Pan Pacific and Erawan

Erawan Shrine and Jim Thompson's House, Thursday, October 8, 2009
Woke up a few times during the night, but felt quite rested in the morning. Got up about 7 and left before 8. Caught a bus to the skytrain the rode it to the Chit Lom station. I thought the first shrine I saw was the Erawan shrine because it was large and people were bowing and placing lighted sticks and offerings in front of it. At the west end of the block I found the real Erawan shrine, set back from the sidewalk. It is in a small plaza in front of the hotel, with benches, and a small covered area to sell offering items and room for the 9 Thai dancing girls to do their makeup, a Thai drummer and a Thai marimba player, and a floor for the dance. The dancers alternately kneel, stand, then stand on one leg, while moving their hands in gestures and singing, to the music. The traffic noise drowned out the softer sounds.

I went back up onto the skywalk, a wide pathway below the skytrain, which is directly over the heavy traffic on the very boulevard, named Ploenchit Road to the east and Rama I Road to the west of the intersection with Ratchadamri Road. I bought and drank a strawberry milk, in a plastic bottle of about 300 ml, from a very small 7-11 store on the skywalk. Then I continued west to next exit to the street level to enter the Wat Patum Wanaram. A Thai, who was with security, he said, told me I could take the skywalk and asked a few other questions: 'Where are you from?, How long you stay in Bangkok?, You come here alone?, Where you stay?'. I would be suspicious in some parts of the world, but he was polite and I think he was just practicing his English, which he spoke quite well. I'm easily identified as a tourist by my appearance, being Caucasian and carrying a camera case and a large camera, and wearing a fanny pack. The wat is being renovated, at least on the outside, and was not open to anyone. On the street side of the wat, a monk was seated on a low carpeted platform, under a large cover, speaking into a microphone to a few Thais. The Thais, singly or in small groups, took off their shoes, and knelt in front of the monk with gifts, which could be bought at an adjacent stand.

I walked to the rear of the wat, away from the street, and found the adjacent area was a tree covered Buddhist site, with some buildings for food and items for sale, but with a large garden with benches and shrines. A small group of small laughing Buddha statues, the first I've seen at a religious site here, were at the entrance to the area. Buddhists in the garden removed their shoes before walking onto the carpet and kneeling, and bowing to the shrines. I took a photo before a woman came toward me and pointed to the sign by the center shrine which stated in English 'No Photography Allowed'. I hadn't noticed and it is the first open air place I've seen which doesn't allow photography. I walked around a little more and made up for my mistake a little by buying a thin green ring, for 50B, at a small stand near the shrines. Looks like jade, but is from some other stone; and could be colored. It's probably bad karma, but I'll keep the photo.

I went back onto the skywalk and went as far as I could. I went down on the north side and walked north to the canal, then west along the canal about half a block to the Jim Thompson House, which is now a museum. It was built after WWII when Jim Thompson started his silk business. Jim Thompson disappeared in Malaysia in 1967. The house is 2 story, with most of the living area on the second floor. The English tour started a couple of minutes after I walked, after paying the 100B admission charge. There were 7 of us and the guide was a young Thai woman whose English was very good and whose accent was light enough for me to follow almost every word. As in many other museums, we took off our shoes and had lockers to put all bags, although we were allowed to carry our cameras, although we could not take photos, except for views of the central garden out one of the windows. After the tour we could take photos outside of the house and in 3 smaller, servants, buildings, and some carvings, including a teak wood print used to print a design on the silk fabric. There is a souvenir shop, restaurant, gift shop and a second story exhibit area on the grounds. The exhibit shows textiles, which the company apparently is now involved.

I retraced my steps, starting along the canal with its passenger boats, and entered the huge MBK center to shop for a power adaptor. Couldn't find any, but had lunch of a noodle and fish balls and a hard boiled egg in a curry sauce and a sweet ginger tea for 55B. I walked to the Siam station and took the skytrain to Ekkamai, buying a small chilled drink, lemon grass and pandan, and sugar, for 15B. Good flavor, but too sweet. I walked to Bill's apartment, arriving about 2, at the same time as Bill. I packed my backpack and started my blog. Roger and I left with his driver about 3:30. Roger has his Suzuki Vitara being customized, and the driver owns part of the body shop, so he took Roger both ways from Pattaya to Bangkok at no charge. Roger bought a Jasmine flower freshener to hang from the rear view mirror, from a vendor walking the road between cars on the stop and go road leaving Bangkok. The drive was mostly on 8 lane roads with 2 tolls along the way, and was very fast, less than 2 hours. The speedometer was reading just over 110 kmp (nearly 70mph) on the 8 lane portion.

Roger set me up in one of the guest bedrooms, on the 3rd floor of his hillside condo. About 8pm we went out for dinner at his favorite Italian restaurant in the area. We each had a green salad and pasta. The salad was fresh and the dressing was tangy. My pasta was spaghetti with a pesto sauce. The bill, with bottled water, totaled 400B, I treated Roger for the first time. He left a 20B tip.

After we returned to the condo, Trish called and we had a nice talk. She had just gotten up. Roger made peach and passion fruit flavored iced tea for us and we watched last Sunday's Patriots and Ravens game, til midnight.

Pan Pacific Hotel, Wednesday, October 7, 2009
After stretching, eating the final hard orange and drinking orange juice, and showering, about 8am, I put in a load of clothes, along with my sheets, pillow cases and our towels to wash. I tried the second of the 2 machines and didn't realize until I had put in the clothes and soap that it was bigger than the first one I had used. The cost is 30B, rather than the 20B needed for the smaller machine. I also filled the water bottle, paying 3B of the 4 because I ran out of coins.
I uploaded my blog and a few photos at the Coffee Art shop. Took a full hour, and cost 35B. I took a nap shortly afternoon.

Later, Bill and I took the bus, then the skytrain to the Sala Daeng station. The Pan Pacific hotel is next to the station. Bill showed the Panorama dining room he plays, 23rd floor. There is outdoor seating for a view of the skyline. Bill picked up his check and we took the subway, the MRT, from the adjacent Si Lom station to the Phra Ram 9 station and walked to the shopping center and rode up to IT city. We couldn't find the power block for my DVD player. Bill found some DVDs to buy. We had lunch at the food court. Cost 45B for Pad Thai something. I repeated my order from Bill's suggestion. The cook repeated the order. It sounded OK and I said yes. Bill said he had never seen it prepared with egg, like an omelet. Tasted good. I also bought a chicken stick for 12B, 3 batter fried lumps of chicken on a stick, to go.

About 4:30, Bill took the subway from the shopping center to his work. I left Bill at the Sukhumvit station, to transfer to the skytrain Asok station. I walked to the apartment from the Ekkamai station.

I cooked rice and ate that with my chicken, and a yogurt for dinner. Went to bed early, about 9pm.