THAILAND (integrated blog) - LAND OF BUDDHAS AND MASSAGES

(PLEASE NOTE THAT THE PIKS IN THE earlier version AND THIS version ALSO CAN BE ENLARGED for viewing )

In India we have always been partial to the west. We know all types of details about countries like England and America while we are woefully ignorant about the east. We do not know much about even big countries like China and Japan let alone Thailand. All I knew about it was that it was called Siam before and that it is a Buddhist country and quite liberal about sex. What I did not know was that it is as big as France and the economy is doing very well. It grows lot of rice and as for quality of life, it is somewhere in the middle. It is called a newly industrialized nation. Its politics is not clear- The absolute monarchy ended in 1932, but the country has continued as a constitutional monarchy. The king is often in the news. Military has an upper hand in the affairs of the state. Democracy has played hide and seek with the country

Our main visit was to Singapore. There are flights from major Indian cities to Bangkok with discount fares ranging from 8000 – 12000 rupees. The currency in Thailand is Baht and 100 Bahts are roughly equivalent to 120 rupees. The lodging in a middle class hotel (like the one in which we stayed ) costs about 1500 - 2000 rupees.

(1) Bangkok city

While the Bangkok airport (called SUVARNA BHOOMI – Golden land ?)is really huge, the delays for the immigration procedure (Visa fees 1000 Baht) reminded us that we were still in a developing country.The roads leading to the city were very good. Once we got off the high ways, it was like any other big Indian city. . It certainly looked like a 3^rd world country in many ways but with one foot in the first world. We reached on a Monday and saw many people wearing yellow shirts. When we asked about it we found out that it is a symbol of solidarity with the monarch.

There seemed to be good public transport in the city. There were many buses on the street but we used only trains (overhead) . But trains do not connect all pats of the city as in say Singapore. Taxis are not expensive. There are also equivalents of auto rickshaws – called TukTUKs. Using them could be a problem since it is difficult to communicate. Bangkok was known as the Venice of the east but now there are only few klangs (canals) . Fast boats ply on these routes (see below). But Bangkok revels in traffic jams. It is no wonder that the drivers keep food with them all the times (Even as such people of south east asia seem to have food throughout day and night !). Thais seem to be omnivorous and it is not obvious what is vegetarian and what is not. Contrary to what it says in the bible, we did live by bread alone! People are very nice and always willing to help. But most of them do not speak English, or spoke very little. There is plenty to shop with clothes etc only slightly costlier than in India.

Bangkok is an extremely safe city. Quite a few people are on the streets in the night. It seems like this safety is shared by other cities of the east like Singapore, Tokyo etc. This type of security is not known at all in western countries and even here in India.
Part of the reason for this and for the relatively calm nature of the Thais is the message of Buddhism. One is told that even the protest political rallies are very peaceful. But this also implies docility and could be one reason that democracy is not firmly rooted here.

As we will see later and in the accompanying photographs, the foundation of Thai culture seems to be Hindu on which the Buddhist edifice stands. Before ~1000 AD the region was controlled by SriVijaya and other empires. Shrivijaya, being a Hindu empire, was possibly responsible for the strong Hindu element in Thailand’s culture. Many of the earlier sculptures and architecture are essentially Hindu. The ancestors of present Thais came over from the China region around that time . The two big kingdoms were Sukhothai and Ayutthaya. As is well known they have their own version of Ramayana . The Kings are named after Rama (The present one is called RAMA IX.) Recently Brahma seems to have caught the fancy of Thais and In a place called IRAWN shrine one can see the Brahma idol.However, Buddha is the main deity here. One cannot just miss him in this country. While countries like Japan and China have other religions also (Shinto, Confucianism etc) , the major religion is Buddhism here. Many streets have temples for Buddha and the idols are quite big. They follow Hinayana system here , like is Sri Lanka and Burma.

