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Bangkok’s Golden Buddha

Tuesday, August 27, 2013 in Bangkok, Thailand | 3 comments

Wat Traimit Temple

The Wat Traimit Temple, home of the Golden Buddha, in Bangkok. Photo by David Lansing.

We were stuck in traffic on our way to the Pak Khlong Market, the epic Bangkok flower mart. Inching our way along, Ketsara casually mentioned that the Temple of the Golden Buddha, Wat Traimit, was on our right. Then the traffic cleared and suddenly we were in a round-about with me thinking, Waiti! Why are we not stopping to see the Golden Buddha?

And right at that moment, Mr. Johnson, a Canadian-born Dominican who lives in New York and works for Tourism Thailand (I know, very confusing, right?), says, “Khun Ketsara, could we stop at the temple?” I was elated.

Ketsara spoke quickly to the driver who reversed directions and, minutes later, we were inside the Temple of the Golden Buddha. I wanted to see this wonder not so much because it is the world’s largest solid gold Buddha (although I’ve heard that while the head, arms, and legs are all solid 18-carat gold, the torso is “just” 3 or 4 inches of solid gold), but because of the story behind it.

The Golden Buddha. Photo by David Lansing.

It seems that the Buddha was discovered accidentally in 1955. At the time, the 13-foot-high Buddha was nothing more than a rather plain-looking stucco Buddha that had been unearthed when workers were extending the port of Bangkok. For 20 years the sorry image sat unnoticed at the Wat Traimit Temple until one day a crane dropped it while moving it out of the way.

The plaster cracked, revealing the gold Buddha beneath. Evidently the statue had been encased in stucco since sometime around 1750 to hide it from Burmese ransackers.

What seems odd to me about all this is how could they not know that a 13-foot-high Buddha made out of stucco could not possibly weigh five tons? I mean, when those construction workers first unearthed this Buddha in 1955, didn’t they think it was a little strange that it weighed so much?

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A River Kway cocktail at the Shangri-La in Bangkok

Monday, August 26, 2013 in Bangkok, Thailand | 1 comment

Chao Phraya River from Shangri-La Hotel, Bangkok

A view of the Chao Phraya River from the Shangri-La Hotel in Bangkok. Photo by David Lansing.

I’m not staying at the Shangri-La Hotel but I’d heard so much about it that I wanted to visit, which I did Saturday night. Many years ago my sister-in-law was a buyer for a major clothing retailer and often took trips to Hong Kong, Singapore, and Bangkok. On one of these trips, my wife went with her and they stayed at the Shangri-La, which she described as the most elegant hotel she’d ever stayed in.

But that was years ago. These days it’s still very fashionable for a certain clientele—families, package tours, the Chinese. Part of the attraction is its location—right on the Chao Phraya River and just a 15 minute boatride to the Grand Palace and Wat Pho, the Temple of the Reclining Buddha.

We dined at the NEXT2 Cafe, the hotel’s celebrated buffet restaurant that curls along the banks of the river. It was a warm evening but there was a slight breeze over the river to cool off the humid night. I’m not a big fan of buffet fare—the sad looking noodles, the uninspired salad bar, the always-crowded roast beef station where a bored chef in a toque ringed with perspiration slices off the smallest chips possible from a haunch of beef that has been sitting under hot lights for hours.

But the chef at the Shangri-La, Lokendra Pal Singh, who was born in New Delhi, specializes in more exotic fare: tandoor dishes, eggplant and cherry tomato massala, Kashmire lamb rogan josh, and a most wonderful stuffed garlic cheese naan. I think I could have just noshed on the naan bread and sipped their signature River Kway cocktail while watching the boat traffic go by and been perfectly happy. Which is pretty much what I did.

Dinner at the Shangri-La along the busy river bank. Photo by David Lansing.

 

The restaurant’s signature cocktail, a River Kway. Photo by David Lansing.

