Wednesday, October 25th, 2021
5:55 am. Room 207, FIG Boutique Hotel
Kamphaeng Phet, Thailand
Today is my second morning without a cup of coffee at my side as I type. It feels just as strange as yesterday. Instead, I have a bottle of cold water from the fridge. So all is not lost. I almost dropped by the Robinson Lifestyle shopping plaza yesterday to see if I could pick up a small, lightweight, and inexpensive kettle. Luckily, the instant coffee that they serve as part of the breakfast at the FIG is quite good. I don’t know what brand it is, but I liked it. They start serving breakfast on their outdoor patio at 7:00, and I will be able to enjoy a cup of coffee at that time.
I met my fellow Canadian traveller over breakfast, and we had a good chat before he had to leave to complete his drive back to Bangkok. It was fascinating for me to hear stories of his life as an expat engineer in various countries. There have been many times when I’ve wondered if I’d have been content with a life’s path like that. After all, with his engineering degree, he has been able to travel and live all over the world – far more than I have – and he has been paid handsomely at the same time. When I was in high school, I didn’t have any concept of money being important. It never occurred to me that I should choose a career because it would allow me to earn more money. I’m not saying that I looked down on money. I was far too dumb for that. I just wasn’t aware of it. I didn’t realize that increasing your income was a good thing for life.
And in an interesting twist, I’ve finally reached a point in my life where this realization is in front of me all the time. In the past, being relatively poor felt somewhat normal. I was younger, and I was around people that were nearly as poor as I was. But at my age now, the people I meet and the people I interact with are generally retired or about to retire. And they are enjoying the fruits of a lifetime of working at lucrative jobs. And my situation doesn’t make any sense to them. I look like I should be retired. Since I’m in Thailand, and I’m not employed, the assumption is that I must be retired. And people simply assume that I can do all the things that they can do – that I have the freedom to do whatever I want and go wherever I want – that I have the hundreds of thousands of dollars if not millions of dollars to do these things. But I don’t have any money. And this leads to some funny situations and misunderstandings in conversation.
I also get to have some fun with it. My new Canadian friend, for example, is leading the more regular retired life. And when he goes travelling around Thailand, he does so in a nice rented car, and he spends as much time as possible golfing. And when he treated me to dinner last night, we went to the restaurant in his car. And for him, of course, driving in a car is no big deal. It’s just what you do. But it’s a rare treat for me to even BE in a car. It just doesn’t happen very often. And I never rent cars. I haven’t rented a car even one time in thirty years.
Another interesting aspect to that experience is that he used Google Maps to provide turn by turn directions to guide us to our destinations around Kamphaeng Phet. And I know that this is possible. On my last visit to Canada back in 2008 or 2009, my father had gotten some kind of device that did this for him. And I was quite impressed with how well it worked. When I drove in Canada at that time, I used it all the time to give directions, and I loved using it. But it never occurred to me to use it while riding around in Thailand on a scooter. I see people mounting smartphones on their motorcycle or scooters all the time, and they follow driving directions. But I never thought about doing it myself. But when I saw it being done that night, I thought I should give it a try. It’s often that way with me. I often need to see an example of someone doing something in order for me to try it. I need a guide in life. Another reason I decided to try it is that I’m finding Kamphaeng Phet to be a very difficult place to navigate. There is something about the layout of the roads that confuses me endlessly. I never know where I am or how to get to anywhere. This confusion is increased dramatically by the location of this FIG Boutique Hotel. It is in the middle of nowhere and incredibly hard to locate. I go in circles all the time here.
So, yesterday, when I set off on my scooter to go to the National Museum, I fired up Google Maps and had the system give me audible directions as I rode. At first, I tried to just have the phone in my pocket and listen for the turn directions. But at speed, I couldn’t hear them. So then I tried to use earphones. It took a while to figure out how to get the earphones to work. And the cord itself was a major pain. But it did work, and I was suddenly getting directions from my phone. It was fun for a while, but I didn’t enjoy it in the end. And I didn’t get much value out of it. I found the voice in my ear to be distracting and annoying. Later in the day, I stopped using it and just reverted back to stopping from time to time to get out my phone and look at Google Maps and figure things out for myself.
As I left from my hotel yesterday morning, I was still not exactly clear about the nature of the Historical Park here in Kamphaeng Phet. I wasn’t quite sure where it was, what it contained, and how you went there. I kept seeing one listing for the Historical Park on Google Maps, but it was located right in the heart of the town, and I wasn’t sure how it was kept separate from the town such that they could charge people money to visit it. Wouldn’t you just be inside this park naturally as you rode or walked around the town?
