In September, 2008, Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej was removed from office after being found guilty of among other things, hosting a cooking show while in office. The Thai's are great cooks! The Prime Minister role was then assumed by Somchai Wongsawat. Both Sundaravej and Wongsawat were members of the People's Power Party (PPP). In November, 2008, not happy with how the country was being run, members of the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) protested by taking over government buildings and airports. The army chose not to forcibly remove the protesters. The protests ended when Prime Minister Wongsawat resigned. In December, 2008 the current Prime Minister, Abhisit Vejjajiva took office.
We were a bit concerned about going to Bangkok only a couple months after the political unrest. Our fears were soon forgotten as we landed at an efficient and clean airport. Public transportation was good, the accomodations were some of the best we have had and the people were very welcoming. It was like nothing had ever happened. Maybe the Thai's are just so used to coups. Since 1932 there have been 19 coup attempts and 11 of them have been successful.
There is a lot to do and see in Bangkok. Massive Buddhist Temple complexes are scattered throughout the city. We visited the largest and oldest temple in Bangkok, Wat Pho. Most of the temples have similar architecture with Buddhist shrines in each of them. What makes Wat Pho unique is that it houses the largest reclining Buddha in Thailand. It is almost 150 feet long. The body is gold and the bottom of the feet are made with inlayed mother-of-pearl. About 95% of Thai's are Buddhists.
You could spend days waking the streets of Bangkok. The streets are filled with people, vehicles, markets and street vendors. Besides walking, we took the following forms of transportation: subway, taxi, boat, tuk-tuk, sky train, and canal water taxi. The water taxis are the fastest since the streets of Bangkok are jammed at most times of the day. We went on an interesting tour of Jim Thompson's house. Jim Thompson was an American who moved to Bangkok in the 1950's and became a silk mogul. Thompson vanished in Malaysia in 1967 and has never been found. There are many theories about his disappearance, but not enough evidence to conclusively determine what happened to him.
We also mixed in some culture and sport. We went to a traditional Thai dance, music, and theatre show. It was a bit hokey and overpriced, but an enjoyable evening nonetheless. For sport, Noah and I went out for an evening of Moo-ay Tai (Thai kick boxing) at Lumpinee Boxing Stadium. Jennifer chose to skip this cultural event. It was a great evening of kick boxing, but it was even more fun watching the passion of the Thai people as they cheered and yelled for each punch and kick. The rafters were filled with people that stand the entire time and scream out bets between each round and fight. There were 11 fights on the card, lasting from 6:30 to 11:30 pm. Most fights were entertaining, but the main event was incredible 5 rounds to remember.On our last evening in Bangkok, we met up with 8 other travelers that we will be with for the next 18 days in Cambodia and Vietnam as part of an Intrepid group. After many months of independent travel, we decided to try a small tour group. We will let you know how that works in our upcoming Cambodia and Vietnam posts.
To view our slide show of Bangkok, Thailand, click on the following link ==> Bangkok, Thailand Slide Show
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