Ramayana Paintings from Royal Palace, Bangkok

King of Thailand is called Rama - so its not surprising that the walls of the Royal Palace have murals depicting the story of Ramayana.

The palaces depicted are quite similar to the royal palace itself with with multiple buildings in a campus and lavish use of Gold. The backdrops depict the landscape of the country.

Rama is depicted in blue and you can identify him with his bow and arrow.

Look at the details of the Chariot in motion as the war is fought between Rama and Ravana.  Look at the foot soldiers and how their garments make them stand out among the royal armies.

Vanar Sena or the army of monkeys fighting the army of Ravana - see the sharp contrast that the artist brings out between the two and the rocky landscape.

Another war scene with humans and monkeys fighting together.

Elephants and Chariots braving the rocks. Look at the generous use of gold to embellish a subdued landscape.

Hanuman and his magical tail playing games as rest of the armies fight.

Loved this depiction of Ravana in his golden court. The detailing of the court in dark grey and golden columns, garments is amazing.

Our guide told us that the figures sitting on the small mats are Rama and Sita and since it was painted after the war scene. I assume this is scene from Rameshwara on Rama's return from Lanka.

This is how the murals are depicted in a long corridor around the palace with bright red ceilings. Paintings are a continuos narrative without any explicit break between the scenes, assuming that the viewer is aware of the story and  can relate the paintings to the scenes of Ramayana.

I wish I had more time and a guide to take me through the details of these paintings and the style of paintings.

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Reclining Buddha at Wat Pho, Bangkok, Thailand

Wat Pho – the largest Wat or temple in Thailand is home to the wonderful and giant gold plated reclining Buddha statue. I had a very hurried visit to this Wat, which is actually a complex with many things to offer and many interesting structures inviting you. In the absence of leisurely time, I decided to spend time with the Buddha who is getting ready for his Mahaparinirvana in all his glory. You are not allowed with your shoes on inside the chamber of Buddha, but the funny part is you are not even allowed to keep it out, Instead you are provided with shoulder bags in which you must carry the shoes with you. It defies my logic of why shoes should be kept out but as they say ‘do in Rome as the Romans do’, I carried on.

The room that houses the reclining Buddha seems to be made to cover the statue and the statue just fits in with a small circumambulatory path around it. You enter the temple from the side of Buddha’s head and his curls sitting nicely on his right arm is the first thing you see. The scale of his head hits you before you stretch your neck to take a look at his elongated body.

As you look closely at his fish shaped eyes made in white mother of pearl lost in a thought, they inspire you to go inside and reflect on the ‘Maya’ that this world is.  I looked at his elongated ears and the three lines on his neck and started looking for  ‘Mahapurush Lakshana’ or the signs on the body that mark the super human beings. I could see his Ushnisha or the protrusion on his head and urna or the small protrusion between his eyebrows. I walked along his body till I reached his giant feet, another of the ‘Mahapurush Lakshanas’. The bottoms of his feet or the soles are again made in mother of pearl and has the relevant iconography of Buddha embedded in them. With too many tourists around, I could not look closely at the feet but now after looking at the close-up of the feet I could see that both feet have similar signs and there is a roundel in the middle of the sole that in my opinion should be a Chakra or the wheel but it looks more like lotus here. Rest of the sole is divided into rectangular parts with a sign in each of them.  I could spot some but missed most. Need a monk or a Buddhologist to guide me through these.

The back of the statue is plain but it gives you the indication of Buddha’s robe that is not very evident from the front. Behind the head Buddha’s head rests on two box-like pillows in blue color with rich glass mosaic work. You can not see the whole statue in one go, as there are pillars in front of it and this reminded me of a similar reclining Buddha image at Ajanta Caves that too is behind a row of pillars thought it can be viewed in totality from the other end of the chaitya.

The walls of this hall and doors have stories from Buddha’s life painted all over. The colors used are dark with ample gold to highlight them. The Buddha can be identified with the Halo behind him while for identifying rest of the characters I needed to spend some more time there. Style of painting seemed somewhere between Thangkha and Ajanta paintings. Pillars and the ceiling are also in intricate patterns that I would associate more with central asian style of painting. The fact that stories adorn the walls and the decorative patterns on ceilings is another resemblance Wat Pho has with Ajanta paintings that also follow the same pattern.

There was a row of bowls kept for the devotees to put coins in. If I am not wrong this is a asking for a wish or saying thank you for a wish fulfilled ritual where you chant a mantra and keep putting a coin in each of these bowls something very similar to turning a rosary. The number usually followed is 108 like in a rosary.

In the complex I could see giant representations of the Garuda as the dwarpala, somewhere indicating that even in Thailand Buddha is seen as the incarnation of Vishnu as Garuda is the vehicle of Vishnu and in typical Buddhist iconography we hardly find its mention. There is a descendent of the Bodhi tree of Bodh Gaya in the complex.

