Finally!!!

After two weeks failed attempts and frustration trying to figure out how to get to Wat Suthat and the Giant Swing I finally got there, but not without angst. When I got into a cab at my apartment and told the driver I wanted to go to Wat Suthat, he asked me why and told me he would drive me to much more beautiful temples. I told him no many times and finally got him to stop bugging by jumping out at the BTS station and taking a train to the nearest station. I was then besieged with tuk tuk drivers asking me where I was going and offering to take me the two miles or so for 200 baht ( what a deal, when a cab would probably cost 40 baht) without the noise and pollution of the motor cycle taxi. Finally a taxi arrived, thank God, I thought and because I had a map in my hand ( a lethal mistake) I discovered, he told me he would drive me for free if I visited his cousin in the tailor shop! I absolutely refused and got out of the cab. Finally, finally, finally I got a cab driver that knew where it was and actually put on the meter and took me there. What a relief.

As I walked up the soi ( or alley) to what he told me was Wat Suthat but was actually the Golden Mount, there were food and candy stalls, clothes, trinkets, rides for kids and so on. I felt like Jesus Christ walking around the Temple of Jerusalem and getting ticked that it was so secular. I figured out that if the temples are where the action is and everyone congregates there to pray, why not have massage, candies, clothes stalls and so on. I am sure this is exactly what the Temple Mount must have looked like to Jesus and you know what, it is not such a bad thing. Jesus should have relaxed a bit. At least it gets people to congregate where some good could come out of it.

Anyway, as you can see from the pictures the Golden Mount was actually quite spectacular and you can see all the bells, an absolute irresistible urge for me to ring them all ( which I did!). Inside and a few floors up, people were praying and meditating. They were actually shaking their incense sticks in a red jar and if I didn’t know better I would swear they were playing dice, sitting on their knees in a group. Fortunately, there was a giant Budha in front of them and they were praying or probably a more proper term would be mediating.

As I left the golden mount and walked towards the Giant Swing where brave men would swing up to great heights to catch a bag of gold coins in their teeth hundreds of years ago, I saw the swing was no longer there, just the structure. I guess too many men missed the gold but found their reward otherwise, if you know what I mean. Beside the Swing, I discovered the real Wat Suthat which was really spectacular. I went inside the prayer room and there were two monks, both on ‘thrones’ I think discussing scripture. All the Thais were seated with their legs tucked beneath them, (something I can’t do) and laughing their heads off as one monk would chime in, probably with some kind of witty remark as the other continued his observations or sermon, not sure, but I do know that with my feet projected out in front of me I was really being rude and thought I better leave before I got kicked out. Actually, the Thais are much too polite to kick anyone out of anywhere.

As usual, just when I could get some really interesting pictures, my battery ran out but I did fall into a Thai soccer game in the National Stadium as I was trying to find my way home. Thailand was playing a small Arab nation in one of the elimination rounds for the Asian representative at the 2010 world cup so it was a very big deal. Outside the stadium, hawkers were selling everything from head bands to food to crazy hats. Scalpers, or at least one, were pushing tickets and since I could not find the ticket booth I bought a ticket for twice the face value. Believe me, I will not have to take out a mortgage to pay for it. Luckily, I sat in the cheap seats, exactly where I like to sit and had a ball. Thailand won 1-0 and the fans were delirious. At the end of the game, there were fireworks and handshakes all around. During the game, the fans did the wave, yelled at the referee (I thought with good cause) and could have been in Toronto or anywhere in North America.

The differences were the place in the stands at midfield where the royal family sat and decorated accordingly, the number of women (probably equal to men), the urinals
(there weren’t any), just a trough, no food or drink hawkers but the same excitement and passion we would see in North America.

This week I am back at work, what else is new, with lots of meetings and teaching. I am going to spend a lot of time in a grade two class because the teacher had to return to America for a week but since I survived nursery, I am sure grade two will be a breeze. Wish me luck.



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