Friday, August 30, 2019

Bangkok diversion

My wife and I took a break in Bangkok, when my summer projects and her summer teaching were mostly done, and just before the new academic year starts again.  Bangkok is a popular getaway for many HongKongers.  For us, this is our first trip to Bangkok. 

Thai silk has a good name.  And Jim Thompson is a mystery.  So we went to his house to have a look.  The silk scarves, ties, shirts, skirts, …, look very nice.  But all I took was just a photograph of the cocoons of the silk worm - for free. 

We took a boat cruise to the royal palace, and walked around it.  On the way back, we stopped by Chinatown.  A sleepy place, perhaps the most sleepy Chinatown that I have ever visited.  


There are lots of cats out on the streets in Bangkok, and not many dogs.  I am not too sure why.  


I also stumbled upon several 3-feet long monitor lizards in Lumphini Park, while I was running.  They were swimming and sunning themselves on the grass, seemingly oblivious to us.  And most people did not seem to pay them much attention.  Amazing. 


We took a long ride on the Skytrain to Samut Prakan, where the Chao Phraya River flows into Gulf of Thailand.  


We are here to check out the local seafood market.  There are a lot of similarities with the Chinese, but also some surprises.  More about that in a later post. 


We had to check out the “4-faced Buddha 四面佛” that is so popular with the Chinese.  We were surprised to find that this is not actually a buddha, but Brahma, a god in the Hindu pantheon.  


In fact, there are 7 more shrines dedicated to Hindu gods in the area.  


Come to think of it, it is not too surprising - given that Buddhism is an offshoot of Hinduism from India.  


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