Suvarnabhoomi airport: A structure worth the name

Our day started early. After checking out of the jazzy Majestic Grande (have not been able to figure out the value of an additional ‘e’ ), we headed for Suvarnabhumi airport again. This must rank as one of the engineering art de resistance amongst airports. Now, I’ve had the fortune of seeing many airports but Bangkok’s airport is in a different league altogether. As you approach the airport traveling along wide avenues, you are greeted by gilded Garudas standing on either side of the roads, with folded hands. The airport, particularly at night, is backlighted with a fluorescent shade of blue and grey. The long terminals are covered by interlacing metal clasps on some kind of industrial fabric stretched like tarpaulins. The main concourse is another masterpiece with the whole structure being held up apparently by metal wires. The airport is built like a futuristic tent in short.

As you enter it, you are welcomed by giant characters from the epic Ramayana and as you enter the main area after security check, there is the scene of ‘Samudra-manthan’, or the creation story for Hindus. The story depicted in beautifully sculpted structure is a tug of war between two forces – dark and light – that are churning the ocean floor. Much like potter’s wheel, this churning creates the highest mountain in mythic times, Mount Meru, atop which lies Lord Vishnu, a Primordial god directing the celestial play. The stark contrast created by a backdrop of modern brand names like ‘Gucci’ and Armani make the scene even more attractive.

Ode to a Butterfly

Dear Butterfly thank you for existing

For filling my life with hope and joy

Where do you come from undulating?

Gently fluttering with no apparent toil?



Life was grey memories dull future bleak

Drifted in with you a rainbow of colours

On wings of iridiscence and imagination

And took away my grind groans and grunts.



Days are now a stream of joyous escapade

You fill it with movement and luminiscence

But when with wings fluttering you levitate

I fear with you will fly away my happiness.



Does it never cross your mind, Oh butterfly?

Life isn't simply sun nectar and flower hedge

Nature is harsh and always takes its price

Pain infirmity death is just around the edge?



But of course!! Convoluted and contorted

Your body has survived the eternal test

In internal habitats varied beyond compare

Metamorphosed you triumph over the rest.



Vibgyor survivor is an epitome of endurance.

Traversing from inert mass to wondrous worm

You've seen and felt it all in only a single life-span


having escaped the deadly trap of the cocoon.




You've taught me the best lesson of life

Contentment isn't transient sensorial delight

We're travellers upon an eternal path

To learn how to end hunger, pain and strife



Life is to sway in motion, along points on a line

Delight simply in existence and nothing else

To harm no one, utter no sound, make no demands

Then silently depart the earthly jurisprudence.



You're my Monarch, a Jezebel, my Painted Lady

My Viceroy, Admiral, Tiger and so much more

But most of all, you're my treasure trove

of freedom, love, beauty and so much more.

The Eternal Time Machine: From Year to Another Year

As the Sun sets on a year
And the Moon keeps the score
It arises in another
Bringing hope, light and shadows
Turning stones into marvels
And life upon Gods
Churning the eternal Sea
Rending death upon life
To life overwhelming death.
Till it reaches the silent end
Or is it the beginning?
Happy New Year

Thailand’s Royalty

Thais revere royalty. Besides nation and religion, the monarchy is very highly regarded – negative comment about the king or any member of the royal family is a social as well as a legal taboo. We were surprised that our Thai friend would fold his hand before every banner depicting the Thai king Bhumibol as though he was the lord Buddha himself. The royal family is the Chakri clan. Phaya Chakri, one of the generals of King Thaksin, came to power after the brief misadventure of Takshin. After taking over in 1782, the first Chakri king moved the capital once more, from Thonburi across the river, to a smaller settlement known as Bang Makok or olive plum riverbank, named for the trees growing there in plentiful. Bang Makok later became known as Bangkok. Phaya Chakri himself took the name of Rama I after the hero of the Indian epic Ramayana. The break with Ayuthaya was geographical as well as ideological. As Chakri shared no bloodline with any earlier royalty, he granted loyalty by modeling himself as a Dhammaraja (Dharma King) supporting Buddhist law rather than Devaraja (God King) linked to the divine and who supported Brahmaism (Brahma is still worshipped today in Thailand). Ayuthaya’s control of Laos and Cambodia was transferred to Bangkok and thousands of slave labour worked as coolies alongside common Thais who could not pay taxes. The Chakri clan went about establishing the waterways of Bangkok building canals and temples at a rapid pace until the reign of Rama III (King Nang Klao 1824-51).

