Last week I assigned my students a project to present different events in Bangkok...partly for them to practice speaking but also partly so I could know about cool events going on. One group presented on Chinese New Year, which happened to be this weekend. I asked many questions and relayed the info to Genie.
Today we ventured into the center of Bangkok to Chinatown, which is the the biggest Chinatown outside of China. We saw that there was a parade at 3:00 pm...which means 4:17 in Thai-time, so we decided to try to make it to that.
We, the chronically early duo, arrived around 2, found parking and then headed towards Chinatown. Our first stop was this rather gorgeous temple. There was a Golden Buddha inside that was oh-so-shiny. Most impressively this temple offered the greatest gift...complimentary water. Drinkable water is hard to come by in water, especially free, non-bottled water, so we were over joyed that Chiang Beer offered water to the temple's many visitors.
It was nearing 3 and we continued toward the parade route...but not after stopping for this photo op.
After walking around for a bit we noticed that there were some barricades set up and other people had begun to claim their spots behind them, we followed suit...able to spin at least one pokestop (vital). The waiting began. About 3:45 the parade finally reached us. Don't worry, we caught the parade in all its entirety.
You are welcome. We didn't want you to miss a second of this gem.
This reminded me of the Shriners dragon during the Rochesterfest parade. As a child it always scared me, I remember having my mom cover my ears while I covered my eyes. Mom - you'll be happy to know, I have conquered my fear. Genie did not need to cover my ears.
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| Guess which fan belongs to which girlfriend? |
There is one long street that is the bulk of Chinatown, Bangkok edition, therefore it made sense to keep trekking it. The street was lined with food and drink vendors. We happened across a vendor selling traditional Chinese fans for 50 baht.
The crowds led us to more temples, Chinese temples this time. On a personal note, I enjoyed these temples immensely. The bright reds and golds were beautiful!
Rumbling tummies lead us to egg rolls. This have been my favorite egg rolls I've had in Thailand. Rochester friends, they reminded me of the eggs rolls I grew up eating at Hunan (the one at Northgate) but 10 times better.
We, being the Pokemon nerds we are, had noticed a raid near by and ventured towards the gym. There was a huge crowd gathered in the vicinity, either they were all here for the raid or there was something going on. Police and military officials had closed down the street and we saw a temple a block away with a red carpet in front of it. I recalled reading that members of the Thai Royal family were often seen around Chinatown during Chinese New Year and based on the numbers of Thais sitting on the sidewalk just waiting we assumed it was a member of the royal family. We were going to wait around to do the raid anyway, so we joined the lot. Bad news, after an hour and two attempts we didn't beat the raid nor had the Royal Highness emerged from the temple. We were just debating heading off when the Thai Secret Service hurried to have everybody stand up. Genie climbed up a nearby electrical box and was able to see many photos of the somebody with "many shiny medals" on his uniform being taken. After a few minutes they got in their vehicle and headed towards us. Genie managed to capture this photo...
This may or may not be the King of Thailand. Based on the excitement of the Thais around us I think it's safe to assume we saw the King.
These gals were thirsty and we also were curious to see the rest of the festival. I had been told by my students that there were going to be performances that we shouldn't miss. Juice was purchased and the crowds started to get bigger...so we decided to head towards the bike.
We noticed that, yet again, many Thais were sitting in rows along the street. We forged ahead, hoping that the street we needed to cross would not be blocked yet. As we marched single file the people around us became ruder. Eventually we got to the blockade...Genie was knocked into and I had an older white woman come up to me and say "Oh they won't let us through? I have reservations at that restaurant over there...oh there's my group!" and move the string blocking off the street. Needless to say we were both irritated and headed through a slew of side streets to another blockade. Though I managed to snag this pic...
Another venture through some side streets eventually led us back to the beginning of Chinatown.
We returned to the temple we started it.
There was dragon dancing going on...I have no idea what else to call it. There were two guys in each dragon costume and at one point one was standing on the other's shoulders creating the tallest dragon.
Overall, it was a fun day. We've decided to head back to Chinatown sometime when there aren't as many people around. I shall leave you with these lovely floral photos that Genie took today.
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