This feeling was reinforced when, after riding for just a few minutes, I came across a temple ruin at the side of the road. This was Wat Ko La Thai. It was an impressive laterite structure, and there was an information sign in English. I stopped the scooter and I spent probably an hour there checking this place out, reading the sign, and taking video and pictures. And I wondered whether this experience – just stumbling across ruins – was how you experienced the history of Kamphaeng Phet.
But things did become more clear as the day passed. I learned, for example, that the Historical Park is generally considered to have three parts. The main part is a few kilometers outside of town. I’m not entirely sure of the name, but I’ve seen it called Khet Aranyik, which means Forest District. Apparently, the monks from that time were divided into two groups. One group lived in the city. A second lived in more of a meditative retreat in the forest. Khet Aranyik is where the forest monks lived, and the preserved temples there make up the main section of the Historical Park.
The second part is called Khet Nai, which means Inner District. This district is in the middle of Kamphaeng Phet. In fact, the National Museum appeared to be inside this district, which made me wonder if I needed to buy a ticket for the park in order to visit the museum.
The third district is across the Ping River in the separate town of Nakhon Chum. The ruins here are not as well-preserved. Nor are they inside a defined section of the park with controlled access. These ruins are simply spread out around Nakhon Chum and open for anyone to check out as they go past.
And I suppose you could say that there is a fourth category. These would be the individual ruins, such as Wat Ko La Thai, which are just scattered about the city and which you would just stumble across randomly. You don’t need to buy a ticket to see these either, of course.
The National Museum itself was a very pleasant surprise. It was much larger, much nicer, and better organized than I expected. As I mentioned many times in the video that I shot, the museum made me feel smarter. It didn’t just dump a bunch of artifacts in glass displays and label them. It had organized its exhibits and its displays to guide the visitor through the knowledge you need to put everything in historical context. The displays guided you towards systems for understanding and retaining the information. On top of that, it was a comfortable visiting experience because the air conditioning was so strong. I appreciated that very much.
It was also a welcoming place. I stopped at the main gates to shoot a bit of video. And while I was there, the security guard came out of his office to check to see what I was doing. I would normally expect to be yelled at and told by security that I can’t do whatever it is that I was doing. But when I showed the guard my camera and indicated that I wanted to take a picture of the signs, he got out a broom and swept away some dirt and spider webs and leaves that had gathered on the ledges beneath the signs. He wanted to make them more presentable for my pictures.
I was also worried about being able to take video or pictures inside the museum. The museums in Myanmar, for example, banned any kind of photography. They would also not allow you to carry your bag inside. With that experience in mind, I prepared myself before I went into the Kamphaeng Phet National Museum. I put my GoPro in my pocket along with extra batteries and memory cards and anything else I thought I might need. Then I could hand over my knapsack for storage and still have all my most essential gear with me. And there was a sign in the lobby saying that visitors have to leave their bags at the information desk. I was prepared to do that, but no one asked for my bag, and I was able to take it with me.
Once inside the museum, I took a chance, and I put my GoPro back on its full mount. Sitting on that grip and mount, it is easily visible, and it’s clear that I’m wandering around taking video. And I shot video and talked into my gear in full view of the museum staff. But none of them minded. They just smiled and encouraged me to enjoy my visit. The museum even provided a very nice brochure about the museum in English and a large and detailed map of the entire Kamphaeng Phet area with all the historical and other interesting sites marked.
After my visit to the museum, I wouldn’t say that I am any kind of expert on regional history, culture, art, or religion. I would fail any kind of test on the subject. But I feel much better equipped to go to the Historical Park and understand a bit more about what I’m seeing and be able to appreciate it a bit better.
The remaining big experience for the day was returning to Fatboy’s Burger Bar. I wanted to have a good meal, but I also wanted to feature the place in a Planet Doug video. With that in mind, I even prepared my systems so that I could interview the owner. I put my Rode Wireless Go microphone onto the GoPro 3-Way Grip and set it up like a microphone grip. I wasn’t sure I would actually go through with it, but I was in a good mood, and I asked the owner, Fatboy himself, if I could ask him some questions, and I held the microphone between us so that it would record both our voices. All of this stemmed from the knowledge that he spoke English. Without that, none of this would have been possible.
The owner was very interested in my video project, and he helped me choose specific items from the menu to try out.
As far as video goes, I have to say that once again, I’m falling way behind. Every hour of the day is taken up with just living my normal life, taking video of my experiences, and then copying those video files to my phone. That takes up my whole day. There are no hours left to edit and upload any videos. I really wanted to make videos and post them almost in real time, but I haven’t done it. I haven’t even posted a video from my ride from Mae Sot to Tak. I’m way behind again. I have to figure out a better system.
My plan for today is to go to the main section of the Historical Park, which is, I think, the forest district. There is a visitor center there. And there are three or four main temple ruins plus about forty others. I’m not quite sure how I will handle the filming part of the experience. I’ll think about that over breakfast as I do some more reading.