…”Out on Khao San Road I had an overwhelming feeling that I was a tourist simply because I was walking around with tons of them. I have no desire to take part in the package tours being offered to see this and go here and do that. My bet is that most of the people staying in this area didn’t leave this area unless accompanied by a licensed tour guide, from whom they would surely demand credentials. It was funny walking down this street though. It was lined, shoulder-to-shoulder with vendors selling literally everything under the hot sun. You could get a new passport made instantly, for any country, a Thai drivers license in seconds, press passes to any event, binoculars, necklaces, bootleg cds, bootlegged bootleg cds, a selection of fake DVDs that would make NYC’s head spin, and any kind of food imaginable, which I would absolutely not recommend from a health perspective, but street vendor food definitely turned out to be some of the best tasting food of my trip.
We walked pass Starbucks, Burger King, and McDonald’s and made our way to a major street which, after consulting our map, would lead us directly to the Grand Palace which was on our list of things to see. The streets were extremely wide, the cars were a strange mix of old beat up Asian makes and new cars of all types; definitely an insight to the Thai economy made of haves and have-nots. Its always strange seeing an old man pedaling a home made bike with a jimmy rigged trailer on back with 4 children laying down trying to get some sleep being honked at by someone in an all black 500 series Mercedes with tinted windows. Coupled with many other factors, this was a clear indication of the complete lack of a middle class.
Almost getting hit several times trying to cross the street, we finally got to the Grand Palace entrance where I was told I’d have to rent pants because I was wearing shorts, and shorts aren’t kosher in the presence of a Buddha statue. The rental pants were awesome though. Very reminiscent of a cross between the “M.C. Hammer” pants that were so hot in the early ‘90’s, and the scrubs that doctors wear; very thin cotton, but excessively baggy. Had the not been so hideous a spectacle, I’d have considered trading in my denim shorts for them, as they were far more breathable and conducive to the Thai weather than my shorts were.
The Grand Palace was very cool. It makes up an entire city block and is very well maintained. The grass is one of the greenest greens I can remember seeing and the architecture is mind-blowingly ornate. This was my first exposure to the Buddhist culture. Having been to Europe and Egypt, I’ve been in my share of churches and mosques, but hadn’t ever been to any wats. The sky was superbly blue that day with many, very distinct, puffy white clouds which made for a beautiful tour around the colorful palace. There was also a changing of the guard, much like at Buckingham Palace in London, but far less impressive and with substantially fewer guards involved. It was really interesting seeing, for the first time, this kind of architecture. The wats have long sagging roofs with tall spires coming out of the tops and very detailed cascading tiles of gorgeous color. All of the trees were well groomed and looked like large format bonsai trees that Mr. Miyagi cut in Karate Kid. The Buddha statues had long lines of people waiting to bow and say a prayer before them in several places throughout the palace. The Grand Palace was a great example of a government’s poor distribution of funds. I understand the need to keep up places of cultural and historical significance, and I understand the impact that tourism has on the countries economy and their need for nice, clean places that the package tourists are willing to go out onto a limb to visit, but its disheartening and frustrating to see a large number of homeless people sleeping on the street and little children begging for money outside of the palace that surely spends enough on maintenance in a day to feed all of the for mentioned people for a month…”
