Bangkok To Northern Thailand— A Trail Of Fun And Adventure

Before we left Bangkok we went to visit Temple Wat Po home to the reclining Buddha. Some things about Buddha:

*Buddha is asexual–some with a masculine body, some feminine

*Buddha has 72 different poses, each with a meaning such as concentration, meditation,

days of the week, etc.

*Buddha was born in India over 500 years BC

*Buddha has long ears (good): gave up material things for spiritual enlightenment

*Buddha was reincarnated 108 times until reaching nirvana

*There are 35,000 Buddha statues in Thailand

This Temple has a massage training school so I took a break and had one. We then headed for a “Klang boat” ride on the canals in Bangkok.

We had a van ride to Kanchanaburi with a stop at Erawan Falls.

There was a dead scorpion along the road–I had no temptation to eat it.

We spent the night on a “raft boat”. We were towed to a little island and tied up to several trees and rocks. After a refreshing swim we had a Thai dinner which was delivered by boat.

The next morning we visited the bridge over the River Kwai. The steel bridge was built by the Japanese in 1943 by POW’s and captured Southeast Asia citizens–thousands died from horrible conditions and treatment.

The USA sent a team to blow up this bridge which had opened a major route north to Burma and was necessary for Japan’s planned expansion in WW2. Our covert operators destroyed two piers and later the British RAF destroyed the middle square sections. The bridge (there also was a bamboo bridge but the steel one was the one blown up) became famous when the movie (with Alex Guinness) won a ton of academy awards in 1957. The movie was filmed in Sir Lanka. The “tune” whistled by the prisoners/workers was a way to insult the Japanese without them knowing.

I bought some eels from an enterprising vendor selling them by the side of the bridge. Freeing the eels in the river guarantees good luck.

We traveled on to Ayutthaya to see ancient temple ruins that had been hidden–being covered by jungle for centuries.

I loved this flowering tree (below) that had multiple colored blooms–how do they do that?

One more stop at a present-day temple to have a blessing and photo opp with the monks. The Thai tradition is for all 20 yr old males to become a monk for 3 months–not always practiced today. Monks do not need to make a life commitment and can leave the temple at any time. Monks have 270 commandments and Thai’s have 5 (number 5 is no alcohol–ugh). The Thai flag: white for Buddha, blue for the Royal Family and red for the kingdom.

Thailand’s name (meaning free land) was changed from Siam in 1939. It became an independent country in 1932 but maintained a monarchy. Thailand has never been conquered or occupied by another country.

“The King And I” was based on a true story about the English teacher, Anna, to the Royal Family in 1862. It is banned in Thailand to this day. I’ll have to watch it.

We took an overnight train to Chiang Mai in the north. My bed was cozy and comfortable with my curtain closed. Good night!