Bangkok: Nirat and Thai Baht

A Nirat (or Niras) is a type of Thai poem about travel, adventure and romance. Thailand’s most famous Nirat poet, Sunthorn Phu, is beloved for making poetry accessible to the public, in the way that Shakespeare or Lin-Manuel Miranda revolutionized verse. Loved by two kings and fired by a third, his work echoed the pulse of a country during the end of colonialism and the rise of the Rattanakosin era. In many Thai people’s view, Sunthorn was a central figure in the early development of Bangkok as a city. 

Unfortunately, virtually no full English translations of Sunthorn’s travelogue rhymes exist. This may be the only relevant verse to describe my first few days in Bangkok:

A stone Buddha as white as dawn,
Flanked by two gold Buddhas, in dresses
Which shone like yellow rainbows.

I learned about Thailand’s “People’s Poet” our first night in Bangkok. It poured hot rain outside, Louise slept in bed with a migraine and jet lag, and I was researching the name of our Hostel, Niras Bankoc Cultural Hostel, as I ate Pad Thai wrapped in a banana leaf from the most famous Pad Thai restaurant in the city. It had been a long few days of travel, characterized by airports, Buddhas, and dehydration. 

Point A to Point B(angkok)

Settling in to our fancy Qatar Airlines flight. Louise's shirt shows Minnesota and Wisconsin hugging each other, which I felt was an appropriate outfit choice to show off our friendship. 

Louise hopped on our plane from Chicago to Bangkok with only minutes to spare, and we both slept soundly for more than 10 of the 12 hours it took to get to Doha. Flying on Qatar Airlines during the current Qatar-Gulf crisis made for an interesting trip. Fellow passengers and Qatar citizens seemed imperturbed, with one guy saying the embargo was sure to end soon since the region depended on Qatar’s economy. 

But because other Arab countries restricted airways for Qatar’s flagship carrier, the airline altered our flight route and it took longer than usual. The opulent Doha airport was deserted. As I’m writing this, Al Jazeera reports that “Qatar has filed a complaint before the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), against what it calls [Saudi Arabia’s] attempts to ‘terrorise’ travellers who are flying on [Qatar’s] national flag carrier.” I’m glad I mostly slept through this part of the trip, thanks to my new eye mask, earplugs, and sleeping meds!

Our next flight was uneventful, but long. We arrived in Bangkok at 4:30am and probably got ripped off by the airport taxis. Louise quoted her friend to me saying that, “We’re always going to be ripped off. It’s just a question of how much.” I found this to be true in Bangkok, especially since we hadn’t learned basic Thai Baht denominations yet. 

Time to Recline

Our hostel wouldn’t let us check in until that afternoon, so Louise and I set off to walk around the city and explore Wat Pho, Bangkok’s oldest temple complex. We put on scarves and sarongs to cover our shoulders and knees, which would become our standard “temple attire” as we explored more Wats in the coming days. At Wat Pho, we saw the famous Reclining Buddha, plus hundreds of other golden Buddhas and the Four Pagodas. 

Louise in her temple outfit.

One of the Four Pagodas, dedicated to the first four Chakri kings. 

Before the jet lag hit hard.

Bangkok's temples are much more floral than I anticipated. 

Eyebrows on fleek.

Hey girl. 

I really liked Buddha's feet. 

After seeing the Reclining Buddha at Wat Pho, Louise and I attempted to walk to the nearby Grand Palace. But Bangkok is a massive city and our feet were killing us as we walked around the endless, white-walled perimeter. Before we even made it to the entrance, a construction worker walked by us and said in English to Louise, “You should eat something.” 

Clearly, we looked like hot messes. We hadn’t showered, drank adequate amounts of water, or eaten a proper meal. Should we spend the money to taxi the 1.5 miles back to the hostel? Most taxi drivers don’t speak English, will try to fool the meters, and drive like maniacs. We decided it was worth the bargaining and Baht since Louise’s migraine and my dehydration deteriorated our stamina. 

Our hostel hostess agreed to let us check-in early after taking one look at Louise. We had to get that girl to bed. I ran to 7 Eleven to buy us waters (no drinking from taps here!), and Louise passed out. 

With sleep, we set out the next day for adventures along the Chao Phraya River. More to come on the markets, temples and food in the next post!

By Mel Grau