Thailand

After arriving late, I didn't get much sleep, as a booked tour started early in the morning. On the way to the meeting point, I noticed that everywhere – in squares, intersections, and in front of public buildings – there were these huge, ornately decorated photos of members of the royal family, or apparently high-ranking military officers. And many Buddhist symbols. Many buildings have small temples in front of them.

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The program includes a trip to Ayutthaya, where we will visit various temple complexes, but also more modern ones such as the large reclining Buddha statue, "Reclining Buddha".
Our guide doesn't speak very good English, but what's really annoying is that he tells seemingly incoherent stories that have nothing to do with what we're seeing. We arrive at the first temple, and naturally, we're all eager to see it, but he spends almost the entire time talking about some kind of royal couple. After five minutes, I'm the first to break the ice and leave the chattering guide to finally see the temple. Those who stayed until the end at least learned their lesson for the next temple: just ignore him. Why travel two hours to a temple if we don't have time to see it? Would we have stayed with the guide and listened to his irrelevant stories in front of the bus?

We notice that there are broken statues everywhere, but upon inquiry we learn that this is not due to the weather, but rather that there are specific historical reasons for it. One is that poor people apparently earn some extra money by sending wealthy foreigners, for example, a severed hand abroad for their private collection – because a whole statue would be too conspicuous.
Another event is that a treasure was apparently once found in a Buddha statue, and afterwards statues throughout the country were demolished in the hope of finding treasures there as well.
Much was also destroyed during the Burmese invasion of 1767.

Next, we look at the "Reclining Buddha." That's when I first notice something I'll observe again and again later: unlike the usual Christian depictions, the Buddha is often shown smiling, and overall, much of the temple decoration has a rather cheerful and festive feel.

At "Wihan Phra Mongkhon Bophit" we see a truly magnificent temple complex, impressive for its sheer size and, of course, for its ubiquitous, intricate decorations. There are also smaller statues depicting Buddha in his various mudras (hand gestures or body postures), and depending on one's wishes, one can make a donation or light an incense stick at the appropriate place.

Finally, we were taken to a restaurant that clearly caters to Western tourists. The spiciness was much milder. Unfortunately. But it was still delicious. Especially the Pad Krapao, which consists of minced meat, beans, and chili peppers.

This tree with the Buddha head inside seems to be the most photographed thing in Thailand, I have no idea why. Our guide is doing a good job here, shooing the others away and taking photos of us one after the other. It's important to make sure your feet aren't pointing towards the Buddha. There's also an official there who has to tell several tourists every minute to behave and follow the rules.

That concludes our excursion, and we're dropped off at a large shopping mall with a metro connection. With a dragon right in the middle. You know how it is... in a shopping mall.

Today I booked a tour including the Grand Palace and temples like Wat Pho and Wat Arun. And since we did a lot of walking, we also gathered many impressions of the surrounding area.

We visited the Grand Palace and the surrounding grounds, all of which were very impressive. There was even a model of Angkor Wat. Our group was a comfortable size, and we had a friendly guide who was informative and answered all our questions well.

Next, we'll go to the Reclining Buddha. The Massage Museum is also located there, featuring many statues in the outdoor area depicting elements of Thai massage. Our guide will tell us about the history of this massage. Luckily, there's a first-aid station right next to the complex. 😊

At one point, there are signs informing us why one shouldn't get a Buddha tattoo. And the "why" surprises me a little, because I had previously assumed that Buddhism didn't contain such toxic elements as Christianity or Islam, which tell us how impure we are. How disgusting our bodies are. How flawed we are when we give in to perfectly normal urges like sexuality. That we are not lovable.

And that brings us perfectly to the street preacher I run into on my way back to the hotel at the end of the day. The moment he sees me, he seamlessly launches into a rant about the downfall of civilization due to transgenderism, the end of the divinely ordained union of man and woman, and the fact that there are only two genders, something about demons and all that, the whole nine yards. This religion of love, which is so intent on spreading hatred, that this guy comes all the way from who-knows-where to Bangkok just to spew his poison into the world with a megaphone.

I stop, pull out my phone, and record for a few seconds, with a forced grin as if I couldn't care less. His assistant, who's holding the poster and handing out flyers to passersby, at least seems the least bit embarrassed.

