A view of South Korea after take-off from Seoul’s Incheon airport
2018 had been my ‘Visit the U.S.A. Year’ with three enjoyable bicycle rides: the American Southwest, Midwest to East, and Pacific Northwest, all connected by Amtrak train trips. Then on October 16th, after a fine visit with my sister in San Francisco, I got on Korean Airlines flights KE 026 to Seoul and KE 657 to Bangkok, both on Boeing Triple Sevens. I still enjoy flying, helped by a mileage award of free use in the business-class lounge in Seoul’s Incheon airport where I could stuff my face with tasty snacks. On this trip I planned to spend the first half of this winter (Oct.-Jan.) backpacking in Thailand, Malaysia, and South India, then in the second half (Feb.-April) get on ‘Bessie Too the Bicycle’ for a ride in the Philippines.
A view of South Korea after take-off from Seoul’s Incheon airport
In years past I had stayed at a guesthouse on Phra Athit
Road in the old part of Bangkok, but that had closed. So I tried an Airbnb and got
a ‘Tropical Villa’ down a little lane in the very central Silom district of the
city. It was a 1960s house now with several guestrooms. At night the loudest sounds
were the frogs out back, not the traffic! I stayed nearly three weeks, doing my
usual Bangkok things of visiting friends, attending Buddhist events, meeting up
with my dentist, and taking in some of the extensive contemporary art exhibits scattered
around the city. The nine-floor Bangkok Art & Cultural Centre (BACC) had a lot
going on, and took repeated visits to take it all in.
I met Chainat
(left) on my first visit to Thailand in 1983 when he was a monk at Suan Mokkh in
the south.
Both Chainat and his friend (right) went to the U.S.A. as high school
exchange students.
Old and
new in central Bangkok, post-Godzilla, it appears!
It’s
always a festive time at the MBK Shopping Center!
HAPPY Soldiers (male) (2018) by Sutee Kunavichayanont at
Number 1 Gallery.
This huge print
on vinyl is 2.755 meters high and 8.355 meters long.
It’s one of a series of HAPPY prints in the exhibition.
View from
the 8th Floor in the Bangkok Art and Cultural Centre
Plastic art
brings color to the lobby of the BACC.
Khon masks represent
kings, devas (angels), yaksha (giants), monkeys, and sacred gods (BACC).
That’s one way
to do a self-portrait!
Ukrainian artist Oleg Shupliak is fond of optical illusion
art, and presented a show called IMAGINARIUM at the BACC
Bathers against
the background of Saint-Victoire in the presence of Cezanne (2012) by Oleg Shupliak
Our
Glorious Past Our Glorious Present Our Glorious Future (2018)
by Myanmar
artist Lin Htet. This performance art explores issues of identity in Myanmar where
the long civil war has been going on since independence from Britain in 1948. And
the ongoing Rohingya crisis brings issues that are common in the current immigration
crises all over the world. In this three-week protest against the mass confinement
of immigrants, the artist focuses on sending Metta (loving kindness) to all the
immigrants who are currently in confinement. I thought this the most memorable
of several performance art programs at the BACC.
On October 28th I took the Skytrain and Chao Phraya River Express over to Banglampu to see the 64th National Exhibition of Art at the National Gallery, a large and varied show by many artists. In the afternoon I swung by the Queen’s Gallery, which also had much to see from mostly Thai artists. I had my favorite Penang curry at my favorite Bangkok restaurant, May Kaidee’s.
E-san Imaginary Creature by Mr. Thaworn Kwamsawat won third prize in mixed media
at the 64th National Exhibition of Art (E-san refers to northeastern Thailand.)
We Trust You 2017 (resin and paper) by Mr. Kittipol Camtawee at the 64th
National Exhibition of Art
Near the end of my time in Bangkok I was very fortunate to get a ticket for the inaugural performance of the masked (khon) drama “The Allegiance of Phiphek,” a huge production in the Thailand Cultural Centre.