BANGKOK, THAILAND. SATURDAY MAY 29 2010, 1900 HRS.
Buddhist celebrations, emergency law, curfew, army soldiers, riot police, Thai massages and ladyboys.

The flight & arrival to Bangkok went extremely smoothly, as I already knew how things work and where to go to et cetera. This was the second time I flew with Jet Airways, an Indian airline company. Without doubt the best airline company I've ever used. You are treated very nice even at the economy class, you can drink alcohol as much as you want (my poison of choice was red wine,) you can watch the latest Hollywood - or Bollywood - movies from your personal touch-screen in front of you...

The curfew in Thailand ended today. But earlier this week nobody was allowed outside in the streets between midnight and 4:00 a.m. Thailand is still under a state of emergency, as today the goverment decided to extend the emergency law.

On Thursday, after a Thai massage, I went partying with some new local acquaintances. The concept of ladyboys, also known as shemales, is commonly accepted here in South-East Asia. Thai people are definitely not xeno- or homophobic. After getting a nice and surprising lapdance from a pretty Thai girl in a bar, I still couldn't have guessed... later when I found out that the girl was in fact a ladyboy, I was feeling a bit confused! But after a couple of hours of smoking water pipe and after many beers, we were all just laughing at my reaction, having fun and I thought, "when in Rome..."

Almost midnight. Time to go home. All places were closing, not wise to push your luck by being outside. But of course I had to find some place to drink some more, and I took a tuk-tuk to find a secret place which was open all night. After some more beers in the night club, I remember that at some point I wanted to go out and see what would happen if I tried to walk alone to my guesthouse... One of these million-dollar ideas you get while drunk, the army had been allowed to shoot anyone who is outside! But I remember the owner and the night club girls didn't let me go out. And then I passed out.

On Friday I woke up in the afternoon, happily from my own bed at the guesthouse. After a recovering Thai massage, I wanted to repent all that the sins I had done the previous night, and the big Buddhist celebration day gave me a nice opportunity to get relief to my moral hangover.

The temple I decided to visit is called Wat Chanasongkram. And it happened to be exactly the same temple which the Queen of Thailand had decided to visit on this special day as well. Suddenly the roads went closed, the whole place became full of goverment officials, army soldiers, riot police etc... and the main police station was right across the street. The security precautions were tight. Photos not allowed, but I managed to take a couple of nice shots nevertheless. The Royal visit to the temple lasted for hours, but eventually, after the Queen left with the huge escort, us commoners could go inside as well.

The celebration, Visakha Bucha, or 'Buddha's Birthday,' or just 'Buddha Day,' is a very important annual Buddhist holiday. The other big Buddhist temple I had visited earlier, Wat Phra Kaew, also known as the 'Temple of the Emerald Buddha,' is the most important Buddhist temple in Thailand, but there was much more atmosphere last night at Wat Chanasongkram. The Buddhist monks and Thai people chanting and praying, walking around the temple holding candles, lotus flowers and incense sticks which were perfuming the night... a sense of calmness and peace, even with the presence of the military force outside.

Now it's Saturday and I haven't had my Thai massage yet, so it's time to wrap up this long blog post. I definitely had an interesting kick-start to my current stay in Bangkok!

Láw jē kān,
P'Chang

PS. My salutations to the late Ronnie James Dio... Rest in peace, or continue to conquer in other realms, whichever you choose you were one hell of a singer and a great source of inspiration! Currently listening to the song "Stargazer" from the Rainbow album "Rainbow Rising" (1976).

Vade in pace.