Howdy from Texas: A Long Day at the Museum

We got a fairly early start today, having breakfast at the hotel and then off to the Royal Palace. On the way we passed the National Museum and decided to stop there. It was very interesting, and I hadn't seen it before, but little did I realize I'd be spenind the entire day there.

This is Mother on Tanee Road, the road the hotel is on. She steels her expression to say "No!" to the many vendors who implore us to buy their wares and taxi and tuk tuk drivers who try to scam us into riding with them. It is very frustrating because you can't tell who is trying to scam you and who is being honestly helpful with no hidden motives.

The scammers will stop you and either ask you where you are from or they will tell you Wat Pho or the Royal Palace or whatever is closed for a special occasion (it's always a lie) and they will offer to take you somewhere, which ends up being a shop of some sort where they get a commission and naive tourists often feel they must buy something to get out.

But we have had a few people genuinely be helpful and not follow us to try and get something out of us. It's hard to tell the good from the bad and it's frustrating to have to be so aloof with everyone.

I learned before when I was in Thailand--the ATM gives you 1000 baht bills and nobody but the big stores will take them. The group of librarians who came with me several years ago, we always had trouble breaking our big bills. Often we had to buy stuff we didn't really want from the big grocery stores just to have change.

I told this to Mother, but she decided to test it. It cost 40 baht each to get into the museum, and she tried to pay with a big bill. The woman would not take it. Mother tried to make her take it. A battle of wills ensued and I stepped away to a safe distance.

I hadn't planned on going to the museum but it was actually very interesting. The first exhibit hall was all about Thai history, like a history book in diorama. These models showed how the people fought using elephants, which looked fascinating.

Interestingly the early history was all about battles and which king defeated who. From the 19th century onward it was more about education and arts and literature, money and trade and technology.

The museum was started by the son of the king who was the subject of "The King and I" to house his father's extensive collection of art and artifacts.

This is the temple or wat that is on the grounds.

This house was constructed during the time that Anna Leonowens was in residence in Bangkok teaching the king's children. It is kept in a manner of the time. But don't get the idea that Anna is popular here--the local lore has it that she exagerrated her influence over the king and that much of her story is not true.

I found an exhibit hall amongst the seven or eight buildings devoted to my passion--puppetry.

Shadow Puppets.

Wayang puppets--these are Javanese.

String puppets modeled after a Chinese variety. They are like marionettes, but they are operated from beneath, by pulling a series of strings with rings on the end.

A larger string puppet, this is a demon king.

More string puppets.

I got separated from Mother in the first building, in fact I didn't see her again after about five minutes in the place. I waited for her at the front of the first hall, then went to most of the others, waited some more and had some Haagen Daaz ice cream (which I had been craving) and waited some more. Then I got up and looked at everything I hadn't seen , then went to the puppetry exhibit again. Finally at 4 PM they were closing, and the girl from the information booth brought me a note from my mother. She had waited for me (we must have just missed each other in passing) and had left at 1 for the Royal Palace!

I guess it turned out okay, except I wondered where she was. I didn't really want to go to the Royal Palace again, and I found the museum very interesting. But I really miss having our cell phones so we can keep better track of each other.