THAILAND – 5.5 Tons of Gold

I must see that ! The Golden Buddha, discovered by accident when a chip of clay chipped off as it was being moved in 1954 and a rope broke.

Made in 13-14^th century (Sukhothai Dynasty), the statue was eventually completely plastered over to prevent it from being stolen by Burmese invaders in 1767. Moved several times, it was largely forgotten for almost 200 years.  Now it sits pretty in a large new (2010) building of the Wat Traimit Temple. Considering human nature, it is a small miracle that no attempts have been made to steal the statue whose gold content alone is worth some US$ 250 million.

I dropped in on Bangkok on my way back from India to connect with the well known Asian Institute of Technology.  As a European, I was a bit disappointed by the relative novelty of Bangkog (Thai capital since 1801).  Ilustrious as it is, most of its picturesque temples and pagodas date back only a few centuries – thus made a rather ”Disney-land” impression on me. Bangkok now dwarfs other Thailand’s urban centers in terms of importance – and also in chronic and crippling traffic congestion.  Located in the delta of Chao Phraya river, Bangkog is practically afloat on water – and sinking through soil subsidence. Make a depression in soil with your heel and it quickly fills with water. There are fears that the city may be submerged by 2030 -

A turist destination, the city is well known for its vibrant street life and cultural landmarks, as well as its notorious red-light districts.  It was somewhat shocking when the first thing the hotel employee carrying my suitcase asked me “Sir, would you like a scotch and a girl ?”  (Hmmm, I declined both).

Worth seeing is the traditional Thai "finger dance". The girls doing it are trained for it in special schools since early childhood. The flowing and gracious movement of hands and fingers is to behold. Take a look in this video -

 

I don’t remember how it came to it, but a lasting impression left my visit to a huge rice mill – one with a special environmental twist. From a multi-ton supply of rice delivered on several large barges every day, the operation did not discharge any polluting substance whatsoever.  All was recycled, all was used. It was the owner himself who used his imagination, clout, funds and engineering education to design, build and operate a series of interlocking systems accomplishing this goal. For example, the waste rice hulls fueled his electricity-generating plant and the residual ashes were being used to produce cinder blocks for building construction. 

Among affiliated operations converting other rice-processing waste products was also production of chickens, fish and bananas – these productions are integrated into so called “polyculture”. No waste – that is the future that we need. All this was an amazing large-scale toy for the enthusiastic well-to-do mill owner.

I cannot say that I got to know Thailand, this was just a short visit to Bangkok – but it left an impression -
Also a culinary one - it is hard to walk along the streets of Bangkok with food temptations all along. Have a taste of this exotic food - or at least take a look :