Ryan (born in the year of the Horse) is set for a year of opportunities and it is suggested that he should embrace promotions and new responsibilities without worry (so even with my struggles I get to benefit through him . . . not bad!). According to the Post, good luck is on the way and 'eight three-legged toad figurines' will bring luck to our home.
Now that you are up to date on our Chinese fortunes, I will get to the story you have all been waiting for, yes, and more pictures too!
Chinese New Year was a spectacle of shows, sights, and more Chinatown craziness. We didn’t get lost this time, but the amount of people we had to walk (push) through was amazing. We tried to find a good souvenir, but couldn’t find anything worthwhile.
All the good stuff was marked up for tourists and all the rest seemed to be novelty items for tourists . . . hmmm a think I note a trend!
On Friday we actually stumbled across a show in Siam Square. We were trying to have a relaxing evening since we knew there was a big weekend ahead of us, so we were headed to the movies. Yet, when we stepped off the skytrain we could hear the banging of Chinese drums and saw the dragon dance going on in front of the Paragon.
So instead of the movies we watched the Dragon dance, the dance of the Phoenix (which only comes once a year to grant good luck to a Kingdom that has proven its worth!) and the grand finale. We missed the Lion dance, which is unfortunate, but got to see them again at the end of the show.
After the dragon dance, the performers put on a vertical show – climbing up a pole with the dragon. Another guy went up in the air on his own pole and they “fought” to the sound of Chinese drums and fireworks.
The fireworks were lit off a nearby building and we found ourselves being bombarded by little pieces of rock and ash. Only singed a bit, we were still able to enjoy the show. We have a video, but I need to figure out how to put it up so it may take a while. In the meantime here are some more shots of the show:
Saturday we were off for a Rugby adventure. Ryan has discovered a couple of teams that he would want to play for here, and one of them was playing in a 7s tourney nearby. After getting lost in an obscure area of town, we finally found the field and enjoyed a good 2 hours of rugby. A team from U of Calgary was on tour – they didn’t do so well though. There was also teams from New Zealand, South Africa, Tokyo, Singapore, etc. Pretty decent rugby too. Finally the Southerners played – they are a Bangkok team with players from all over the world. They played another team that was all Thai, and the size difference alone made us think they would get destroyed.; but those little guys are fast! It was a really good match, and the Southerners came out on top. It will be really good rugby if he plays for them, and I think they would definitely give the Harliquins from back home a good run.
Sunday we were off to Chinatown. In the morning I had my chiro appointment – he is trying some intensive therapy which makes me pretty sore for the next few days – which explains the sling for those of you who are wondering.
Chinatown was great. There were people everywhere. It was a little nicer than our first visit b/c we weren’t all crammed into an alleyway, and eventually they closed some streets down so we didn’t have to fight for space with cars.
Our first stop was Wat Traimit, aka Temple of the Golden Buddha, as it holds the world’s largest solid gold Buddha.
It is 4m high, 5 tons, and was made in the 13th century of 18-carat gold. The strings around it are supposed to fend off evil spirits.
We also made a small donation to receive a blessing from a monk. There was two monks that sat at the front of the temple, one with a bucket of water and a reed, the other sat in front of the donation box handing out stone guardian carvings. So we entered the line and were blessed – a lot. Ryan thinks the monk thought we were pretty funny and kept spraying us on purpose. By the time we got out of the temple we were soaked! (Although I don't think you can tell from this pic . . .)
The water did feel nice though, 'cause man is it getting hot out there!
This is another Buddha image (not solid gold though) and Li Thi Miew - a temple in a courtyard that pays tribute to Buddhist and Taoist deities.
After our blessing, we began wandering through some alleys, where we randomly got blessed by monks situated throughout, until we made it to Yaowarat Road.
This is one of the main streets in Chinatown, and this is where we spent most of our time today. We got caught up in the traffic jam of people and took in all the sights as we walked up the km or so before taking a break. We stopped at a hotel for a quick beer and a rest. During our stop here we got to experience the copious amounts of people stopping to pay tribute to the two “golden” guardians at the entrance to the patio we were sitting at. People would stop and pet the statues – and get VERY excited about it.
We aren’t sure what the draw was, but watched as people rubbed and pet the statue so much is almost fell over. Of course, wanting to experience everything about Chinese New Year, we were sure to give the guardians a pat for good luck on our way out.
We came to a gathering of people and bleachers and decided to stop again, hoping it wouldn’t be too long before a show started. Finally, after a number of speeches by some apparently important people (perhaps the organizers of the event?) the show started.
After the show we found we were trapped by another sea of people, so we found a spot to stop and wait for the crowds to dissipate. After about 20 mins or so, the Princess made an appearance and gave a blessing for the New Year. During her speech Ryan and I found our escape route and made a quick split before the streets got cut off again when the princess left. We later discovered this was a brilliant idea because while we were ducked in an alleyway eating an icecream, we saw the Princess go by and then what appeared to be half the population of Bangkok go racing after her to catch another glimpse. They really love their Royalty over here!
Shortly after finding a quick bite, we headed for home. Unfortunately, we didn’t get to see another Lion and Dragon dance – it didn’t start until later in the evening and neither of us wanted to wait around for another 2.5 hours. We were both exhausted and I was in the desperate need of advil and ice – an afternoon of ducking around people and trying to protect my arm from being smashed into as people shoved by was finally taking its toll.
No comments:
Post a Comment