Five hundred and ten. That is how many items were shot today. I have to say items because most were pictures but some were videos. For the truly nerdy, 1.45 GB of data was generated today. In fact, today was the first day ever that the iPhone 4's battery life was in question. We spent that much time exploring and, clearly, video uses up more juice than pictures. Durr. Video is thirty pictures for second with sound; of course it uses up more battery. I best limit the amount of video that I shoot from now on. Yeah. We started the Waste nerdy today.
And we will finish the Waste nerdy. But in between, we are getting seriously cultured. Yeah. Get ready for actual culture.
Good morning Bangkok. Yes. No matter what city, I am compelled to look out the window every morning. And after looking out that window, I am compelled to take a picture. It will never change.
We went down to have breakfast in the hotel along the Chao Phraya River.
See the salt and pepper? This is our breakfast table.
In hotel number one this trip, our room number was 345. In hotel number two, it is 703. I see no definite pattern, yet.
The Coca-Cola Company has clearly customized their slogan for this Buddhist nation.
Self Portrait. Mandarin Oriental Hotel. July 2011.
We met our guide Susan in the lobby and hopped into our van for the day. We really have no idea where we are headed, except that we are going to see a palace and some ruins. I have done no research.
Bangkok's train station, inspired by the central stations of Europe after one of the Thai kings visited there.
Sadly, we learned this morning that the King's health is not so great.
Yesterday it was commented that the Bangkok highway was too empty to be mistaken for Los Angeles. Today Bangkok has made a point of showing us a little traffic. Truthfully, heading out of town it was not bad at all. But the traffic going the other way was bumper to bumper with no end in sight.
Barbie could not believe these condominium towers built along an artificial lake. Bangkok truly has everything.
We made it out to Ayutthaya, which was the capital of the Ayutthaya Kingdom for 400 years until it fell in 1767 to the Burmese. At the time, the new King Taksin moved the capital to what is now Bangkok.
We arrived at our first destination, the Bang Pa-In Royal Palace. Originally built in 1632, and then restored during the 19th Century, this palace features many different examples of architecture. And, technically, this is where the Kings of Siam lived, as this nation was not renamed Thailand until World War II.
This palace is also visited by vast numbers of school children.
Some kids have an expression that is, well, priceless. In theory these candids should be in black and white, and perhaps the expressions would have more impact that way, but I want the colorfulness of the uniforms to come through.
We first came to this spirit house.
Barbie paid her respects.
A young boy in monk robes. How could I not snap his picture?
The kings here had much contact with the outside world, and were well versed in European culture.
I am still a sucker for a statue in the foreground shot.
This is the palace's example of traditional Thai architecture. It is my favorite building here. You cannot see the details with the sun behind it, but before the end of the tour we will be on the other side.
Seeing forty students sit to remove their shoes is an impressive sight. These kids are impressively well behaved. Before entering this building, which was where the king would accept visitors here, you must take off your shoes and cover any exposed skin.
I had to wrap up. By the way, photography was forbidden inside, but it was a beautiful mix of Thai and European design.
This building was built to resemble a Swiss chalet. Yes, a Swiss chalet in a place that is hot every day of the year. The Swiss would weep for sure.
I do not even know what this tower is necessarily for or what it represents. But I like it.
Built in the 1800's, this palace represents Chinese architecture and was used by King Rama IV, the King represented in the musical The King And I. The Thai people are kind of proud of that story, perhaps for the attention it brings them. It makes me want to read the original memoirs of Anna Leonowens, because no way was her telling as ethnocentric as the Broadway musical. And no, I did not see the movie adaptation Anna And The King with Jodie Foster. I assume that would be a much better representation of the actual story, as the great lesbian Jodie Foster is clearly not going to make a blatantly racist movie.
Photography was not allowed in this palace.
Except for this one room.
This means every camera on the compound comes out in this very spot.
I am filled with regret! Earlier we had been walking by kids on their field trip when a little girl held up her mobile phone and was clearly taking pictures of me as I passed, and I smiled and waved to her instead of pointing my phone at her so that we would each have a shot of the other person taking our picture. The moment it was over I realized what I should have done. To be honest, I was smiling at every single kid not only because they were cute but because I felt like an ambassador of sorts.
Finally, I get to shoot his building with the sun at my back. Inside you can see a statue of Rama IV. Or Rama V. Maybe Rama VI. It is hard to keep the Ramas straight.
The car park is THERE. Since this is clearly not a parking lot, we are going to assume that the word car means something in Thai and this sign is phonetic. I should have asked Susan, but she and Barbie were already far ahead of me.
Good bye.
A wash cloth that has been kept in an ice chest is a nice way to cool off. Our van soon arrived at Wat Maha That.
Wat Maha That was the royal temple of Autthaya. Remember, before Thailand became the Kingdom of Siam (1768-1932) it was the Ayutthaya Kingdom (1351-1767).
This complex was ornate and beautiful, and tall. You would have been able to see it from miles away.
During the war with Burma, the Burmese razed this capital. I love that the relics have been preserved.
