Dusit

Bangkok is huge and sprawling and even though I’ve been here for three months, there are still more areas to explore, so this past weekend I spent some time in the Dusit section. It’s not near a subway or Skytrain stop, so I took the ferry boat to the Tha Thewet pier and then walked. Ferry boats are definitely the way to go when you can – they’re quick, cheap, run often, and you get a break from the heat and the cars and the motorcycles.

At the pier, a vendor was selling bags of crusts of bed, which little kids were buying and using to feed the fish in the river. And the fish were certainly into it – they were all flipping and smacking on top of one another, roiling the water.

From the pier, it was a short walk to the Dusit area. This part of Bangkok was laid out in the 1880s to 1900 – not long after General Haussmann had begun bulldozing parts of Paris and putting in long, wide boulevards there. Thailand was never colonized by a European power but in the late 1800s members of the royal family traveled and were educated overseas and many of the buildings from that period have strong European influences And Dusit reflects those influences – it was meant to be the “New Royal City,” with long tree-lined boulevards and canals, parks, and majestic Beaux Arts government buildings.

The big draw is the Vimanmek Mansion – Vimanmek means “castle in the clouds.” The mansion is the “largest golden teak building in the world and was built without any nails.” (So said the guide. I am assuming they used dowels instead, but couldn’t really ask since the guide’s English was limited and my Thai is worse.)

The mansion was built in 1900 and was once the royal residence of King Rama V. And in typical Empire style, it is way over-the-top – 72 rooms, filled with embroidered chairs and crystal chandeliers and lattice doorways and gilded this, that, and the other. It’s so big it’s hard to picture anyone actually living there, though they did have a number of family photographs that were interesting and gave it a period and personal touch. There was one of one of the daughters who later became the first woman in Thailand to drive a car. I can imagine what it took to maintain that level of pomp and circumstance in the midst of all the heat and humidity. You’re not allowed to take pictures inside, so I downloaded a few from the website. The “trophy” rooms were creepy – filled with elephant tusks and rhinoceros horns and end tables made from elephant feet (!).

And here are a few shots of the outside.

Because it is a royal building – the Queen spends time here each week – you have to dress appropriately. This means, no sandals and no shorts. Fortunately, I had read that in advance so I was wearing jeans. Unfortunately, the very large Australian fellow on the tour had not and they made him put a sarong around his waist to cover his shorts. Not really sure that the end result was more “appropriate” than just letting him in in shorts.

Nearby was the Throne Palace – also very European-looking.

After all this European style and decoration, it was a real change of pace to visit nearby Wat Benchamapophit. This wat is also called the “Marble Temple” because the façade is covered in Carrara marble.

The Buddha statue inside was stunning – the blue background really added to the feeling of serenity.

The wat has beautiful grounds, with canals and statues.

I really liked the expression on this statue. And given its placement, the only way I could get a picture was to include the soda cart in the background – a nice juxtaposition of the enlightened and the commercial. What’s the expression – “Have a Coke and a smile”?