The year of the monkey.
My first Chinese New Year (well not my first, I’m 45, there have been many) but the first I have celebrated was amazing, energizing and inspiring, spiritual and serene. Since I arrived in Bangkok I have wanted to do a cycle tour of the city. A very good friend invited me up join her and her cousin. On the day we realized our tour coincided with Chinese New Year and were a little doubtful of whether being bound for Chinatown on saddle was such a good idea. We couldn’t have been more wrong.
We arrived at the Follow Me headquarters a little late but we were welcomed warmly & joined by a Japanese girl who was in Bangkok over the weekend for work. We were dispatched to watch an amusing induction movie on cycle conduct before wobbling out of the drive and heading off.
Navigating the narrow soi’s was at times precarious especially if there was on-coming traffic either on foot or 2 wheels but we soon got the hang of it. Our first stop off was at a local Wat home of a primary school. The King, Rama 6 was educated at Oxford over 100 years ago and travelled around Europe. He saw children being educated in schools initiated the building of primary schools in the same grounds as the temples, the monks becoming the teachers. To this day many of these schools survive today. Matthew our guide, was educated in such a school.
Matthew’s Thai name is Thew meaning good view, a fitting name since he was born to be a guide and gave us a great insight and view of Bangkok, full of knowledge and very entertaining. He proceeded to tell us about his 15 days training as a monk, common in Thailand and a huge honour. He was 25, the lessons he learnt and the 15 days immersed in the spiritual life of a monk changed his life.
Next stop was the old customs house along side the river. Now derelict it is soon to be renovated into a luxury hotel. We made our way past the modern post office, the old British embassy. Then we went to the Chinese temple which was amazing.
The Doctor Buddha resides in this temple, so called because of his healing hands during his lifetime.
Locals who desire better health will pilgrimage to this temple but on Chinese New Year, the temple was buzzing, incense filled the air & tall thick red candles bought by local families, labeled with the family name burned brightly.
It was a very special moment to celebrate the dawning of the year of the monkey 2259 (2016 on the Gregorian calendar).
We cycled into Chinatown. Red lanterns adorned shop alcoves. Banners hung across the street and almost everyone was either dressed in traditional Chinese dress or red. The atmosphere was electric, carnival like. And it was barely 10am.
I needed to buy Chinese New Year costumes for the kids and myself so we could join in the celebrations at school and got very lucky with some great purchases. Then I got the kids a Chinese New Year dragon…when in Rome and all that. Talk about taking multi-tasking to the next level.
The next stop was the flower market. The flower market runs 24 hours a day. It is divided into the offerings section and the wedding section. Don’t get them confused and take flowers from the wrong section to the wrong event, it could get awkward. We saw 50 roses for 80bht approx £2 and other Valentine treats, such as roses styled out of Ferrero Rocher, a perfect Valentine’s treat for Mr P.
Then we loaded the bikes on the river taxi to go across the river to another local Wat, The Royal Temple. Not known on the tourist circuit since it nestles next door to and is overshadowed by the Arun Wat but since this is enfolded in scaffolding rendering it hugely underwhelming, Matthew took us next door.
This fabulous set of temples is usually quiet during the week but since it was Chinese New Year it was absolutely bustling. The air was again heavily incense infused, the bells ringing in our ears as the worshippers cleansed their spirits by chiming every bell.
Matthew gave us each 2 lotus flowers and showed us how to fold the lotus leaves to reveal the flower, a wonderfully therapeutic exercise, almost meditative in its essence.
Then we made an offering to the Buddha of the flowers and wound our way back to our bikes through the throng.
Back on the saddle we wove through more Soi’s glimpsing snatches of Thai life: small dark shop openings; flashes of flatscreen TV’s through part open doorways; women sitting on wooden seats watching the world go by; kids playing bare foot in the street; family members asleep on the floor and lots of greetings of ‘Sawadee ka’ and ‘Happy new year’. It was marvelous.
Every so often through the tour we would venture onto the main roads and on the way home we certainly navigated the busiest roads, 3 and 4 lanes in both directions but it was not as treacherous as I thought it would be. The smaller roads, where cars has slowed to allow us through were more so as the moped drivers whizzed through the gaps, reminding everyone who really is king of the road in Bangkok.
Back at base we were awarded an ice cream and the possibility of a foot spa in the pool of tiny hungry fishes, I declined this with my sights set on Dean and Delucca round the corner and a well deserved New York style lunch for a change, but is a great tour, a totally different way to explore and experience Bangkok with or without the added festivities of Chinese New Year.
Later that week, the kids and I headed to school adorned in our Chinese New Year outfits for a morning of welcoming in the year of the monkey. In Foundation Stage the children made lanterns, lucky money and ribbons amongst other traditional crafts. The girls cavorted with their ribbons along to videos of professionals doing the same before we headed to the Chinese New Year assembly. A wonderful celebration showcasing the best of Bangkok’s Chinese music, Kung Fu & off course the finale with the Chinese Dragons. Next year we’re planning to join the Chinese Dragon Parade and party in Chinatown.