I hope to go back to have a closer look at the complex sometime.

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Hellfire Pass Memorial – Thailand

The tourist circuit in Western Thailand bordering Myanmar or Burma is centered on the historic Burma – Thailand rail link that was built during Word War II by the Japanese forces. The story is simple – Japan wanted to reach India with its war material and the route via sea was risky and they wanted to reach via a road route. So they decided to build a 400+ kms of rail link and they wanted to build it fast. They started work on rail link at both ends in Southern Burma and in Thailand and the two links met in Oct 1943 at Konkoita in Thailand. Today about 130 kms of this rail link is still operational between Non Pladuk and Namtok. Majority of it was destroyed during the World War II itself when allied forces air raided the area.

The link was built by using the 60,000 prisoners of war (PoW) of allied forces and millions of civilian laborers who came from the local population. About 20% of PoW and about 90,000 local laborers called ‘Romushas’ lost their lives during this construction for various reasons including lack of food, medical facilities, over work, harsh living conditions and brutal treatment by the authorities. All the PoWs who died have a beautiful cemetery dedicated to them in Kanchanaburi, about the local laborers – well no one knows. There was phase in 1943 when the pace of work was greatly increased and this period is known as ‘Speedo’ and workers were made to work even at night.

‘A life for every Sleeper’ is what you read when you enter a small but beautifully preserved and presented museum tells the story of those who lost their lives through films that have been created using the real pictures of that time. The walls of the museum have the history written in detail with maps, dioramas, pictures and paintings highlight the story. There are historical bits and pieces like the dresses worn, the diaries, the orders issued that tell you about the times when the rail link was being built about 70 years ago. Since this is a well-documented period there are lots of chronologies that can be seen on the walls. Personal use items like open pages of a diary are moving as is the 7-minute film that is screen every 10 minutes for the visitors.

Museum is located on top of the Hellfire Pass Hill. You have to take some steps down, to reach a portion that has the remains of the original railway line. As you walk through the gorge that must have been excavated for laying this rail line, you see the dense forest that is still around and wonder how they would have done work of laying down railways. You wonder how important it could be to transport war material that you are ready to let millions die for it and then use it to kill another set of people. The small memorials with pictures of some prisoners and small memorial crosses kept on the side of the track evoke an emotion that makes you feel the pain of those who had to suffer here. Walking on the train path makes you feel as if you are meeting a part of the history.

I was very impressed by the way the whole memorial has been kept. The wooden pathway that leads to the rail track is beautiful. It lets you stop every few steps and admire the hills and woods around. Fortunately the day we went there, there were thick clouds playing with the lush green color. Interestingly, this memorial has been built with the efforts of an Australian PoW who worked here on this pass and came back after 40 years to look for the spot. He then requested Australian Government to put this in place.

Hellfire Pass memorial is an integral part of the history of this region and would interest any history enthusiast.

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Bridge over River Kwai, Kanchanaburi, Thailand

There are places that have historic stories in their wraps and its takes a filmmaker to unravel them and present it to the world. I saw this phenomenon in Schindler’s museum in Poland and now in Kanchanaburi province of Thailand. Film Bridge over River Kwai brought the world focus on to this small bridge – a part of a historic rail link built during World War II. Though the film was shot in Sri Lanka, the place got its due with the blockbuster film.

A dark metal bridge, about 70 years old with two rectangular panels between the arched one standing on the quite River Kwai may not attract any special attention but for the fact that the tourism in this region is so linked with the Railway line that this bridge is an integral part of. The prisoners of war mainly belonging to allied forces built this rail link that was built to link to Burma to ultimately reach India. The pathetic conditions that they worked under and the speed at which the rail link was built is well documented in the hellfire pass museum that I would write about in a bit.

You can walk on this bridge. Small metallic platforms jetting out of the bridge let you look at the river from a vantage point. The riverside restaurants make a beautiful site on one side of the river while a giant statue of Buddha looks over from the other bank. Bang in the middle of the bridge on a platform a young man was playing flute, adding music to the ambience. Narrow colorful boats provided color to the monotony of the river and made an excellent shot from the top. I visited the bridge twice – first time at dusk and then at dawn and it was charming both the times. In the morning as I was walking towards it, I saw a train passing over it and that made me feel as if the visit to the bridge is complete. I also felt it is not just a monument but also a living heritage – something that I have started championing lately.

Some literature on the Internet tells me that the original bridge that stood next to a wooden bridge was destroyed in the world war bombing. The one that exists now is the restored version of the original and the remains of the original bridge are kept in the war museum. Hmm…so did I walk on the original bridge or an imitation of it?

