The dogs of Bangkok

It doesn't take much walking around in Bangkok before you notice the stray dogs.  These dogs are known as "soi dogs."  Soi in Thai means side road.  These dogs are most likely community dogs, which means that they tend to stay in the same neighborhood, and often, people in the neighborhood feed them.  In the past, city authorities controlled their numbers by euthanization, but that practice was abandoned with the arrival of the SPCA nearly eight years ago.  The SPCA ran a campaign declaring that killing the dogs went against Buddhist beliefs.  Since that time, the numbers of soi dogs has steadily risen.   Sometimes, the dogs seem healthy and normal, but more often than not, they will be mangy, scabby and limping.  One of the dogs we see frequently near our closest subway stop has severely infected eyes.   I won't write too much about these dogs, but if you are interested, you can read a really good article about Soi dogs here.

It's hard to know if this dog's eye was infected, or if it had been damaged due to some kind of trauma.

The good news about the soi dog issue is that there is at least one organization taking action to help.  You can visit their website by clicking here.  Even though I know these dogs don't have the pampered life that our spoiled dog Pono has, most of them do seem to be fairly well-fed.  I have seen traffic stop for a dog in the middle of the street, although I am sure many of them do get hit by cars or motorbikes.  It is also common to see a dog, stretched out flat in the middle of the sidewalk with a flood of pedestrians spilling around it.  Regardless of how we might perceive the lives of these dogs, they do know how to endear themselves to us.  That is one skill dogs - even scabby strays - seem to have mastered.

About 30 seconds after I took this photo, this dog stopped, right in the middle of the street, and had a nice big poop.  I was too surprised to photograph that.

There are stray cats here, too, of course, but dogs seem to be more ubiquitous.  Most of the cats I have seen were near the temples.  I don't really have any good cat photos to share with you.  Instead, here are some photos of an opportunistic raven we saw, while eating spicy food last week at a little outdoor restaurant. 

Just another Wat

M and I visited a couple more Wats on Sunday.  What we learned is not to visit Wats on Sunday.  So crowded!  The more interesting of the two Wats we saw was Wat Pho, or the Temple of the Reclining Buddha.  That Reclining Buddha is one BIG BUDDHA.  I had no idea it was so big - I mean, I had seen photos, but dang.  The Wat is big, too, as I suppose it has to be, to house such a big Buddha.  The top of Buddha's headpiece looked as though it would pierce a hole in the top of the temple itself.

It's hard to convey the size of the Buddha here.  Trust me, it's huge.

Even though I like the glittering gold Buddhas, I think the highlight of this Wat for me was the mosaic tile.  Love that stuff.

M is very patient about waiting for me to take photos of everything.  I took over one hundred photos on Sunday.  When I return to the condo and put them on the computer, I find I am missing my fancy big camera.  Since I am not a photographer, I need all the help I can get.   *sigh*  I WILL get over it.  I will.

It rains nearly every day here, and on Sunday, we found ourselves waiting for a bus while tucked under the eaves of a big building during a downpour.  I admit, this desert girl likes the rain.  Oddly, the air in the city doesn't get that fresh, just-after-a-rain smell.  I guess the smells of the city are too much, even for a downpour to freshen.  I did get to see a pink taxi hydroplane to within inches of a turquoise Mercedes.  Made me happy we were taking a bus.  I didn't capture it on camera, but I did record a very short film of the rain, just for my desert friends.  (In case you are feeling like your life is too dry and too quiet.)  This was taken when the rain had actually subsided somewhat. 

Once the sun comes out, the humidity after a rain is impressively oppressive.

I tried to take a couple of videos of the Canal Boat ride, but M said they weren't exciting enough to post.  I will try again, never fear.  Until then, stay cool, crazy cats!

Green

Bangkok has gotten rain nearly every day, complete with thunder and lightening.  Rain = green.  This post is for all my desert peeps.  I heard you had your own rain, but I don't think you have green like this.  Drink it in.

Walking in Bangkok

Despite the heat and sticky air, we do quite a lot of walking here in Bangkok.  It is about a 20 minute walk to the subway from M's condo, and I am getting to know that stretch of sidewalk well.  You don't see too many people walking here, at least not for great distances.  I don't know if that is due to the heat, or if it is just because the sidewalks here are somewhat treacherous.  The sidewalks are narrow, and right in the middle of the sidewalk, there is often a tree or a large cement sign pole.  It makes it hard to walk side by side.  Most often, I will trail behind M, camera at the ready.  If you encounter a person coming from the other direction, the sidewalk seems to shrink.  I will have you know that I have been able to master walking these narrow sidewalks WITH OPEN UMBRELLA.  (It helps keep the hot sun off, in addition to rain.)   It is important to have skills.  The skill I haven't quite mastered is being able to look in the correct direction before crossing the street.  I am getting better at it, but improvements could be made.

This hole was marked with an orange pilon, which helps.

In addition to the uneven parts of the sidewalk, and areas that are crumbling and cracked, there are often puddles from dripping air conditioners.  This is a common occurrence in Asia, not just Bangkok.  I know there probably isn't anything bad about the dripping water, but I hate it when I am not paying attention and I get dripped on.  For some inexplicable reason, it creeps me out.

I do not wish to imply that the sidewalks in the US are perfect.  Not by any means!  There is plenty of unevenness to American sidewalks.  I am merely observing what it is like here.  I do think sidewalks in the US are wider.  No matter what, I have always found that the best way to really see the world is on foot, sidewalks or no. 

