Travels with Nui

One of the great pleasures of returning to Thailand is meeting with people we have come to love. Nui is one of those people. A student in two of our classes last year, she was invaluable in taking us places around Bangkok and teaching us how to use the bus system, etc. She gave us so much, and so willingly. 

We arranged to meet her at the Bangkapi Mall, and it was wonderful to give her a big hug and talk face to face instead of on Line (popular app in Thailand). She helped Phil buy a portable keyboard, and then we had lunch. 

This is one of our favorite restaurants in the Mall:

Organic salads and good prices.

We arranged to meet Nui the next morning at 8:30 at the boat station to see something we’d not seen last year: Wat Arun, ancient Buddhist temple and the burial site of several kings. It was also the filming site for one of my favorite Korean TV series: King the Land.

Phil was able to practice his growing knowledge of the Thai language with Nui.

She is an excellent teacher!

Skyscraper seen through the roof of the boat.

The boat’s ceiling is also lined with life vests.

Which doesn’t inspire confidence.

I love taking the boats. It gets us off the busy streets and into fresh air (except if you’re sitting near the exhaust), and there’s lots of greenery along the canal. As we get closer to downtown Bangkok, the greenery is mixed with a forest of skyscrapers.

To reinforce our tourist image, we took a tuk-tuk to the river. They are more expensive than taxis, but it’s fun to fly around in such a little cart and feel the wind ruffle your hair. And Nui always gets us a good price. (Bargaining is essential here.)

Wat Arun is impressive. It’s an entire complex of buildings, many of which are used by the monks as living quarters, etc. 

The entrance to the temple complex.

Close-up of one of the two giants guarding the temple.

(You can see them in the photo prior to this one. Really huge.)

The courtyards are lined with stone figures from China. Nui explained that in earlier centuries, Thailand did a lot of trade with China. When Thai ships had unloaded their wares and returned home, they purchased these stone statues from Chinese masons to add ballast to their ships.

Pekingese dogs feature prominently in these collections.

We first visited the temple itself, taking off our shoes. The decorations, both inside and out, are richly colored. 

We then saw a more magnificent site: the stupa (tomb) that held the remains of several early Thai kings and—in the uppermost pinnacle—relics of the Buddha.

You can climb over half-way up these magnificent stupas. 

I declined, as my knees were giving me trouble that day. But what a view!

It strained our necks to look at the central stupa,

towering over us.

The intricate carvings and designs were mind-boggling, as we thought of the work required to create these stone monuments. And much of it had been moved from its original site, miles down the river, when the royal family set up house in Bangkok in the 1800s. So much work!

But what added a depth of pleasure and entertainment to this sightseeing was a parade of colorful Thai costumes. Apparently you can rent authentic Thai traditional costumes for about $10, including jewelry and head gear, and take selfies on site. If you hire an official photographer, the price goes up exponentially. One couple from Taiwan told us that their package cost about $1,000. Here are a few of the many tourists we enjoyed observing:

This was the couple from Taiwan.

She thought the $1,000 package was “a very good price.”

We ended with lunch at one of the malls along the river, at a cafe Nui used to frequent when she was going to university. They served amazing watermelon smoothies, so refreshing on this hot, sunny day.

Thank you, Nui, for a wonderful day and for being part of our lives.