(2) Bangkok tourist spots

The major tourist spoit in Bangkok isthe Grand Palace area in the west of the city. There are many temples (called WATs) and pagodas in this area. The main one is the emrald Buddha shrine and the associated temples in Wat PHRA keow area,

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-- The Wats (Pagodas ) in the Grand Palace area in the western part of Bangkok. The walls of the Palace have scenes from Ramayana. Also there is a big shrine for ' Emerald Buddha'. Many Hindu figures like Garudas and Chinese figures like dragons etc coexist on the temple walls.
(2) Outside of the EMERALD BUDDHA temple in Bangkok (3) The guard figures outside a temple in Bangkok

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Golden Reclining Buddha in WAT PO - The idol is gigantic (40 meters in length)

Following is WAT ARUN : An Angkor Wat type of temple with many many steps on the river bank

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(3) Ayuthaaya:

Ayuthaya is about 100 km north of Bangkok. It takes 2 hours by bus or boat. We took a tour – going there by bus and coming back by boat It cost us 1600 Baht (~2000Rs) .Thailand has lot of rivers and very good irrigation which explains the fact that it is the first in the world in rice cultivation. During the bus journey we saw lots of paddy fields.

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There are several sites inthe town where you can find ruins. There are tall pagodas, stupas , hedless Buddhas - all said to be due to invasion by the Burmese (They are also Buddhists, but...)

This is a huge reclininig Buddha . Most of the Ayuthaaya buildings are from 14 - 17th Century

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The Ayuthhayar kingdom began around 1350 like our Vijaynagar empire but lasted for 200 more years . Buddhism was introduced as the state religion by the first king . Many Buddhist temples were built by the subsequent kings. In the middle of the 18^th century the city was ransacked by the Burmese. Around this time, the Chakri dynasty took over with RAMA I as its king.(The dynasty continues till today) . He shifted the capital to Bangkok. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sights on the river banks -The river cruise from Ayuthaaya to Bangkok took about 3 hours and both the journey and the sights from the boat were very interesting. Was a very pleasant cruise

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(4) Women in Thai society:

One of the first things one notices is that there seem to be more women there than in many other countries. Most of the stores are run by women. Women handle tough jobs like driving the boats on clangs ( canals – Bankok was once called the Venice of the east) . They also stand on the narrow edges of these speeding boats and give tickets as can be seen in one of the pictures. . And last but not least they manage massage parlors (see pic, more on it later) .There are massage parlors everywhere. Even one's little toes can get massaged for not a whole lot of money !

Dr Devaraja , a Sinhalese sociologist attributes the seemingly exalted position of women in the society, it to Buddhism where (a) the church was open to both sexes and (b) no particular preference for male heir since daughter is regarded as a heir and could conduct religious ceremonies including funerals etc. It is not that Masculine superiority does not exist but is tempered by Buddhist ideals. However there is also the sad aspect is that there is a large scale use of women as physical objects. Old western men accompanied by very young Thai women is a very common sight in Bangkok. They act as companions for these men. This sad state of affairs seems to have started during the Vietnam war when the country was knowingly used for ' rest and recreation'. Older men have now replaced the soldiers of yore and the pay for women in these jobs is quite high.

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(5) The massage actually came from India !

While massaging here may have its seamier aspects,

one would like to note the very fascinating connection

(pointed out by Sreenivasarao ) between Buddha and massages .

Jivaka was Buddha's personal physician and one of his innovations was the massage. When Buddhism went to Thailand, the massage also went with it.

Even today the Thai massagers start their work with an invocation to Jivaka Kumarabhaca (He is also referred to as Father Shivago). There is a figure in Bangkoks' Wat Phrom Keao which is supposed to be of a medicine man. I do not remember the name but one can see the figure in the adjoining pic. It could be that of Jivaka the great vaidya ! The invocation is as follows

We invite the spirit of our Founder, the Father Doctor Jivaka, who comes to us though his saintly life...

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Finally as we were coming back to the SwarnaBhumi airport, we were happy that we had seen an ancient culture and land. But when one looked at the overall postion of women, the feelings were mixed. The calmness of people here could also denote possible docility in important matters. This may explain why Thailand is still not a complete democracy . .

And as we entered the immigration area in the airport, we were again reminded of the Hindu element in this society.

The giant tableau at the duty free area of the airport - Devas and Asuras doing Amrit Manthan - The figures are almost size of humans !

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