A well-maintained cemetery in the town pays homage to about 7000 Prisoners of War who lost lives during WW II. These are not the real graves for they are too close to each and too small for human adults but more like memorials arranged by nationality. To right of entrance are British and to the left Dutch and Australians. Many visitors come looking for the graves of their ancestors. It looks beautiful and evokes an emotion of homage. I liked the local cemetery right next to this one that had memorial stones in pistachio green and some messages written in Thai.

There are many resorts and hotels on the river Kwai. I stayed at the Felix River Kwai Resort in room that overlooked the river through the leaves of coconut tree.

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Thailand’s New Latitude Wines

East is exotic for various reasons, but wine is not a part of those reasons. So when we were told we are driving out of Hua Hin to do some wine tasting, my curiosity went up by a few notches. The road leading to Hua Hin Hills Vineyard was deserted and passed through many fields, hillocks that eventually gave way to rolling hills forming layers of peaks and valleys.

We were led to a plush restaurant overlooking the 500+ acre vineyards with hills in the background and a golden stupa or was it a temple standing tall on one of them. There were wooden barrels used in the décor. A wine counter had three layers of glasses lined up for tasting. Soon we were served white, rosette and red wine in these glasses. The connoisseurs of wine made their opinions and I heard words like ‘light bodied’, ‘adequately dry’ and honestly I could understand them very little. But the wine bottles in a large glass bowl filled with ice and in 3 different colors of wine in glasses looked beautiful. Grape juice was served for people who did not taste wine.

Technically called Siam Winery, this winery produces the romantically named range of wines called Monsoon Valley wines since 1996. We were told this is the oldest and the largest winery in Thailand and the owner is more famously known for his Red Bull energy drinks. Thais love red wine though the wine specialists say the weather is more suited for the white wine. What I found most interesting is that they export about 70% of their wines to Europe, about 20% to Japan & Hong Kong and the rest about 10% is consumed locally. Royal Shiraz made especially for the king is not sold to anyone else and like everything else in Thailand this winery also believes that they are prospering with the blessings of the king.

I learnt a new term ‘New Latitude Wines’ – Now these are wines that are made from grapes grown outside the traditional winery latitudes. Traditional wines with a perfect recipe are made from crop grown within the latitudes 30-50 and this obviously does not include tropical countries like India and Thailand. The wines that are now produced in these regions are more experimental as they exploit new technologies and innovations. In fact winemaker Kathrin Puff says that new latitude wines teach the right to be wrong and are still juvenile while the old wines have stories set in tradition and location. You can also read Frank Norel who is credited with coining the term New Latitude Wines.

Following the west, wineries are becoming an integral part of tourist circuits and that means providing some entertainment quotient to the visitors. So here at Hua Hin you can go for an elephant ride around the vineyard – this is the home of Asian elephants after all. You can go on a guided tour with the vineyard staff who will explain you the various crops and the wines they are converted into. It is a nice drive through the vineyard though if one can afford time a walk would be more beautiful. There is an old house standing in the middle but we were told that visitors are allowed only during the daytime and they must leave before evening. In between the lines I sensed a safety issue on the road leading to the vineyard and this place is good one hour plus drive from Hua Hin.

It was an unexpected experience in the exotic east.

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Tiger Temple, Kanchanaburi, Thailand

I have never been this up close and personal with tigers, getting within a few centimeters of them. Some of my fellow travelers even patted them and played with them, I did not have the courage, but after a while I was comfortably moving around with many tigers tied to various trees in an open dusty ground. Standing there I realized the difference between reading and hearing about some experiences and actually being a part of them. I was scared and excited at the same time. Some instinct gave me the courage to stand there with ease and click pictures and videos, may be it was the chains around the necks of these big cats or was it the volunteers in shining pink color or the monk who was treating them like children and playing with them. I did go a bit white every time they opened their mouth and showed those long sharp teeth sometimes to yawn and sometimes to make a bit of noise. At the same time, when I saw their movements being restricted by the chains around their neck, it felt sad. I felt an empathy for them with an impulse to open their chains.

Before entering the temple I has read the details outside the ticket window in Shuddh Hindi that spoke about how the tigers are trained to live with the humans from a very young age and why the allegation of them being drugged is false. I came back and read many views of the earlier travelers and I found most western media being very skeptical about animals being maltreated for the purpose of tourism. However there were undercover reports too that said they found nothing to prove the use of any drugs or any bad treatment of animals. What is my view – well animals looked healthy, though some had bruises and cuts on their skins but that can be because of living in the wild. They were definitely tamed or were they too used to humans and cameras. The show that is put up for almost 2 hours every afternoon is obviously to make money, I am sure tigers are least interested in being patted by the petite humans or having cameras clicking them from all angles. I saw them being fed with spoon and even water being given from old Coca-Cola bottles – as a mighty animals I am sure they would like to go out and hunt but then does it hurt them if their food walks up to their mouth – I don’t think so.

