16 November 2014. A Sunday Wander - Big Blister day

I thought I'd give Wats a miss today, as I knew that tomorrow was to be Grand Palace day. So I set off yet again on my time honoured route to Hua Lamphong station; turn left; cross the road; through the taxi drivers' car park; across the little bridge over the canal; but this time turn right! I wandered through the district with a very shutdown Sunday feel to it.  All I saw of note was a family of gnomes

I also passed a spectacularly mucky canal, and was amazed to spot movement in all the rubbish. It turned out to be a large lizard.






This is the sight of a former prison in Bangkok that was converted to a city park in 1992. The park was named in honour of the Queen. Here you can find the Corrections Museum, an interesting fountain with a bronze couch shell sculpture, some walking footpaths, park benches and open green space,



At the western end of the park, I came across a canal running east-west. This turned out to be a section of the 5.5 kilometre long Khlong Phadung Krung Kasem - the moat marking the unofficial border for Bangkok's Old City. The odd thing was that there were perhaps a dozen men in the canal apparently dredging it by hand putting the mud into huge bags. One of the more horrible jobs to end up doing; especially on a Sunday. 

I carried on West along the banks of the canal/moat which was lined with vendors. I also came across some other groups of dredgers. Apart from the poor men in the filthy water, the canal and its banks seemed very attractive in the sunshine and worth a return visit. 

Crossing several roads, the canal led to Saranrom Park. It is the old Royal Garden built in 1866 for King Rama IV and includes a bandstand as well as a pond with bridges and loads of fish. So many as to be a bit creepy. I also saw one huge lizzard who maybe did something to keep the fish population at bay.

Interestingly alcohol was banned in both parks and I'm not quite sure what the official Thai line is on drinking. It's most certainly available but also officially frowned upon, seemingly.

From the Park, i headed passed the Pig statue

adorned in its finery up to the City Pillar shrine (not quite a Wat) which is a place of worship, housing the pillar for Bangkok. According to the ancient Siamese (Thai) belief, a city pillar needs to be installed upon the establishment of a new  city to symbolize the stability of power. King Rama I of the current Chakri Dynasty erected the first city pillar on Sunday, April 21, 1782 at 6.54 am, when he moved the capital city across Chao Phraya River from Thonburi to Bangkok. The pillar was made of cassia wood (known as Chaiyapruek in Thai) gilded with gold leaves, measuring 29 cm in diameter and 187 inches in height. Inside the city pillar there’s a space to store Bangkok’s horoscope. The City Pillar Shrine then was the very first building King Rama I had built for Bangkok, prior to the Grand Palace.  

During the reign of King Rama IV (King Mongkut), he demanded a new city pillar to replace the old one, which was dilapidated. The new city pillar was made of teak and cassia woods gilded with gold leaves, measuring 70 inches in diameter and 107 inches in height. Both pillars are now sheltered in prang-shaped shrine.

Also at the site is a hall which featured a small group og gentlemen playing some pleasing tunes.

The City Pillar was a shoes off site and glad I was of that! By now my sockless feet were somewhat sore and developing a couple of blisters. It was something of a struggle to re-engage with my trainers and carry on. But this I did, walking along the outer wall of the Thammasat University. This had a very interesting exhibition to commemorate its 80th anniversary, with a poster for each year of existence. It gave a brief outline of Thailand's history at the same time, included its part in the World War II.

At this stage I decded to head back on my customary boat along the river to the Central Pier. However, on arrival, despite the growing blisters I decided to try walking back towards the hotel rather than taking the Skytrain. This proved interesting, if only to see how modern the area was that I normally whisked through in the air. The problem was that it was very hard to get away from the very main road; there seemed no parallel side streets. So about half way I bottled out and went back on the Skytrain and MRT. 

Having rested my very sore feet, I decided to go back to tthe North East to try it for myself (I hadn't even seen the menu when I joined the others two nights before). It was a huge choice and a very nice meal.