Truly a Thai experience - Part 1

Sandasen MARASINGHE

Sri Lankan Air Lines UL 888 touched down at the Suvarnabhumi Airport on March 28 morning with the sun rays touching the land easing the chill in the enormous city of Bangkok, Thailand, where a population of more than 20 million people live.

This is the land where more than 53,600 Sri Lankan tourists visited last year according to the statistics of the Tourism Authority of Thailand. Most of the Sri Lankans including many other foreign tourists like Thailand because of the delicacies, beaches, night life and shopping.

"There's much more amazements awaiting in Thailand for the tourists," Ms Tim who received us, two Sri Lankan visiting journalists invited to attend the Official Inauguration of Miracle Year of Amazing Thailand 2012 sad.

We were accompanied by Assistant Director of Tourism Authority of Thailand (Mumbai Office) Suladda Sarutilavan and Executive Assistant to Director of Tourism Authority of Thailand (Mumbai Office) Minal S. Mobharkar.

We checked in at the Rembrandt Hotel and after breakfast we had to make haste as our itinerary was full of many historical places to visit. The first was the Temple of the Golden Buddha which is known as the Wat Traimit in Chinatown. In this temple sits the world's largest solid gold Buddha image weighing in at five and a half tons.

The 15-foot tall seated image is worth millions and millions of dollars at today's gold prices.

"The image has a colorful history," Tim said. "The Golden Buddha was cast sometime in the 13th Century and is an excellent example of the gracious Sukhothai style" She said that at some point, it was covered in plaster and lacquer, most likely to hide the valuable icon from thieves or looters. The disguise was so good that everyone apparently forgot about what was hidden beneath and the true nature of the Golden Buddha wasn't discovered until it was moved to its present location at Wat Traimit in 1955.

This marvelous masterpiece is a must see by any Buddhist and art lover (more on the colourful history of the Golden Buddha Statue next week). There is a separate hall for Buddhist observances and a Buddhist monk is ready at any time of the day to tie a Pirith string round your right hand to protect you from all evil.

We were accompanied to see the Grand Palace complex within which several impressive buildings including the Temple of the Emerald Buddha (Wat Phra Kaew) is located.

The Grand palace is dazzling, spectacular and undoubtedly the city's most famous landmark which was built in 1782. The palace which remains the spiritual heart of the Thai Kingdom is the home of the Thai King, the Royal court and the administrative seat of Government for about 150 years. The Grand Palace of Bangkok is rich with beautiful architecture and intricate detail, all of which is a proud salute to the creativity and craftsmanship of Thai people.

The beautifully trained tamarind plants among many other plants in the garden of the Grand Palace are remarkable evidences of the creativity of the present day Thai people. Thai Kings stopped living in the palace around the turn of the 20th Century, but the palace complex is still used to mark all kinds of other ceremonial and auspicious happenings.

The walls of a building in the Grand palace were painted with the Ramayanaya which King of Lanka Ravana plays a pivotal role. I walked around hundred metres watching the pictures of the Thai version of the Ramayanaya and ended in front of the large number of devotees offering candles, inscence sticks and flowers to the Emerald Buddha. I bought a pack of these offering at a price of 20 bhats to worship the Emerald Buddha.

"The country's only Temple without a single Buddhist monk is in precinct of the Grand Palace," Tim said. "It is Wat Phra Kaew or the Temple of the Emerald Buddha."

The temple is regarded as the most important Buddhist temple in Thailand. The Phra Kaew Morakot or the Emerald Buddha image is carved from a single block of jade. The robes made of solid gold on the Buddha image are changed with the three seasons by the King at religious ceremonies. "We only have three seasons in Thailand, summer, winter and rainy season," Tim added.

Most of these temples, statues, images, pinnacles and many other artifacts were covered with gold paper. I was wondering how much treasure had these Thai nationals allocated for their arts and offered to Buddhism. "In early days our country had gold mines," Tim added further.

The Reclining Buddha

The Grand Palace

Chao Phraya River

We left the Grand Palace and while I was thinking of the great effort that the Thai people were taking to preserve their arts and culture in this fast moving world sitting in the vehicle we reached the Temple of the Reclining Buddha located behind the Temple of the Emerald Buddha. Wat Pho or the Wat Phra Chetuphon or the Temple of the Reclining Buddha is the largest temple in Bangkok. I was amazed to see this huge and majestic reclining Buddha image made of gold. "It is 46 metres long, Tim added and is covered in gold leaf. The exquisitely decorated Buddha's feet are 3 metres long and they are decorated in mother-of-pearl illustrations of auspicious 'laksanas' (characteristics) of the Buddha.

The gold pieces are battered until they are made gold leaf. Then they are cut into one inch squares. Later on these gold papers are pasted covering the entire Buddha statue. "Fifteen grams of gold can be turned into 4000 one inch squares of gold papers," Tim tells us.

Thereafter it was fascinating that we crossed the Chao Pharya River in a ferry to reach the Riverside Restaurant for the lunch. The lunch was remarkably delicious and the surrounding environment was an appetizer.

Keep reading next week for the article on the visits to Vimanmek Teakwood Mansion, the Arts of the Kingdom and the Ayuththya ruin city.