We were told that there are about 140 tigers in this 2-decade-old monastery that is officially called Wat Pha Luang Ta Bua, and the reason the display for visitors happens around lunch time is because this is when tigers are at their laziest best after they have been well fed. Makes sense though they make you sign a declaration that you enter the sanctuary at your own risk and the temple will take no responsibility in case of a mis-happening. If one wants to see them in a more active phase, there are programs where you can see them playing in not so restrictive environment, feed them and make them exercise. Towards the end, you can walk the tigers to their canyon, pat them while walking or hold their tail or leash. I did walk with the tiger but at a safe distance with many people between the tiger and me.

Many international volunteers work at the temple and they actually act as a wall between you and the animals and keep an eagle eye on what you do with the animals. The day we went, there was just one monk and it was all volunteers handling the show.

As per the dress code of temple, you are not allowed to wear bright colors as they can excite the animals. Since this is also a monastery, though visitors do not get to see the temple or the living area of monks, women are supposed to wear clothes that cover their shoulders and knees and men are also not allowed in shorts as it is considered disrespectful to the monks. You are also not allowed closer to tigers with any bags on you. Fair enough.

It is an experience to be so close to tigers though the controversies are bound to tear you apart on the ethics of the whole program.

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Thailand - Almost First Impressions

I was in Thailand exactly after 15 years. While standing in the Visa on Arrival queue I was flipping through pages of my passport and realized in 1999 I had traveled to Thailand exactly on the same dates 21-27^th July – weird co-incidence. That was when I still working in the corporate world for a flamboyant American company that took us around the city and on cruises over a weekend. This time I was on a trip on the Invitation of Tourism Authority of Thailand. Kanchanaburi, Tiger Temple, Bridge of River Kwai, Hua Hin and some classic Bangkok were on the itinerary this time. So here are some near first impressions from the trip:

1. Thailand is absolutely safe for tourists and travelers. Though there is a drop in the number of tourists, the sheer numbers at the attractions and on Bangkok streets were enough to give me confidence that tourists are well taken care of in the country, no matter what their personal struggles may be.

2. I liked the fact that they link tourism to not only economy but to happiness of their people and their visitors – as they have their tourism campaign around Thailand Happiness and as their Naval Chief mentioned in his press conference.

3. Shopping in Thailand can be addictive. As someone who hardly shops except for small souvenirs like Fridge magnets, I shopped quite a bit and I do blame it to the environment that presents so many options to you that you get sucked in. Weather you regret or enjoy it later is a different matter.

4. Thailand follows dress code and expects its visitors to follow the same when they visit any place that is connected with the King or the Monks. For women this means no sleeveless, no shorts / torn jeans and for men it means no shorts and no torn jeans. This is the way they show respect to the king and the religious leaders. As someone who believes in the continuity of the cultures, I respect this code. I only wish they communicate it to visitors in advance, so that they come well prepared and not have to pay for the same at the venue.

5. Each day of the week is associated with a color, and the day you are born, that is your lucky color, makes me an Orange person – a color I do like. King was born on Monday so you always see his portrait surrounded by yellow color, and Queen’s in blue as she was born on Friday.

a.      Monday – Yellow

b.      Tuesday – Pink

c.      Wednesday – Green

d.      Thursday – Orange

e.      Friday – Blue

f.       Saturday – Purple

g.      Sunday – Red

6. You can see the portrait of King and Queen in most public places and also in shops that sell them. Of course the portrait are from their younger days as they are now 87 and 82 respectively. We were told that birthdays of King and Queen are a national holiday.

7. Colorful Tuk Tuks and Jeepanis are the highlight of local transport across Thailand. Bike Taxis are available in Bangkok, though my fellow travelers’ experience said they could be pricier than the taxis that can be found anywhere and can be identified by their bright colors like Shocking Pink, Bright Blue and Sparkling Red. The way taxis and bikes were driven, I never felt out of India.

8. The bus that took us around had massage chairs – that means we could get a short and gentle massage while we traveled from one place to another. I found it very interesting, though I am not sure how effective it would be.

9. There were no international banks I could see anywhere, all the banks were local. Last time around I remember having many global banking brands here.

10. Seven Eleven and Tesco-Lotus are signs that you can see on all highways. Lotus I believe is the local partner of retail giant Tesco.

11. Elephant and Lotus are key iconographic elements and can be seen in all kinds of places – and I was told elephant is seen as the vehicle of Indra.

Now, its time to sit and write the detailed posts on the destinations I visited.

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