Hello again, Bangkok

I'm back in Bangkok.  I have been here for three days, today being the beginning of day four.  The jet lag continues, although I was prepared for it this time.  It helps that there is no real schedule for me here, so it doesn't matter if I am awake or asleep during the daylight hours.  (Although I do think M is getting sick of being awakened by restless me in the wee morning hours.)

My beloved camera was lost on the first leg of my journey, and I am still mourning it.  It is only a thing, so one must not get to distraught.  It is my fault that it is gone, since I put it in the overhead bin and forgot about it until I had left the airplane and walked to the international terminal in San Francisco.  When I discovered my error, I RAN all the way back to the gate, dodging the swarms of fellow travelers the whole way.  Arriving breathless and sweating to my arrival gate, the gate agent got on the plane but could not find it.  She even got back on the plane and looked a second time, after seeing how my face crumpled when she returned empty handed.  Many tears were shed, but life goes on.  I am now relying on M's tiny pocket camera to capture images of my Bangkok visit.  It will suffice, but now you know why my photos will not be of the usual quality.

M has discovered a new way to get around the city, by way of canal boats on the Klong.  Not as expensive as a taxi or the subway, and you don't have to worry about getting stuck in traffic.  Being on the water is a wee bit cooler than tromping around on foot.  We still do plenty of walking in the steamy air, of course.  I found that the most abundant graffiti seems to be adorning walls and buildings near the Klong Saen Saeb.  Riding the canal boats makes for an authentic Thai experience.

 Each canal boat arrives in a cloud of exhaust, adorned with two agile boat workers who hop off the boat as it approaches the dock.  They wind their heavy ropes around a pole to hold it in place only long enough for the passengers to climb on or off.  It is a short stop, and climb is the operative word here.  The boat doesn't always stay obediently alongside the dock, and sometimes there is a significant gap between boat and dock.  The sight of the murky, brownish green water is enough to keep one from being careless about entering or leaving the river boat.  More than once, I saw passengers on the dock reaching out an arm to help their fellow female travelers disembark.  Once the passengers have nimbly stepped on or off the boat, the heavy rope is uncoiled from the dock post, and the boat is once more on its way.  It is a quick exchange, and the boats move fast.  The boat workers climb along the edge of the boat, taking money and handing out tickets.  One arm is always looped over the rope that runs along the top edge of the boat.  I found myself wondering if they ever fall.   

There is a blue tarp running along the edge of the boat that can be pulled up while the boat zooms along.  It serves as a splash guard to keep that funky water away from the passengers.  The tarp is lowered when the boat stops, so passengers can get on and off, and to provide a bit of air circulation.  You must climb out of the bottom of the boat, over that blue tarp and over the gap between boat and dock in order to leave.  It is not for the faint of heart.  (although once you have done it, there is a sense of triumph and a thought that it wasn't as bad as you thought.)  A note to those who travel to Bangkok and would like to try the adventure of canal boat travel:  the best place to be is probably in the front part of the boat.  Too close to the engine becomes VERY loud, and the last row of the boat has the unfortunate side effect of water splashing you from behind (upon stopping) with a coiling cloud of stinky exhaust to top off the experience.  It is advisable to hang onto the ropes for stability at all times.

I find it fascinating that the street art is predominately English, rather than Thai. 

I hope you stick with me, my dear blog followers, since I will be sharing my experience of Bangkok for the next couple of weeks.   As ever, you keep me writing, blog readers.  Thanks.

Exploring Wat Arun

My last day in Bangkok was a fantastic day.  It started out as one of the haziest days, but the sun burned off the morning haze and the sky became clear and blue, with dramatic white thunderclouds in the distance.  Of course it was still hot and humid, but being near the Chao Phraya river felt cooler than it usually does when one is walking around in the middle of the city.  We took the subway to the Skytrain and walked from there to the river.  There are tourist boats that will take you up the river, stopping at each major attraction, but we just rode the regular river taxi up the river to Wat Arun.  The "Temple of the Dawn", as it is also called, did not disappoint.  I won't spend too much time telling you about the Wat Arun, because there is already so much written about it on the web.  If you want to know a little more about it, you can visit wikipedia here. 

The thing that sticks out in my jet-lagged mind the most about Wat Arun are the steep stairs that you can climb up the main prang (tower).  If you have any kind of fear of heights, my advice is to forgo the stairs and simply look up.  Actually, the first tier of stairs is not as tinglingly steep as the second tier.  But that second tier...  watch out!  Not only are they incredibly steep, but also the risers are taller than most stairs.  Going up wasn't TOO bad, but coming down involved hanging on to the railing with both hands, for me.  (M had no such trouble, but then his legs are almost a foot longer than mine.)

Looking down from the first tier of stairs.

I swear it is steeper in person.

If you thought the stairs were spooky, your toes will tingle even MORE when you see the tiny ladder that starts above the second tier of stairs and continues up to the top of the prang.  I am not sure who climbs this ladder - if it is used to maintain the prang or as some kind of religious test or ritual, but there is no doubt that it would nerve to climb it.  A small part of me wanted to see if I could climb it. 

The other aspect of Wat Arun that sticks out in my memory is the mosaic.  The temple is covered in bits of Chinese porcelain.   Apparently, Chinese ships used porcelain as ballast, so this was a way to use the tons of porcelain that found its way to Bangkok from these ships.

Some other sights of the Wat:

I took so many photos on my last day - I had trouble choosing only a few for today's post.  I will try to write a few more times about my Bangkok visit.  It was a good trip, and of course leaving M there was not fun at all.  However, there was a certain fuzzy dog who was incredibly happy to see me, and I do have an art career to get back to.  I will be making my way slowly back to Joshua Tree, once I have recovered from this jet lag.  Have a great weekend, my dear blog readers.