had thrown into the river, this caused about 40 large black & grey fish to compete & fight for it. They were going at like good 'uns & the surface of the river turned into a fish based combat arena, nice! We returned to the ferry port & waited for another ferry to take us down river (the ferry we had been on only goes from one side of the river to the other) towards a BST station (see chapter 3). This larger ferry was standing room only & quite full, it took about 10 minutes to reach our destination & we caught the BST back to our street, Soi 19.

We were due to meet some of Ho's friends that evening & have a meal but me & Andy were starving so we went to the hotel cafe to eat. Ho took this opportunity to get her hair done, Andy said he fully expected that when Ho returned she would new hair & new fingernails. We were to meet at about 8 pm & then go to a large outdoor eating area in the "Lumpini" area of Bangkok. Me & Andy sat outside the hotel having a beer waiting for Ho who arrived fashionably late at 8.45 with new hair & nails (both finger & toe), Ho's friends arrived just after & we got a taxi to Lumpini. The eating area was massive with hundreds of plastic tables & chairs, it was rectangular in shape & about 80 metres long. On either side of it were stalls selling the food, you could get anything from thai to german food to burgers, pizzas & anything you might want. There is also a large (almost arena sized) stage there where a live band was playing. We sat near the back & ordered a 3 litre pump full of Singha beer, then went to get our food. For some reason you have to buy tokens before you buy food & then when you've finished you redeem the ones you haven't spent for cash, a pointless exercise as far as i could see. Between us we had rice, noodles, spare ribs, sausauges & of course chips! It was ok & we shared a bit of what was on offer. After the food & more Singha Andy & i left the girls & made a short trip to Patpong where we'd been on our 2nd night.

Patpong was slightly busier than the first time we went there, there was more competition to attract our attention & therefore money than before. I i was having none of it, i knew where i wanted to go & made the short walk to the "Kangaroo" bar whereupon entering i was recognised by Ya (see chapter 3) who raced across the room to give me a massive hug. Anyway we had a drink together whilst Ya & i renewed our acquaintance, which was nice! Shortly after we left & caught a taxi back to Soi 13 for another late night street drink. A couple of beers later it was time for bed, Andy & Ho were leaving the next day so that would leave me alone in Bangkok for my last night, oh lordy!