Thailand, Naturally!

We reached Bangkok and drove directly to a tourist city called Pattaya. We watched the enchanting and quick changing sets of Al Cazar and its wonderfully perfect transsexual performers. More than the changing of sets and the sets themselves, what was fascinating was the way the performers took your attention away while the set changed, right under your nose and yet you wouldn’t have noticed.

The next morning I did para-sailing, to tick it off on my list of 30 things to do before I turn 30! And the best part, so did my father! And other people who accompanied us on the trip! And then we reached Coral Islands. Beautiful they were, clear sky, green islands, white sands, crystal clear waters. Except for the occasional sound of the motor boat, the atmosphere seemed natural. It was touristy enough, yet natural. We just lazed on the sands till our speed boat took us back to the hotel and to Nungnooch garden with dancing elephants and then back to Bangkok.

All we got to see in Bangkok were two temples but astonishing they were. It was not just the main idols of the huge Reclining Buddha (that reminded my dad of the lying pose of Vishnu)

or the Golden Buddha under the serpent hood (that again reminded my dad of Vishnu and his Adisesha).

The temple exterior, the temple decorations, the sculptures, the external idols, all of it was just amazing, even too much to soak in. A couple of things that caught my eye: a dragon snake thingy, the Chinese roofs of course, and a line of Buddha statues painted with gold. Breathtakingly beautiful! If I traveled to Thailand alone, I probably would have spent days hopping from one temple to another.

We also went on a river cruise, though there was nothing much to see except a few bridges that refused to succumb to my camera in the night because of their gaudy lights, the speed of the boat and the gaudier lights of the boat.

It was a pleasant trip as we took from Bangkok to land in Kolkata and like I mentioned, the best part is always the climax.