This an absolutely wonderful place, and a must visit during a stay in Bangkok. The beauty of it rivals any Roman or Greek ruin.
The main pagoda, the tallest of the bunch.
Barbie with the restored Buddha.
No comment necessary. But you really should look at this one full-sized.
Inside each pagoda Buddha statues stood. This one is the best preserved.
Hundreds of Buddha statues were destroyed in the razing. This tree actually picked up the head of a destroyed Buddha statue and lifted it from the ground within its bark.
Wow. Having Barbie in the lower right corner shows you the enormity of this place.
When the Burmese razed the capital of Ayutthaya, and that loss lead to end of that kingdom and the birth of a new one, the next monarch to set up the capital of the new Kingdom of Siam in Bangkok not far away.
Speaking of Bangkok... Say This Three Times Fast.
And that might not be the only video today. Like I said, I went overboard.
Latin American Tourist at Wat Maha That. Ayutthaya, Thailand. July 2011.
Next we arrived at Wat Chai Wattanaram,
Built in 1629 by King Prasat Tong, the same king who built Bang Pa-In, for his mother. King Prasat Tong had been born a commoner, and he was known to be ruthless and cunning. He assassinated the previous king and took the throne, and his reign was known to be quite brutal. Stories like that make me think of modern day dictators.
Wat Chai Wattanaram is ana amazing site. I took too many pictures, and shot too many videos.
Buddha faces East, always. We were told this is Feng Shui. As an amateur anthropologist, I am going to take an extra step and believe this to be associated with the sunrise.
The main pagoda.
Even headless, Buddha appears to be in contemplation.
A row of Buddhas with a pagoda in the background. I really cannot tell you how much I enjoyed this site. It is a place you must see someday. Seriously. I place the ruins outside Bangkok right up there with those of Athens and Rome.
I will stop commenting and let the ruins speak for themselves.
Barbie lit two candles, as is the custom.
The field trip caught up with us.
In some ways, video makes it feel more like you are there, no?
Make sure you watch it once ignoring all my comments. I wonder if I should not remove them.
Throughout Asia, you see people wearing ironic t-shirts in English. Sometimes the shirts make no sense, though hers does. It makes me want to have a t-shirt in Chinese that says, "Rock Music Ass Kick."
She really does not. She was a nice art student, sketching the ruins of Wat Chai Wattanaram.
Now the archeological portion of our day is complete.
I will be blunt. If you are walking towards a Chao Phraya river cruise, ask how long it is going to take. If it is a half hour, or an hour, get on board. If it is longer, think twice. Actually, think once and think NO.
If you are a loyal Waste reader, you will know what it means when I tell you that Barbie said, "This was worse than Patong."
Instead of a one hour drive back to our hotel, we got on that sucker and spent just over three hours with nothing to look at, not wonderful food to eat, and little to do. In fact, we saw people napping, playing cards, and sitting around twiddling their thumbs. We got desperate and started playing two person Charades with an app on the iPhone. The best one was when Barbie got me to somehow say, "Bette Davis Eyes," in less then ten seconds.
(Okay, I never got that one. But it makes a good story.)
It actually looks okay, but this could be because the iPhone camera makes everything look better. This lunch was, how you say, not great.
This is all we saw for two hours and forty five minutes. I liked it for ten. I took a shot pointing at a particularly run-down river home with the intention to joke, "We puta down payment on the home THERE," but the picture was a bit out of focus.
Once we approached the heart of Bangkok, the river cruise became interesting. If you come here, and I hope that you do, take a river cruise that starts and ends in the city and does not take very long.
The Rama VII Bridge, completed in 2002. The cables are golden and there is one pylon to this suspension bridge, which gives it a fairly unique look.
The Wat Phra Kaew, the Temple of the Emerald Buddha. I believe we will be taking a closer look in two days.
The Wat Arun, or Wat Arun Rajwararam.
Phra Borom Maha Ratcha Wang, which translates to The Lord's Supreme, Great, Royal Palace, has been the official residence of the Kings of Siam and now Thailand since the 18th century.
The rare and elusive white iPhone 4 makes an appearance.
Our hotel is right THERE. You have no idea how glad we are to be back. The people on this river cruise lined up at the exit to force their way out. No joke. It was a scene. Fortunately we were dropped off at River City, which meant that the Mandarin Oriental shuttle boat would soon pick us up and take us home, where we would hop into the pool and decompress.
It was a wonderful day of sightseeing, and would have been perfect had we not boarded that boat. Live and learn.
We nearly skipped dinner, but at the last minute ordered and split an exotic Thai dish called the hamburger.
Yours truly, editing the videos seen above.
And finally... an animated GIF of three exact pictures taken from our window at different times of the day. I used a very precise instrument to place the iPhone in the exact position for each shot. That instrument would be the pushrod for the curtains.
I promised a nerdy end to today's Waste.
Tech is today's magic. Some embrace it, some shake their fists at it like angry apes.
When the Luddite apes' usual healing practices (Bud Light) no longer work, they'll finally come to your for your shamanism (OSX).
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