The only funny thing about it is: I later looked up the URL of the banner using the still images. Contrary to expectations, the page doesn't lead to a Christian site trying to convert you or anything like that. Nope. It leads to a webshop selling religious banners, stickers, and pins. How fucking Christian…

I have the morning free and can look through some photos at the hotel. In the afternoon, I have a food tour through Chinatown planned. On the way to the meeting point, I see this beautiful spirit house (San Phra Phum – literally "Shrine of the Guardian Spirit of the Land"). According to my AI, these are often built in front of a house to drive the house's spirits into the spirit house, and then to appease them, the spirit house is made more beautiful than the actual house. People also regularly visit with small gifts to ask the spirit for favors regarding various things.

Then it's off to Chinatown. From the meeting point, I'm taken to a building with many rooms, each containing a few chairs, a table, and a toilet. It soon becomes clear that the groups gather in these rooms before the various tours depart. Among them are two older American women with whom I have a good chat, and three young American women who appear to be celebrating their high school graduation.
Typically for Americans, they all introduce themselves by their state instead of the country. I'm still waiting for someone from Georgia to do that. Which reminds me that I wanted to memorize a greeting or something in Georgian for just such an occasion 😇

The tour is well planned overall; at each stop there are already members of the team who reserve tables for us or order food for us, so that we are served our meal shortly after arrival.

We start with braised duck, a typical Chinese-Thai dish. I'm pleased by the visually appealing selection of spice options: pickled garlic, chili sauce, and fresh green chilies. A fairly common way to serve it in this type of container. And I suspect it will be the tourist version.

The next stall is Michelin-starred, and they have chicken and pork skewers marinated in curry. Then there are fried seaweed, which were surprisingly delicious with the sauce. And a salad of cucumber, onion, and chili pepper. Very tasty, and because of the spiciness, I have it all to myself. And I order seconds. They also have filled dumplings (shrimp wontons), but those are from a different stall.

Next, we head to a street food stall that has received a Michelin Bib Gourmand, which signifies good food at fair prices. We have a curry with chicken, winter melon, and Chinese sausage. Afterwards, we order Kuay Jab, a soup made with crispy pork belly and rice paper that curls up as it cooks.

The soy soft serve ice cream is somewhat unexpected but surprisingly delicious.

To finish, a sumptuous seafood feast is served. There are king prawns with enormous antennae (or whatever they are—I'm a computer scientist, not a biologist 😊), clams in basil-chili sauce, and a prawn hot pot, Tom Yum Goong. To top it all off, there's green mango with shrimp paste for dipping; the contrast makes it something special.

Finally, here's a photo of a full and satisfied Tina and Mango Sticky Rice.

On my way home, I suddenly see bats on the ground. And then on the wall. Immediate attention!.
According to a subsequent AI analysis, the Chinese word for luck/blessing sounds similar to the word for bat, which also features the symbol for five. It is therefore a play on words: "Five Bats" = "The Five Blessings" (long life, wealth, health, virtue, natural death). It could have been a bar or a restaurant.

Today I'm taking a private tour, as I couldn't find a group going to the monastery with the fruit bat colony, which I really want to see. First, we're visiting a completely unnecessary temple that only takes up time away from the fruit bats…
Well, okay, the temples in Chachoengsao are beautiful. And they're considered some of the most beautiful temples in Thailand. But they don't actually house a colony of fruit bats, and there's nothing I can do about that!
And of course, there are the obligatory portraits of the royal family.

Next, we went to Wat Saman Rattanaram, which is also fruit bat free. And here I'm not quite sure how to describe it. It's like a colorful fairground, but instead of carousels, there are temples, statues, and then also life-size... Spiderman and Batman figures??? And loads and loads of donation boxes.
Later I read that the place caters to a diverse mix of regionally represented religions, including those originating from Thai Buddhist, Chinese, and Hindu traditions. Batman and Spiderman serve, on the one hand, to attract families with children, and on the other hand, the boundary between "sacred," "lucky," and "pop-culturally cool" is considerably more fluid in Thailand than in Western thinking.

But now the temples are finally behind us and we're off to Wat Pho Bang Khla, a temple known for providing shelter and a home to a colony of fruit bats.
Since they face no danger there (unlike in other places in Thailand, unfortunately), it's quite easy to observe them relaxing in the afternoon. There's also a small "kindergarten" with two orphaned babies being cared for. I wonder (and keep wondering, due to language barriers) how safe they are in that basket on the ground, whether they are at risk from, for example, stray cats or dogs.
Fortunately, I can even take better pictures here than in Cairns, Australia. The reason is simple: they like to be as high up in the trees as possible, and the trees here are simply smaller 😊