Visitors to Bangkok should not miss Wat Arun, or the Temple of Dawn (Aruna). It was built by King Takshin as a temple that glorified Vishnu atop the vehicle of Eravan, the elephant, still resplendent on the 82 metre prang (spire) of the temple, built in Khmer style. This was built by Rama II and is adorned by millions of pieces of glazed porcelain, common temple adornment when Chinese ships calling at Bangkok used broken porcelain as ballast. It was the seat of the Emerald Buddha which is like a talisman of the Thai kingdom. It now resides in Wat Phra Kaew, part of the royal houses and temples in Bangkok.

No one knows who sculpted it or when, but history has it that it first appeared in Chaing Rai in northern Thailand in 1434. Legend says it might have been sculpted in India and brought to Thailand from Ceylon. In the 15th century the Buddha was covered in plaster with gold leaf covering, a common way of masking Buddha images to deter pilferers. Over time its identity was forgotten until after a fall, the original brilliant green colour revealed itself (Emerald Buddha is carved from nephrite, a form of jade, found in Burma predominantly). During clashes with Laos, the Emerald Buddha was taken to Luang Prabang in Laos where it remained for over 200 years until the Bangkok based army recovered it and placed it first in Thonburi and then in Bangkok. The Laotians still claim that the Thais stole their emerald Buddha. It now resides in the Royal Palace complex which consists of various buildings, which is usually a must for all visitors.

Finally, about 60 kms outside Bangkok is the summer palace of Bang Pa In, where the royalty moved to avoid the intense rains of summer. It is a potpourri of various architechtural styles and reflects either the ecelectic taste of Rama IV (King Mongkut) and his son Rama V (King Chulalongkorn), or a tendency to display European styles to the Thai people. It has a Thai, Chinese and Swiss chalet style mansion (the preferred residence). There is a wonderful lookout tower and an American style garden house, also called gingerbread architechture. There are Italian style garden but the overall impression is one of chaos and architechtural gluttony. I loved the Chinese mansion with its intricate carving and miniature decorations. Tomorrow we fly off to Siem Reap in Cambodia, a place I’ve wanted to see since childhood – that dream of an edifice – the Angkor Wat.

Bangkok: Venice of the East

The one activity every tourist should do in Bangkok is to hire a long-tail boat and take a ride down its mazework of waterways and canals or khlongs. Best, have a dinner on a river cruise down Chhao Phraya river - an unforgettable experience. History has it that during the reign of first five Chakri dynasty kings (the current dynasty is Chakri), the lion’s share of public works involved building extensive waterways and canals to link its new capital Bangkok to various cities and temples of importance. Khlong Damuen Saduak is a major tourist attraction with its esoteric floating markets, which in historical times provided housewives with daily fresh supply of vegetables and meat, it now caters pretty much to ogle-eyed tourists (watch out for the blog covering this). In facts canals was the primary means of traveling until 1861 when newly arrived European merchants and diplomats signed a petition requesting King Rama IV to provide roads so that they could enjoy horse-riding – the king acquiesced but with a warning to the local people. The King said ‘Whatever they (the Europeans) have invented or done which we should know of and do, we can imitate and learn from them, but do not wholeheartedly believe in them’. Funnily, despite Thailand’s far greater experience of foreign tourists and industry than India, because it was never colonized by the west, it still holds its cultural identity far better than India does. You would not be surprised if a hip 21st century teenager, who is a trans-sexual gay, dabbling in western culture, to respectfully bow with folded hands when he is introduced to a guest (like we were) and continue to live with his/her family which accepts him. Old wine in new bottles.

Portuguese priest Fernao Pinto was the first to use the epithet ‘Venice of the East’ referring to Ayuthaya but that’s what Bangkok looks like from the boats today and the phrase is apt for it too. In 1855 British envoy Sir John Bowring noted in his reports ’The highways of Bangkok are not streets or roads but the river and the canals. Boats are the universal means of conveyance and communication’. Another adventurous Italian nobleman Salvatore Besso wrote in 1911, ‘The Venice of the East – the capital still wrapped in mystery…in spite of the thousand efforts of modernization amid its maze of canals, and in spite of the popularity of the reigning monarch … from the crowded dock-raods of the river, which reminds me of Giudecca (Grand Canal of Venice), across the intricate mass of.. the Chinese quarter.. which whilst resembling Canton, is still more Ventian. Were it not for the queues, almond eyes and odours, decidedly Oriental, the illusion would be very often be complete…’

Bangkok: Ancient city Modern veneer

Bangkok is a very modern city and not just in terms of architecture and technology. It predates Indian economic surge by almost 30 years and has experienced a stock market debacle in the early nineties and a crash of its currency – the Thai Baht in last nineties when the IMF coached its financial recovery. So in many ways it has gone through what the US and Europe are going through now and what India and China have not since their economies burgeoned.

