The main hall
A corner tower
Cranes begin dismantling the buildings.
9-16 Jan.
My flight from India got in a few hours before sunrise, then I
took a taxi to my old standby, the New Merry V Guesthouse. Unfortunately the
guesthouse will be sold to a new owner and closing in a few months, so this will
be my last stay. With just a week in Bangkok, I filled my schedule with visiting
friends, walks, art galleries, and a dental check-up.
I had left Bangkok
just before the late king’s funeral, and now was curious to see the extensive
funerary structures and landscaping on Sanam Luang, a large open field in front
of Wat Phra Kaew and the Grand Palace. The site had been open to visitors after
the ceremonies, but now workers had started to dismantle everything. I did walk
around the perimeter to admire the architecture, painted in subdued colors.
The main hall
A corner tower
Cranes begin
dismantling the buildings.
At the Queen’s Gallery, Thai artist Panya Vijinthanasarn had an intriguing exhibit ReadyMyth: Demoncrazy, a play on the words ‘readymade’ and ‘democracy.’ The ground floor had another play on words with giant bugs made from body parts and bumpers of Volkswagen beetles! The theme continued upstairs with automobile hoods becoming lotus flowers. Farther upstairs a group show had paintings and sculptures in a wide variety of styles, some religious and some very secular.
ReadyMyth:
Demoncrazy
ReadyMyth: Demoncrazy from the mezzanine
Buddha Lotus
(2017) by Panya Vijinthanasarn
The Reflection
of Naranchara River (2016)
Thailand in
the Future (detail)
The next day I went across the Chao Phraya River to Wat Arun, the Temple of Dawn, and one of Bangkok’s important landmarks. Scaffolding had enclosed the structure for months of refurbishing, and now it had been removed to reveal a gleaming temple that looked like new. The Khmer-style central tower and four corner towers are white with inlaid patterns originally made with seashells and bits of porcelain used as ballast in boats coming to Bangkok from China. The temple dates back at least to the 17th century and sheltered the Emerald Buddha image before it was transferred to Wat Phra Kaew on the river's eastern bank in 1785. From Wat Arun I took a Chao Phraya ferry downriver to Sathon Pier and the Sky Train station.
Stone guardians and
other figures grace the grounds of Wat Arun.
The central tower
Gods support
one of the corner towers.
Four horseman peek
out of niches high in the corner towers.
Birth of the
Buddha, one of the small shrines that surround the central tower
An old plate blooms
at Wat Arun!
Chao Phraya River from Wat Arun
King Chulalongkorn
commissioned the neoclassical-style Sunanthalai Building (Royal Seminary) in
1880.
Ratchawong is a ferry stop for Chinatown.
The Holy Rosary
Church was built in a Gothic-Revival style between 1891 and 1897.
A giant banner of
Thailand’s new king on the CAT Tower
The old
neo-Palladian-style Customs House dates to 1888.
It’s now abandoned and
awaiting restoration.
On Sunday evening the BACC (Bangkok Arts and Cultural Centre) https://en.bacc.or.th/ hosted a free program “Dazzling Dances of Indonesia” by a group from Yogyakarta in Java. The excellent program offered diverse performances, some masked, from different regions of Indonesia.
The BACC has
nine levels!
On another day I stopped by Silpakorn University to see the Mongkut exhibit that featured a reproduction of an elaborate royal crown presented by Siamese ambassadors to Napoleon III in 1861. Then I stepped into the university’s vast sculpture gallery.
A replica of
the crown presented to Napoleon III
Replica of
Jean-Léon Gérôme’s 1864 oil painting of Napoléon III and
Empress Eugénie
receiving the Siamese ambassadors on June 27, 1861
Just one section of
the vast sculpture gallery
I also swung by Number 1 Gallery to see the surreal Ladies in Summer, the Tang Contemporary Gallery to see bizarre works by Indonesian artist Entang Wiharso in Half Degree of Separation, and a solo exhibition #9 Emotion by Sompech Wanchit, whom I got to meet.
Shrouds have
no Pockets by Entang Wiharso
Eating
Identity by Entang Wiharso
17 Jan. Bangkok-Chiang Mai bus
For a bus ticket to Chiang Mai I could have just gone to the bus terminal in
early evening and bought a ticket, but to save time and worry I went online and
got a ticket for a VIP bus with Bangkok
Bus Lines. That cost an extra 74 baht on top of the 759-baht ticket price. I
had a very roomy seat (1 x 2 seating) with lots of legroom, free snacks, pillow
and blanket. Each seat had a video monitor and headphones instead of the
old-style TVs blaring pop music or violent movies. We left promptly at 8 p.m.
for the 10-hour journey with one stop for a simple free dinner buffet. This
bus trip was about as good as it gets, faster and smoother than the train,
longer and cheaper than a flight, though the train and budget airlines are good
alternatives with advance booking.