Wednesday Walk: walking towards Sanam Luang, the big lawn in front of the Grand Palace, Bangkok.

about 2 months ago

The hot season has started in Bangkok. People have been complaining about the abnormal heat and the electricity usage record has hit all time high this month. People will be shocked by their electricity bills as they used air conditioners to cool down. So, I wouldn’t travel during peak hours when the heat and traffic would be equally unpleasant. I took a hot bus ( with no air conditioning) to the old part of Bangkok, towards the Grand Palace in late afternoon.

The traffic came to a stand still as the bus was approaching the turning towards the Grand Palace. There was road closure around the perimeter of the Grand Palace. So, the bus driver told us to get off the bus and walk the last leg of the journey towards the destination. He had to make a U-turn as he couldn’t proceed in this direction. We all got off the bus and followed other people who were heading in the same direction. I bought an ice cream at a shop near the bus stop, but it was quite disappointing so I didn’t bother to take any photos.

The atmosphere along the road was quite lively as if lots of people were heading towards an open air festival. This fifteen minutes’ walk was very nice as we had to pass several governmental buildings. These old buildings were built during the reign of King Rama V with neocolonial and Italian architectural styles. They had been beautifully renovated and painted mostly in yellow which reminded me of old buildings in Austria. Most people were heading towards Sanam Luang, the big green lawn in front of the Grand Palace and Viceroy Palace.

The arrival of Lord Buddha’s relics and his two Venerable Disciples from India have been enshrined at a special pavilion. This auspicious occasion naturally attracted all Buddhists’ attention; this rare opportunity to be close to holy relics shouldn’t be missed. Though I knew the whole place would be very crowded, I couldn’t afford to miss this once in a lifetime opportunity to pay my respect to holy relics.

The weather was quite pleasant as the sun was about to set in less than two hours. I took several photos of the wide footpath flanked by a public park. Those trees surrounding the park were quite old. This park used to be a palace of one of the Royalties, now it’s government property since the revolution to overthrow the monarchy. King Rama V was very impressed by Western architecture, fountains, statues, palaces and wide long roads in Paris.

So, we could still see wide long roads with spacious footpaths, fountains and Italian bridges in the old part of Bangkok around the Grand Palace. Several buildings looked similar to a clone of the famous palace building in Vienna and Paris. I did wonder what our country would look like had the monarchy never been overthrown. At least, many old palaces and grand buildings wouldn’t have been demolished and turned into development projects.

The old canons had been preserved and put back in their proper places in front of the Ministry of Interior. Those young progressive revolutionaries weren’t very well groom culturally or historically well informed. They were attracted by modern, big and ugly structure that expressed power and authority. Old historical objects were either left to deteriorate or secretly sold in black markets.

Only during the last thirty years that politicians realised the value of these feudal heritage. Many old cannons were lost as well as lots of antique objects from various palaces. Some people were making extra income from these in the black markets. Hundreds of Faberge eggs disappeared from a small palace close by the Grand Palace.

My mind always traveled back to the past whenever I was around old historical sites and temples. My subconscious could recall the outrageous feelings during some of my vague memories from my past life. The big crowd were making loud noises to chase all the pigeons away from their territory. Someone had left food for the pigeons by the wall of the park. Those crows weren’t happy to see those pigeons feasting there. Funny how crows could be found around the world and in various palaces’ grounds.

The traffic was getting busy while the sun was lowering towards the horizon. I could see lots of people leaving Sanam Luang to catch buses and underground trains. The Grand Palace with its enormous white wall looked so awesome and quiet during the golden hours. Some monks and civil servants in formal white uniforms left the Grand Palace by one side gate. There was probably some ceremony inside the Palace.

I was very attacked by those old cannons in front of the old building. They did have some strange personalities and vibes. But we weren’t allow to get too close, I would’ve liked to touch these old cannons and talked to them. Perhaps they could tell me some stories from the past. People were very superstitious about these cannons. In the past, politicians blamed their downfalls on the positions of these cannons. They were pointed towards the building which were meant to send bad vibes towards those working in the building.

Some people tried to shift the positioning of these cannons. But others wouldn’t allow the cannons to be pointing towards their buildings and the Grand Palace. People fell ill or had misfortune in their career found out that they had been sabotaged by bad Feng Shui. It took ages for the arguments about these cannons to find peaceful conclusions. Thai people, especially high ranking officers were hugely superstitious. Some even had their personal astrologers to advise them on the auspicious time for starting new projects or traveling. I wondered whether these cannons were offended by superstitious accusations.

I had the chance to have a coconut ice cream along my walk. The vendor was selling coconut ice cream on wheels. Some plain clothes soldiers ordered the biggest size of ice cream to refresh themselves from standing guard in the afternoon heat. I only chose the smallest and cheapest size of ice cream. After my ice cream, some young military guards told us to stand quietly as the royal motorcade was about to leave the Grand Palace.

People were very excited to have the opportunity to see the King and Queen for the first time. But we were standing on the wrong side of the road. The Royal motorcade would be much closer to the opposite side of this wide road as that’s the route to the residential Palace. I was counting the numbers of motorbikes and police cats in front of the Royal Limousine. It was quite a long motorcade but all vehicles were going at high speed so that the road could be opened to public as soon as possible. The motorcade took less than ten minutes to disappear and ordinary cars could create traffic jam once again.

I did manage to take a photo of the Royal limousine, but my mobile didn’t have a zoom lens. The photo was rather grainy as the sunlight wasn’t strong either. This short walk was very nice as the atmosphere around the Grand Palace and Sanam Luang was very peaceful and lively with lots if people going out to enjoy the evening. The sunset at Wat Arun (the Temple of Dawn) should be quite spectacular this evening. But I was too far away to capture that moment, perhaps some other times. The air was fresh as the breezes were gathering speed and the soft sunlight lingering on trees and buildings. It’s rare that I didn’t feel the need to rush around and I could take it easy without looking at my watch that evening. There’s something special in the air but I couldn’t quite recognise or become fully aware of until I crossed the road and was walking on Sanam Luang.