You will never see so much respect in the world as the Thai's have for their royal family. The family is so revered that to insult it is a criminal offence and the positioning of a portrait of the King in a Bangkok office is a contentious debate. They still command alot of respect from the Thai populace. I met a British couple in Chiang Mai who had actually seen the royal family, they could not gain access to Wat Phraeo Kao as the King was visiting. They actually saw him leave in his official car and were much more impressed seeing him then they were with seeing their own royal family. Perhaps it is the veneration the Thai's have for him which wins people over.
There's plenty
on the Thai royal family in the National Museum. This collection of antiquities
is very good and slap bang in the tourist mecca of Sanam Luang and a few
hundred feet from the bedlam of the Khao San Road. It houses the chief artistic
treasures of Thailand and is housed in a large teak building built in the
traditional Thai style. It is exceptionally popular with Thai and foreign
visitors and if you want a dose of culture in this fast buzzy city then this
place is for you.
I visited on my
last day in Bangkok to kill time before I caught my bus to the airport. I had
unwisely got very burn't on the beaches of Phuket and at that point could not
wear my shoulderbag due to singed shoulders and chest. The idea was to keep out
of the sun on the last day as my face was peeling and looked exceptionally red,
and the fan-coolled rooms of the museum would protect me from the sun and I
would learn more about Thailand at the same time. And did I learn? - yes I did
- I learn't the names of the last Khmer Emperor's, I learn't what masks
depicting the Ramakien looked like and that only the medieval Thai royal family
had the luxury of an indoor toilet and bathroom.
The Museum
stands on the western side of Sanam Luang. Next to it and to the north is the
National Theatre and Gallery as well as the Chakrabongse Road leading to the
Khao San Road. Traffic hurtles onto the Sanam Luang from the speeding
Ratchadamnon Road in the northeast of the square and most famously the golden
spires, gaudy colour and curled eaves of the Grand Palace adjoin the southern
part of the square. To get there take a tuk-tuk or air-conditioned taxi to
Sanam Luang, or waterbus to Tha Maharat or Tha Chang piers. The walk from the
Khao San Road can be very quick but you may dice with death under the Prao
Pinklao bridge or choke to death due to bus exhaust on the western side of
Sanam Luang. Sanam Luang is also a good place for festivals and you may see the
famous Thai 'kite-fighting' which goes on there.
The Museum
itself costs only 40 baht and is open from 9.00am to 4.00pm. You are given a
free map and guide but I must stress this is not a high-tech museum, in fact I
suspect the museum has not been updated in decades. It is beautifully laid out
in a number of viharn's built to resemble the classic Thai monastery or Wat.
Spacious buildings are interspersed by green lawns and overlooked by palm trees.
And of course it contains the mandatory platoon of Thai schoolchildren trooping
through who are more interested in the farang's (foreigners) then the exhibts.
The first
section concentrates on Thai history and the kingdom of the Thais which
appeared in about 900AD. The first great cities were Sukhothai and Ayutthaya
(see other entry) whose citizens numbered over one million people each. There
were also maps showing the ancient trade routes stretching from Siam to Western
Europe. Then it moved on to a very respectful history of the Thai monarch's and
the fan-coolled galleries showed portraits of King Chulalongkorn and King
Ananda. There were photo's of the current King - Bhumibol and his Queen Sirikit
and a winchester gun used by King Rama V given by Theodore Roosevelt.
Lots of the
museum was given over to mannequins dressed in Thai military dress and there
were models and pictures of ancient Ayutthaya and it's royal elephants. Outside
in the green grounds there was 'The Red House', a traditional mohoghany Thai
house built on stilts. To enter you had to remove your boots and step
delicately on the teak floor. The cooller air was most welcome and the
traditional furnishings and carvings were very impressive. In one of the outer
buildings was the main collection. This was a tumble of swords, statues,
chariots ceramics, furniture and gigantic royal elephant howdah's. The best
exhibts were definitely the royal funeral chariots - fronted by the writhing
heads of twenty serpents covered in gold leaf.
If you need a
bit of peace and contemplation after the National Museum then cross Sanam Luang
to the Luak Muang shrine. The pillar is Bangkok's own personal shrine and is a
green garden with pond and gazebo. Tens of worshippers were burning incense or
praying in quiet contemplation. Even in the middle of busy Bangkok everywhere I
go smiles and polite interest greets me. This is a city with a big heart.
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