Diary Entry - Day 3

By Melvin Shawn D'Silva

A view from inside the subway.

It was a big bright beautiful day. Some of us started our day with breakfast at a hawker center nearby while some snooze-ed their alarm and met everyone else at the actual gathering time. Dr Moore said it was purely a tourist-sy day for us as the places we visited today were popular tourism places.

Boat ride to Tha Tien.

We took the subway and headed down to Suphan Taksin station. From there, we took a boat ride to Tha Tian. On our way, the river view presented another side of the city and we also passed by a few beautiful wats (temples).

A Wat along the river.

 We reached the famous Wat Arun in Tha Tien at 11am.

Wat Arun.

The aesthetic architecture of the temple was fantastic even at its old age. The walls of the temple had mosaic patterns which are pieced together with colorful pieces. Most of the porcelain had an Indochinese and Chinese influence imprinted on its patterns.

Flower pattern made from colorful porcelain pieces.

From the architecture of the wat, we realize that globalization did happened way back then even before the early industrial age. It was a dreadful climb up the wat as the stairs were steep and the foot space gets smaller as it got higher. The floor was slanted at the top of the wat.

Steep stairs of Wat Arun.

After lunch, we headed to Siriraj Medical Museum; also known as the Museum of Death. The museum was further divided into 6 smaller museum: Ellis Pathology Museum, Songkran Niyomsane Forensic Medical Museum, Quay Katusingh Museum of history of Thailand Medication, Congdon Anatomical Museum, and Sood Sangvichien Prehistoric Museum and laboratory.

Buying tickets to Siriraj Medical Museum.

The museum was initially called Si Quay Museum because of the cannibalistic act of Si Quay, who brutally murdered and raped people. We met Dr. Vadhana Subhavan, an archaeologist who took care of Sood Sangvichien Prehistoric Museum and laboratory which portrayed the remnants of the evolution of Homo sapiens, and other artifacts.

Preceding this, we made our way through the Amulet market which sold many small Buddha figurines as a whole or in various forms of amulets and capsules. In addition, there were people carving statutes of a Buddhist monk.

A statue of a monk being carved.

At 15:00, we arrived at Thammasat University where Dr. Moore enlightened us with a brief ‘lecture’ regarding the history of political protest in Thailand. We sat in a hut learning about the political issues, and public political demonstrations in general.

A session in Thammasat University by Dr. Moore.

Dr. Moore explained the timeline of the political situation from the state of absolute monarchy until the present struggle between the ‘red shirt’ and the ‘yellow shirt’. Most of us felt a cringe of empathy towards the students and individuals who were once involved in the massacre which happened in Thammaasat University. After the lecture, we walked around the university where we found plagues and marble statues of political figures and propagandas which contributed to the political outcome of Thailand.

A wall tribute to the 1932 coup against the absolute monarchy

A sculpture commemorating the 1976 massacre in Thammasat University.

Monument of students that were killed in the 1976 massacre in Thammasat University.

It then started to rain as we left the university for Khao Saan Road. The rain was so heavy that we were all cooped up in McDonals.

Dr. Moore drenched

Caught in McDonalds due to the rain.

Being opportunistic, some of us who were non-muslim had the chance to taste the pork burger by McDonals which is being talked about by many and is not sold in Malaysia. Well, it did not meet most of our expectation, or perhaps we had set too high of an expectation. The streets were similar to Petaling Street in Malaysia, just bigger, and a couple more bars. It was a popular destination for backpackers. Some brave souls tried deep fried insect. The grass hopper I ate tasted like deep fried fried squid. As long as you do not think what it is, I guess it’s still rather alright. Some travelers said that if one does not try the deep fried insects, they had never been to Thailand.

Lastly we experienced the infamous Bangkok jam. We were stuck in the jam for about one and a half hours. Even so, the cab dropped us at a hospital entrance close to our hotel and we still made our way back, safe and sound.

Five word to describe the day: Magnificent, Gory, Fascinating, Inspiring, Fun and EXHASUTING.

Melvin Shawn D'Silva, 21 is currently pursuing a double degree in Communication and Marketing, and living his life out to the fullest.