Bangkok—A Medley of Past and Present
THE Thai people call it Krung Thep, or “City of Angels.” Western visitors of the past called it Venice of the East. To the rest of us, it is Bangkok, the capital of Thailand, the ancient Kingdom of Siam.
When Europeans first arrived in Thailand in the 16th century, Bangkok was only a small fishing village, occupied by Chinese merchants and artisans. Today, two million tourists yearly find this bustling metropolis of more than five million people a captivating medley of past and present.
City of Contrasts
In 1782 King Rama I, the first king of the present Chakri dynasty, moved the capital of Siam from Thon Buri across the Chao Phraya River to Bangkok. Here, on the east bank of a bend in the river, he built his royal residence, now the Grand Palace complex. Swept on three sides by the river, the city was crisscrossed by a network of canals—called khlongs—that served as its thoroughfares as well as its water supply, bath, and marketplace. “Venice of the East” was indeed a fitting name.
Today, though, a visitor will no longer find idyllic scenes along gleaming, peaceful canals. Gone, too, are most of the waterfront houses on stilts and the bamboo rafts. Instead, what he will find is a teeming metropolis of concrete and neon, with endless traffic jams in which even crossing the street may be a harrowing experience. Most of the canals have been filled in to become the city’s road system. And “shophouses” with two, three, or four stories have replaced the canalside homes.
In many ways Bangkok has adopted a western character complete with high-rise office buildings and air-conditioned shopping centers. But right next to the ultramodern is the traditional—Buddhist temples, shrines, and spirit houses. Inside a Buddhist monastery, monks meditate and chant, and people try to find some peace and quiet. Right outside, endless streams of cars, noisy samlors (open, three-wheeled taxis), motorcycles, and smoke-belching buses and trucks clog the streets, some of which were elephant trails only about a hundred years ago.
In the residential sections of the city, people live in air-conditioned, western-style apartments. But in the outskirts and poorer areas of the city, families, often several generations strong, live in small wooden houses, with little furniture, though usually with a TV antenna on the roof.
Religious Life
About 95 percent of the Thai people are Buddhists, so the first thing visitors might notice is a profusion of glittering temples, or wats, with their multitiered, pointed roofs and richly ornamented gables. About 400 of the country’s 30,000 Buddhist monasteries are in Bangkok. The most famous of them is the Temple of the Emerald Buddha. It is the Royal Chapel, and it houses Thailand’s most revered object, a 61-centimeter-high [24 in.] Buddha image made of a green crystalline stone. It is considered so sacred that the king himself will change its three different robes at the beginning of the rainy, the cool, and the hot seasons.
At one of the busiest intersections in the city stands Bangkok’s most popular shrine, with a gilded statue of the four-headed Hindu deity Brahma. Here, Buddhism has been mixed with Hinduism from the beginning.
Another part of the Oriental mystique is the presence of many spirit houses throughout the city. To the Thais, every tract of land is occupied by a guardian spirit that has to be appeased. Thus, a spirit house is erected alongside practically every structure, whether it is a residence, a hotel, a bank, an office complex, or even a monastery.
The mixture of religious beliefs and ideas has shaped the Thai people’s attitudes and thinking in many ways. Although Buddhists view life as consisting mainly of suffering, Thais do believe in sanuk (pleasure or fun). This creates in them a carefree and easygoing spirit. While this may help in some things, it surely does nothing for orderly traffic or observance of necessary laws. Attitudes such as mai pen rai (never mind; it doesn’t matter) and tam sabai (take it easy) help little in eliminating problems like littering, nor do they encourage farsighted planning.
On the other hand, the acceptance of the effects of past karma (deeds) as being responsible for misfortunes seems to explain the Thais’ patient endurance of unpleasant circumstances. Not only does the farmer appear to be content with his hard lot in life but the average city motorist is hardly upset should anyone cut in ahead of him. Passengers on a crowded bus remain unperturbed even when it gets stuck in one of the many traffic jams in the sticky afternoon heat. This is all aptly referred to as jai yen (cool head).
A Changing City
The traditional life-style is gradually disappearing. Yet, respect for one’s elders is still emphasized from an early age. It is a pleasant sight to see young students greeting their teachers with a wai, bowing the head with palms pressed together at the chin.
Saffron-robed monks making their early morning alms rounds is a familiar scene in Bangkok. Many young men still honor tradition and take up the monkhood for a short period of time—while on leave with full pay from their employer.
All roads in Thailand converge on the capital, bringing with them what the Bangkok Post calls “the most congested traffic in Asia—perhaps in the world.” Many of these roads were built by filling in existing canals. The result is drainage problems, sewage backups, and frequent flooding, especially during the annual monsoon season.
To compound the problem, Bangkok is sinking—at a rate of more than four centimeters [1.6 in.] a year! Thus, will the “Venice of the East,” so fascinating a medley of past and present, soon become the “Atlantis of the East”?
[Box/Pictures on page 18]
Bangkok’s Floating Market
Imagine going to market seated in a long-nosed, narrow boat and, on arriving, buying fruits and vegetables from other similar boats. Unusual? Not if you live in exotic Bangkok and frequent its Floating Market.
True, this swelling metropolis also has modern-style marketplaces, but none are more fascinating than the market on Bangkok’s khlongs, or canals, which lace this capital city into a watery network.
At the Floating Market, you see women boaters dressed in their traditional garb, complete with what looks like wide-flanged lamp shades perched on their heads. These bamboo-hatted vendors hawk their wares to eager customers. One boat is laden with lush, tropical fruit; another with a cornucopia of vegetables; the next with an assortment of seafood.
Don’t worry if all this shopping makes you hungry or thirsty. Just paddle right up to a boat. There a ‘chef de cuisine’ hovers over a steaming wok that is emitting a tempting, spicy aroma. She is cooking some delightfully tasting morsels. Try one! Or glide to the boat across the khlong where cool fruit drinks are for sale. They will quench your thirst as you slowly leave this traffic jam of bobbing boats.
[Credit Line]
Tourism Authority of Thailand
[Picture Credit Line on page 16]
Photos: Tourism Authority of Thailand