The Monastery of the Fifth King

Before I move onto a couple of trips out we did from the hotel I will apprise you of New Year’s Day.

As is pretty usual for us in later years, certainly me at least, we did not see the New Year in at midnight. I have never understood this obsession, after all, the Sun went down a few hours before and will, hopefully, come up again the following morning. No different to the day before or the day after. And, that’s another thing, the sun doesn’t actually come up or go down: it remains static, it’s the Earth that moves so we take it in turns to face the Sun. I know, a little pedantic, but I love pedantism.

We had an exhausting excursion during the day and as we were enjoying the specially prepared New Year’s Eve meal, listening to music, our eyes became heavier and heavier.

2024 dawned, I did not notice anything significantly different from the day before so, what was the point, many folk around this city and across the world will be nursing monster hangovers, the vast majority saying they will never, ever drink again. That resolution has normally gone by the wayside by the end of the first day.

Anyway, we were greeted, in the garden, by a group of monks who came and said prayers for us all. They chanted their incantations to their God. I have to say, I don’t have a religious bone in my body, everyone to their own, though, but it was moving. I didn’t have a clue what they were saying. The congregation took it in turns to approach the group and place offerings of food and drink into their bowls and beakers. I stayed back from this as, we were sure, they did not wish to wear the offerings. In exchange the people received blessings. When it was all over, I worked out that I was the only one who had not been blessed. Do I feel like I missed out? No. I suppose, though, it was enchanting in a spiritual sort of a way.

It was a take-it-easy sort of a day. We were booked in for a couple’s Thai massage. Well, I have never known anything like it. Afterward, one felt refreshed, stretched out and supple all in one. But, I have to say, it was like being tortured into relaxation. After it was all over I felt fantastic, stimulated and relaxed at the same time. The two ladies who did us were incredibly powerful, given they didn’t even come up to my chest, I felt their fingers grinding against my bones, they pulled my arms so hard it felt they were coming out of their sockets, but, after it was all over , I got up from the bed and felt I was walking on air. Since I was a passenger in a car in 2008, which was taken out by an out of control skip lorry, I have had restricted movement in the neck. The neck was fully mobile at the end. No pain, no gain.

The day prior to our relaxing first day of 2024, we had taken a private excursion, booked through the hotel, around the city. Bangkok is not the best place to visit over the Christmas – New Year period, it is rammed. It might have been easier to walk to the landmarks in the centre of the city for we spent much of our allotted time snarled-up in traffic. Jane, backed up by staff at the hotel, felt it might not be terribly easy to navigate me around street clutter, so we opted for the tour. It was to be temples and the Royal Palace.

The first temple was the magnificent Wat Benchamabophit Dusitwanaran, which means the Monastery of Five Kings, near Dusit Palace, or the Marble Temple. Magnificent is not a strong enough adjective to describe it in all honesty, but I am not sure that there is a word glorious enough.

It was designed by Prince Narisara Nuwattiwong. The king wanted it to reflect the greatest of Siamese and European architecture so the design made the best use of the budget and tonnes of Carrera marble were imported from Italy. With an abundance of water features and marble clad outbuildings it wasn’t a massive leap of faith to think you were walking through the plaza of a grand palace in ancient Florence or Pisa. The marble was blinding, even to me, on such a bright day.

Of course, like any landmark embedded in the twenty-first century it was full of stalls selling nik-naks of all descriptions for the tourists to pocket for their shelves at home. Like with all Thai markets, deep down, you know you are meant to barter for anything and everything that is offered to you, but it seems a bit blasphemous or sacrilegious, in such surroundings. I know it is a Buddhist Temple but images of Jesus on the rampage among the money-lenders came to mind. Where on earth did I pull that one up from? I must have listened after all at Sunday School.

It is a temple so there must be something sacred to be seen. We were invited to pay our respects to Phra Buddha Chinnarat. I, as I often claim, do not have a religious bone in my body but, I have to say, there was something most spiritual about removing socks and shoes , finding a spare spot on the floor, kneeling and paying homage to a God that I hadn’t given a second thought to since RE classes at High School. I felt, almost, overawed by the sensation of bowing under the gaze of an imposing golden Buddha. Moved is not a strong enough word.

The blurb about the place describes the outside area as tranquil with reflective pools. It doesn’t actually seem possible, given that it is surrounded by traffic, but tranquil and serene it most certainly is.

Next time we will complete our palaces and temples tour before embarking on a cruise to the floating markets.

Wat Benchamabophit Dusitwanaran - Read More

By the time you're reading this, I'll be in Cyprus...

I am really sorry! I need to collect some more air miles.

We decided to book a late getaway so contacted the ever attentive Premier Travel in Swaffham. They gave us three options. I can’t remember where the other two were, but we selected Paphos in Cyprus.

When I say that Premier are ever attentive, I really do mean it. They know all about my special requirements as a blind person and they sort it all out. They make sure that assistance has been organised at the airports and that the hotel are well aware of my needs. At the time of writing, I haven’t actually tried any of this out and, it might be that, in a couple of weeks or so I am maligning the hitherto ever attentive firm. I somehow doubt that, though.

I am sorry because, for all I know, there might be a storm raging outside as you are reading this, I have written it before leaving out and the weather forecast did not stretch that far ahead.

Not sure about you fellas out there, whether you agree with me or not, but I do find that the female of the species can be a vain creature. I always look forward to the holiday, apart from the flight, but we never seem to have enough of this or that before we set off. As far as I am concerned, I feel I have enough in the way of clothing to last me out. Mrs T doesn’t seem to agree. She dragged me off to Norwich for some pre-holiday shopping. “Why?” I had asked.

“Just look at you. You need new deck-shoes.”

“Why?”

“Those ones have got holes in,” she answered, pointing at the offending articles.

“Only about five in each foot,” I replied. “What else?”

“You haven’t had a proper haircut in months.”

“And?”

“Your body hair is a disgrace. It needs to come off. I don’t want you sitting by the pool and some over-excited game-hunter pops along and before you know it, you are a trophy on a dining room wall. Then the headlines will say something like ‘Dangerous Yeti slain by Cypriot poolside.”

“Anything else?”

“Your trainers are rubbish. They are falling apart at the seams.”

Into Norwich we went. Haircut at my favourite Turkish barber, followed by new trail shoes and new deck-shoes. I was shorn at home with blunt beard trimmers. That’ll do! I also think the battery has just about had it in the trimmers so I can see I will be marched down Norwich High Street to get another set of them before the next holiday.

One item I was pretty determined to purchase, to make the flight more acceptable, was a set of noise cancelling headphones. I got them. Really chuffed with my Beats Pro. Will report back on my return.

“Right,” said Jane. “Now for some new trousers and shirts.”

“Not more stuff,” I protested. “I feel like I have had enough for today. Anyway, all of my clothing is pretty new at the moment.”

“The youngest piece of clothing must be at least ten years old. I can’t even remember you getting anything.”

“Really! Whatever! I’ve had enough.”

We called it a day at that point. Don’t care if I don’t see the inside of a shop for another ten years!