BANGKOK
Tourists love Bangkok. This is a fact that hardly requires corroboration. Those camera-toting maps-crutching types are choking the arteries of Chatuchak Market, disrupting the meditative peace of graceful wats (temples) and obstructing your viewing pleasure of King Chulalongkorn’s precious typewriters and bathroom inside Vimanmek Mansion.
Sometimes, you wonder if Bangkok deserves your adulation (the Thai capital can be someone else’s favourite city). Still, it’s futile to look the other way. The city turns on the charm offensive whenever your BTS sky train whizzes past an elegant Buddhist temple, which sprinkles glittering gold on an ashen landscape.
Likewise for the arching roofs of traditional wooden houses; many of them were uprooted from neighbouring provinces and reassembled in well-manicured gardens. And always close-by is a snaking canal or klong that is older (but makes for a speedier vroom) than the city’s dusty highways.
The historical vestiges that make Bangkok such a distinct city are also the ones that bear the brunt of “foreign invasion”. Even in the smaller and lesser known palaces, museums and temples, it’s impossible to avoid the maddening touristy crowd.
Then again, this congested city is not devoid of an escape route: The ancient capital of Ayutthaya has plenty of temple ruins to play hide-and-seek with fellow globetrotters. If the two-hour train ride is too bumpy and literally hair-raising for your liking, you might want to chant to this enlightened saying: If you can’t beat them, join them.
05 JIM THOMPSON'S HOUSE __ A visit to Jim Thompson’s luxurious Thai residence will not shed any light on his mysterious disappearance. The architecture-trained intelligence agent, credited for reviving the Thai silk industry, was last spotted in Cameroon Highlands in 1967.
Instead, a guided tour of Thompson’s six red teak houses – moved from Ayutthaya and Chiang Mai in 1959 – reveals his strokes of ingenuity. Burmese drums were inverted to function as lamps. Two mahjong tables were joined to form a dining table. One of the doors originated from a pawnshop in Bangkok’s Chinatown at Yaowarant Road.
Not surprisingly, the museum’s exquisite Asian collection of Buddhist statues, old paintings and dainty porcelain jars and utensils – amassed during Thompson’s time – is a hit with the mainly Western tourists who would linger at the gift shop and restaurant after the tour. (The museum’s resort-like ambience of lush greenery and pond is also a contributing factor.)
For a less commercialised experience, exit the museum and follow the sound of splashing water to the klong behind. Who knows, Thompson might have shipped his silken goods to the rest of the world from there.
04 THE GRAND PALACE & WAT PHRA KAEO __ The Grand Palace and Wat Phra Kaeo (Temple of the Emerald Buddha) are stunning to the point of being dream-like. Visitors wonder if they have entered a gigantic elaborate film set meticulously constructed to evoke the pomp and pageantry of the ancient Thai royalty. Next to the intricately carved Buddhist statues and mythical creatures, they are reduced to being “film extras” whose only speaking line is a wide-eyed “wow”.
Of course, the city’s most recognisable landmarks – and representing the Thai society’s stabilising pillars of Buddhism and monarchy – are as authentic as tom yam soup and muay thai (boxing), dating back to 1782 when King Rama I relocated the capital to this current site.
More than a showcase of opulence and fine craftsmanship, the buildings read like the monumental chapters of Thai history. The temple’s layered roofs and shimmering spires recount the legend of King Rama I who rescued the prized Emerald Buddha statue from the Laotian invaders while the French-influenced palaces point to the later kings’ embrace of modernisation and Westernisation to safeguard the country’s sovereignty.
03 SANTICHAIPRAKARN PARK __ The city’s hideout is not as leafy as one might have expected but it does offer a respite from the smothering traffic and pollution (if not the sweltering heat), thanks to its proximity to the Chao Phraya River. There is something tranquil about watching water hyacinths and boats drift along the murky river, passing dilapidated almost spooky mansions and finally, vanishing under the photogenic Rama VIII Bridge.
The park is also home to the Phrasumain Fortress – built in 1783 and the only city fort still standing guard on the river bank. It’s a pity that the fort’s tower is out-of-bounds to the public but that has not stopped the locals from using its greying crenellated walls as a stunning backdrop for fashion photo shoots and even art installations.
02 WAT SAKET __ Most tourists would have skipped this temple if not for the past-present vistas of Bangkok. Unlike the other well-decorated temples in the capital, Wat Saket is austere in appearance. Its saving grace is the Golden Mount, where a gilded chedi perches on an artificial hill.
So nondescript, Wat Saket is silent about its royal connection. The temple was restored by King Rama I and its artificial hill was constructed during the reign of King Rama III. Sitting on swampy land, the hill had to be supported with teak logs under the order of King Rama IV. Then King Rama V built the golden chedi to house a relic of the Lord Buddha.
Even in the presence of other sightseers, the atmosphere is pleasantly serene. Radiating the evening sun glow, tiny bells – orchestrated by a light breeze – whistle a melody as sweet as the local language. Ironically, the temple’s monks could do with some solitude, having to oblige to photo-taking requests from tourists, some of them insensitively placing their hands over the monks’ bare shoulders.
Other than that, Wat Saket is pulling out all the stops to make visitors feel welcome: the bottle of mineral water you purchase from its souvenir shop may be wrapped around with a colourful label illustrating the temple in its splendour.
01 AYUTTHAYA __ Devastated and desolate, the ancient temple and palace ruins scattered throughout the Ayutthaya historical park will silence you into wonderment at first sight. There is this unexplained melancholic beauty in the dismembered statues, truncated pillars and weathered chedis – is it because these relics have somehow managed to survive through these centuries?
It probably also has to do with being able to sit on the steep uneven steps of stupas and without having to share with another traveller the sighting of a gherkin-shaped prang in the far distance.
Spellbound by the magnificent display of artefacts, your imagination begins to run wild, pondering on what caused the downfall of a once mighty empire. Founded in 1350, Ayutthaya was the influential capital of the Kingdom of Siam. During its golden age, it contained three palaces and some 400 temples. Alas, its success invited the envy of the neighbouring Burmese who invaded and plundered almost all of the capital in 1767.
Beyond the ancient ruins, present-day Ayutthaya is a typical Thai province where life pulsates in the markets, temples and riverside huts. It even offers clues of how Bangkok might have been like in the past: elephants still sashay down the road, albeit now for your tourist baht.Ayutthaya | Ayutthaya-bound air-conditioned buses depart from Mo Chit Bus Terminal but taking the train (from Hualamphong Train Station) promises to be a more adventurous odyssey. Once in Ayutthaya, take a tuk-tuk to get to its historical park.
Wat Saket | Historical Bangkok is not serviced by the sky train, so find a map and show it to your taxi driver. The temple is located along Chakraphatdi Phong Road.
Santichaiprakarn Park | It is within walking distance from Sanam Luang and the National Museum. Keep close to the banks of the Chao Phraya River on your left and you should reach the park in no time.
The Grand Palace and Wat Phra Kaeo | Cruise down the Chao Phraya River from Central Pier (next to Saphan Taksin BTS Station) and alight at Tha Chang Pier.
Jim Thompson's House | Located at Soi Kasemsan 2, the museum is just opposite the National Stadium BTS Station.