Visiting Bangkok added something to my foreign language vocabulary. My memory, being very short term when it comes to foreign language did a fairly good job this time. I visited Bangkok around three months ago and I still have not forgotten “sawadee ka”. That means “hello” in Thai. The variation of the second word depends on the gender of the speaker. “Sawadee ka” when spoken by a female and “sawadee krup” when spoken by a male. Bangkok is very rich in culture and tradition. I was lucky to have a personal tour guide. By that I mean my very good friend Pong who’s Thai and currently lives there. I’ve known Pong since we were young. We were pen friends back in the time when email is still an alien and skype, facetime,YM, imessage, whatsapp and viber were not even words yet. But that was priceless! I was lucky to be part of that generation.
Pong was kind enough to tour me around Bangkok. Among the places we’ve visited are the amazing temples of Bangkok. One was Wat Po which houses the colossal Reclining Buddha. Within the Grand Palace grounds was another temple called Wat Phra Kaew or Temple of the Emerald Buddha, regarded as the most sacred Buddhist temple in Thailand. “Wat” is Thai for temple (another Thai word -wink wink)
The Reclining Buddha
A view of the Buddha’s feet
The Grand Palace
A miniature replica of Angkor Wat
Till next time Bangkok! Sawadee ka…
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