Whilst Mumbai dreams of becoming the next Shanghai, and New Delhi hopes to become Taiwan, Bangkok offers a template of how Indian cities might look in the future. This is because of the cultural similarity between the two nations – particularly in the way religiosity of the common Thai, their reverence for the royalty, much like our reverence for our political royalty, their tolerant and welcoming manner, their love for bargaining about everything, and finally the importance eating and sharing within families has. Their ‘cool heart’ or jai yen characteristic means that you are unlikely to see heated arguments and certainly no fights. In fact we hardly saw a single policeman – traffic or otherwise during our time there, despite hour long traffic jams and a thriving sex industry. They regulate themselves. No honking, and no shouting. In fact Thais will look at your with alarm if you raise your voice and become rude. They tend to smile or laugh nervously as they don’t know how to react. Do bargain when there for most things, even in big shops are inflated in price. The best bet is to start at 50% and stop somewhere between 2/3 or 4/5 of the asking price. Do this with a smile and be aware whenever someone says ‘ this one costs 100baht but only for you I’ll give it for 90baht’. Its more likely to cost around 50-60Baht. One GBP is 45 Baht, which is valued 1.5 times that of Indian Rupee.

Thais are 80% Buddhists and this religion receives royal patronage. However people are free to practice any other religion and we saw Portugese churches, Mosques, and Indian temples. Thais practice Theravada Buddhism where they believe in one Buddha who attained Nirvana – they call it Nippana, and hence no Dalai Lama for them, unlike the Mahayana group which believes in the reincarnation of Buddha, who comes to earth again and again (like our avatars) through the Dalai. In fact the northern Asian countries of China, Japan, Korea, Tibet, Taiwan are all Mahayana while the southern countries are Theravada – Sri Lanka, Thailand, Laos, Burma and Cambodia. Thai Buddhism is a conglomeration of Hindu rituals, ancient animistic practice of worshipping spirits, and Buddhism. Thus, you will have priests presiding over Buddhist temples (which are not called pagodas), offerings of food, fruits, flowers, incense and money are made to appease the lord, requests are made to god (‘If my daughter gets married, I shall offer you Baht 1000, and so on), and a great deal of superstition abounds. In fact you will find in every temple, the Chinese practice (this one comes from Mahayana) of shaking a container full of wooden/bamboo sticks with numbers written on them, held within two folded hands, until the rapid rhythmic shaking throws out one stick. ON the wall would be a stand with messages/advice written on paper under various numbers and you would be expected to go check the number you got. Much like the Indian practice of the parrot picking out a sheet on the roadside. The difference is that Thais take it very seriously as though the advice is straight from the Lord Buddha himself.

In Bangkok, the ancient lives alongside the modern. After the Thai economy crashed in early 90’s increasingly Thai women from the northern districts turned to catering to men by offering traditional Thai massage for small earnings as the men folk turned to alchohol and domestic abuse. This coincided with the end of the drug trade in the Golden Triangle (wait for a blog covering this in the next few days), where thousands of poor farmers were stopped from growing poppies for opium (much like the situation is in Afghanistan today), making them paupers overnight. Now Thai massage is like Ayurvedic massage where the masseuse uses elbows and knees gently to apply pressure in key points to release stress, tension and pain. But some women turned this into a sex trade and others found that much more income could be made if they offered themselves after their skills.

This coincided with a boom of cheap and gratuitous tourism from European countries where men flocked in hundreds every year to benefit from cheap sex industry which was safer than the more vicious industry of the West. Some of these men started marrying these poor women, usually middle aged or older European men, often British. The women jumped at the prospect of leaving a sordid practice behind, going to the UK (Germany, and eastern European countries) and living a comfortable, albeit a lonely life. I remember chatting with a London cabbie once who’d a young Thai wife. He said the reason he got married was ‘because western women think selfishly, but Thais know how to respect and love their men. When I get back home, my bath is ready and hot sumptuous food is on the table. She does not ask for much exceptt respect and equality. I’m more than pleased to provide that’.

