Teak, Tuk-Tuk, and Talk

The goal this morning was to see the Dusit Palace Complex, which is another former royal residence. I haggled to get a tuk-tuk driver from 100 baht to 40 baht for the trip, but I nearly paid for it with my life, as the driver drove faster than a little tuk-tuk should go.

The main attraction in the complex is the Vimanmek Teak Mansion, constructed in the later half of the 19^th century, which has three stories and more than 75 rooms. It served as the residence of King Rama V, with his apartment occupying an octagonal shaped section of the building, which can be seen in the picture to the right. The bathroom off of his bedroom contains what is claimed to be the first shower in Thailand, although the water was still carried upstairs manually. The main sitting room on the first floor of his apartment is filled with items collected by him on his European tour, including crystal from Poland, Germany, and the Czech Republic, Glass from Murano, Porcelain from England and France, Silver from the Netherlands and Denmark, etc.

One of my favorite pieces was a set of English tea cups with three equally-spaced handles that allowed a servant to hand the king the teacup with two hands and the king to receive with one hand. I also really liked the tea sets for each of the seven days of the week, decorated in the traditional Thai color for each day. The colors associated with each day are:

Monday: Yellow
Tuesday: Pink
Wednesday: Green
Thursday: Orange
Friday: Blue
Saturday: Purple
Sunday: Red

The mansion had apartments for other family members, as well as reception rooms and a throne room with a beautifully curved wall of windows.

The picture on the left shows the original teak throne hall used by Rama V. Today it contains an exhibition of handicrafts by local artists. Speaking of art displays… Some of the smaller wooden houses surrounding the mansion, which were used as residences for family members, had displays of photography by the current king, Rama IV. The current king is an avid photographer; you can see pictures of him with his camera everywhere. He did his photography manually, not using an autofocus, auto-exposure camera like most use. His photographs of family, particularly of the queen are quite good. There were also a lot of photos of the king playing various musical instruments including clarinet, saxophone, and trumpet with famous musicians. Most surprising were portraits painted by the king in varying styles. He seems to be multi-talented.

The picture on the right shows the Ananta Samakhom Throne Hall, which is still used today for ceremonies. Its construction was begun by Rama V and completed by his successors. It is said to have been modeled after St Peter’s in Rome in both its cross-shaped floor plan and dome structure. You can definitely see the Italian touches, including the three dimensional floral pattern on the ceiling that is exactly like that of several churches I have seen in Florence. The domes have paintings of the various kings and their important contributions to Thailand, including Rama I returning from war with Cambodia on the back of an elephant, Rama V abolishing slavery, and Rama IV sitting below the Buddha and flanked by leaders of other religions, meant to signify religious freedom in this Buddhist nation. The interesting part about this last painting is that it looked very much like an image you would see in a Christian church, except that the image of Christ is replaced with the image of the Buddha.

After this, I needed to get back to my hotel, so I found a group of tuk-tuks by the zoo and had a funny exchange with a young driver. He started at 100 baht, of course, and I told him that he needed to quote me a price in the realm of reality. He asked for my price, which was 40, since that is what I paid to get there and he said, “No, how about 80?”

“But I only paid 40 to get here.”
“60?”
“No, 40.”
“Too low.”
“I paid 40 to get here from there.”
“Old price.”
“No, today, Soi Rambutri to here – 40 baht.”
“But lots of stops.”
“No, I came today for 40B, no stop, no shop.”
“Please, 50.”
“Why would I pay more than I paid this morning to go the same exact distance?”
“Thai money isn’t much. Give me an extra 10 so I can buy a water.”

Mind you, this is all done in good nature, with smiles and laughter. It is a game and we are at this point playing for only 30 cents. It isn’t about the money so much as the sport.

I was running short on time because I needed to meet a friend, so I said, “40 baht or I walk. You know 40 is a good price for you.” Then his friend jumped in and said, “I’ll take you for 40 -- 40 dollars!” to which I responded, “I may be falang,” (my third Thai word, meaning westerner), “but I’m not stupid.” This got a big laugh from the small crowd of drivers that had gathered to watch the fun. At this point, I was holding on to principle and he was holding at his price out of pride. We were both competitive and wanted to win the game. Seeing this was going nowhere, I pointed to another driver and said, “Let’s see if he can do better.” The other driver immediately took my price, having listened to the friendly banter. The young guy was not upset and even walked with me over to the other tuk-tuk, chatting away. As I climbed in, he asked how long I had been in Bangkok and I told him, “Three days.” He dropped his head backwards, face to the sky, and moaned. He was clearly disappointed at losing to such a newcomer.

I went to have coffee with a friend that recently moved back to Bangkok. For all the Pat Yongvanich fans out there, he sends his love.

After this, I walked through the city, returning to the location of yesterday’s adventure to buy the monk’s bowl. Then I walked back towards my hotel, coming across this pretty temple. It is Wat Ratchanatdaram Worawihan which claims to have the last Loha Prasat (metal castle) of its kind. The castle has 37 spires representing the 37 virtues leading to enlightenment.