Thailand (11)

(Continuation of story)

 

My daily routine changed if visitors came. I turned into a tourist and explored unfamiliar places. Don came back several times to check on his grown son, a task that no parent relishes. When he did, he would spend his spare time with me sightseeing. It was a welcome change for me.

 

One day we decided to go to Ayutthaya by boat. We caught the riverboat in the old Western quarter of Bangkok and waited for its arrival on the terrace of the world famous Oriental Hotel. The hotel had been the first hotel built in Bangkok in 1876. It had changed hands many times since it was built, but during all those years, it was known to be a home to royalty and writers.

 

As we waited for the boat on the hotel’s terrace, I imagined Joseph Conrad, Somerset Maugham, Graham Greene and others sitting there sipping tea in the morning coolness and dreading the stifling heat that was to come later in the day. They all had captured the mystique of the Orient so well in their famous books.

 

Don and I boarded the boat which meandered up the Chao Phraya River; seeing shimmering gold structures along the way. We wandered the paths of the old city and saw its many treasures. The spectacular day ended with wandering Bang Pa-In, a royal retreat.

 

I have always been amazed by the different facets of the Thai culture that in many ways seem so contradictory. My months there, so many years ago, seemed to have followed the same pattern.

 

Done