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The Queen of Thailand

Friday, August 23, 2013 in Bangkok, Thailand

An homage to the Queen of Thailand in the lobby of the Shangri-La Hotel in Bangkok. Photo by David Lansing

The Queen of Thailand, Sirikit, celebrates her 81st birthday on Monday. She has been queen for over 63 years, which means she’s been doing her job even longer than the Queen of England, which quite pleases the Thai people. They love their queen. Ask them why and usually they’ll say something like, “She is very good to the people.”

She’s championed a number of hospitals in Thailand, including a children’s hospital and a new 10-storey hospital in Bangkok, both of which have been named after her. She’s also been the honorary president of the Thai Red Cross since 1956.

Everywhere we go in Bangkok there are tributes to the queen—along the boulevards, in the parks, even in the hotel lobbies. It’s as if the pope were visiting (and, indeed, the Thai people consider her to be semi-divine, rather like the Holy Father).

My guide, Ketsara, tells me that because of the queen’s generous nature, on her holiday (which is also Mother’s Day in Thailand) the Thai people try to do something of merit. For instance, there will be free haircuts. Thousands of barbers will set up in pavilions in the park and anyone who wants one can get a haircut. I think that’s a fine way to celebrate the queen. I might even get a free haircut myself. In her honor.

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The Thai Liberace

Thursday, August 22, 2013 in Bangkok, Thailand

Mr. Paul Boonrungreung whose title at the Sofitel So Hotel in Bangkok is Just Say So Guru. Photo by David Lansing.

As I sipped my Magical Drink I asked the Thai Liberace to tell me about himself. He’s got an interesting story.

His name is Paul Boonrungreung and his title at the Sofitel So Bangkok is “Just Say So Guru.” Which means, he told me, that his job is basically making people happy. “Whatever they need, I can get.”

He said that he was working at a rather famous restaurant in Bangkok taking care of guests. “A lot of very famous people go there and my job was to take care of them.” One of the regulars was the general manager of So Bangkok. “He kept coming back and always asking me to work for him. He ask me maybe four or five times but I didn’t go. I tell him I don’t know anything about the hotel business and he say, ‘Good. Just be yourself.’

“I asked him what I would do here and he said whatever I wanted. What I wanted was to be the brand manager, so to speak, of the hotel. So I set the tone here. I provide every inch of the guest experience—where to buy diamonds, where to buy shoes, where to buy a T-shirt that says ‘Bangkok Rock ‘n’ Roll.’ I think,” he said as he got up to refill our glasses, “I am the Sofitel So Hotel.”

I think he may be right. And maybe he’s Bangkok as well.

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So Magical Drink

Wednesday, August 21, 2013 in Bangkok, Thailand

Sofitel So Hotel Bangkok

The reception desk at the Sofitel So Hotel, Bangkok. Photo by David Lansing.

When PaLè and I finally make it to the Sofitel So Hotel in Bangkok all I want to do is get checked in and go to bed. Even though it’s barely noon. The 2am departure from L.A., the 17 hours of flying, the acrid smell of the city—I’m done in. At the reception desk we are escorted over to a plush couch and minutes later a grinning Thai Liberace (red silk jacket, pink lips, gray nail polish, rhinestone-studded glasses, and purple highlights in his pompadoured hair) slides up to us carrying purple drinks bearing large sticks of lemongrass.

“Look what I brought for you!” he gushes. “You are tired, I know, and this is an elixir to make you feel better. Try it, please, go on and try it!”

It’s delicious. Tangy, perfumy, slightly sweet. I ask the Thai Liberace what it is.

“This one called So Magical Drink.” And then he laughs infectiously. “You like? I’m so glad! It’s delicious, isn’t it?” He tells us that the So Magical Drink is made of lemon grass juice, butterfly flower elixer, and lime juice.

“Is it noon yet?” asks the Thai Liberace rhetorically. He slaps his leg with his perfectly manicured hand. “It is! So maybe we should add some vodka to So Magical Drink. Don’t you think?” Like a model on a catwalk he sashays over to the bar and comes back bearing two more So Magical Drinks, this time juiced up with a little lemon Citron. I like this version even better. Bangkok has suddenly come to life for me. I’m ready to take it all in. All because of the So’s Magical Drink.

So Magical Drink, Sofitel Bangkok

The So Magical Drink. Photo by David Lansing

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