In recent times the Patpong and Nana areas have become havens for gay and trans-sexual men. Thailans has a larger than usual share of hermaphrodites (eunuchs in lay terms) according to a local friend, who have always been accepted as part of the society, unlike India where they are marginalized and ostracized. These men, called 'ladyboys' are now offering themselves as consort and attracting a type of tourism that Thailand can do without. But its tolerant nature means that the government does not put a stop to it nor does the religious nature of the society abhor this blatant sexuality. The funny part is that these places, called go-go bars abound and nestle comfortably next to normal shops and restaurants. I found even burkha-clad women (the little Arabia is smack in the middle of Nana district) with their husbands walking calmly through lines of women and gay men standing on the sidewalks. No cheap cat-calls for those soliciting busines and no lewd gestures by those walking through their districts - that's 'Jai yen' or cool heart for you.

Food, markets and meals of Thailand, Laos & Cambodia - Part II

Then there is a variety of noodles too although nothing is really served without rice. You will not find any semblance of bread anywhere unless you went to a bakery, Indian or a western eatery. Noodles are made from either rice, wheat or mung daal flour. You have hofun – wide, flat rice-flour noodles, dried rice vermicelli – very fine rice threads, egg noodles or bami made from wheat and similar to ramen, and glass or cellophane noodles – thin transparent noodles made from mung bean flour.

All south east Asian dishes contain coconut – either in the form of milk, oil or grated into pastes and curries. Thais particularly put palm sugar in everything so one must either be prepared for sweet dishes or ask them to desist. However, there is also a tremendous use of red and very hot chillies – dried, red and green varieties and the really hot variety of Bird’s Eye chillies in UK - which are usually made into paste and put in dishes. You don’t realize the chilli content of your dish as its masked by palm sugar (they don’t use cane sugar) and coconut milk but my word, you do realize it the next morning in the toilet. Other spices commonly used pretty much everywhere are coriander – seeds, leaves and roots, galangal – a rhizome similar to ginger with a distinctive and often pungent fragrance, kafir lime juice and leaves, green peppercorns, krachai or Chinese keys, lemongrass, rice vinegar, rice wine, shrimp and fish paste/sauce, tapioca pearls, tamarind, water chestnut, taucheo or salted soy beans. There is hardly in frying in oil so that the food always tastes fresh and nice.

People eat several times a day – the urban Thais are really nibblers with no fixed rule for eating who will eat a full meal for breakfast or have something light and simple for lunch. More rural Cambodians tend to eat a very heavy breakfast and then only one other meal a day. This is in keeping with Buddhist teaching where monks eat only two meals a day - one at 5am and the other at 2pm. Depending on where you are eating you can have a sumptuous meal for Baht 200 (around £4)in Thailand, for Riyal 10,000 ($2.50)in Cambodia and for Kip 100, 000 (around $13.00) for the whole family in most parts in Laos. Its much cheaper in road-side vendors although one must make sure everything is piping hot.

Thais eat a lot of fruits – what Indians do with their fried fritters, pakoras, vadas, etc or the western man with burgers, nuggets, fried fish, the Thais do with their fruits – they snack on it. You will find small glass and wooden tricycles ferry fresh papaya, watermelons, pineapples (I’ve never eaten sweeter pineapples in my life), coconut, guava, mandarin orange, apples, and the famous Durian. Eaten fresh or dipped into a sauce of sugar, salt and ground chilli, these fruits taste wonderful.

The meat, fish and vegetable markets play a very important part in the common man's life as he must get to it several times a week, although with modern gadgets like fridges, this is easier now. The markets are veritable museums of what the human mouth can consume and the gut can digest. You can everything you never anticipated to be on your plate out here – everything from beetles to tadpoles, snakes to cow stomach, from really small fishes to sharks, and most of those alive and moving!! It’s not something for the squeamish because the smell can be unbearable sometimes for those not used to going to fresh fish and meat markets. But the experience is once in a lifetime so give it a go. Do particularly try out a market about 55 kms outside of Bangkok in a place called Samud Sonkhran (or if you prefer Samudra Sagaram in Indian lingo). At predictable times during the day (10am and 1pm) the neatly and busy market laid out along a train track contracts and expands to let through the local trains pass. Its amazing to watch - Check this out…