Ayuthaya

December 2009

...Our Thai friends Dew and Pom drove us north. When they pick us up, Dew is not allowed to enter the house that we're renting, due to her being Thai. She tells us that it feels lousy to be discriminated against by her own kind. On the way out of town, Miki waves to a palace guard, who half-raises his gun...

...at a rest stop, a group of kids is milling about. They think Dew is the farang, and speak Thai to Miki instead. I sip coffee in the sun...

...Bang Pa-in Palace isn't too interesting to me, too grand a display. A woman thinking Miki is Thai, scolds her for her improper 'wai.' A monitor lizard sunbathes beside a wide lake. The bungalows built for the consorts are small Victorians sitting on a wide grassy expanse of lawn like in a Midwest college town. A houseboat provides shade from the heat, two pink pitched roofs over water. Lazy tourists drive golf carts around the expansive site. Later, we cross a moat on a pulley system operated by young monks. Rama V built a temple here, designed as a cathedral. Bizarre to see Buddha sitting behind stained glass. A monk here has tattoos that his robes can't completely hide. Working off some prison karma, I suspect...

...a truck waits for a massive snake to cross the road. Further on, a monitor lizard doesn't share the same luck...

...a blue-eyed nun plays with some children at Wat Yai Chai Mongkhon. I press my fingers to apply gold leaf to the reclining Buddhas, then to my sweaty forehead, where the gold remains all day. Buddhist figures with their arms extended, like The Supremes doing "Stop! In the name of love." Dead turtles bob in the moat, fish dining on their feet...

...Wat Phra Mahatat and its wonderful disembodied Buddhas. (A wonderful pun, if you get it...) A film crew from Akita is shooting amongst the trees. A gay Thai man asks to take a photo with me...

...sit awhile with the Buddha at Wat Phra Si Sanphet. On the grassy lawns beyond, farang pay huge fees to ride elephants. Next door, people fire rounds at a shooting gallery. As I sit, the ruins here are invaded by kids on a school excursion. A boy steals a kiss from a girl, who protests, but follows. Twelve years ago, I had the place to myself. How can UNESCO protect what it deems worth protecting? Tourist circuses inevitably follow, destroying any value the place once had...

On the turntable: Green on Red, "The Best of..."
On the nighttable: David Desser, "The Samurai Films of Akira Kurosawa"
On the reel table: "Hearts and Minds" ( Davis, 1974)