See it
with CAA
Asia is more
affordable and
exciting than ever!
Book a guided tour
with CAA
Three Kingdoms
of indochina
CAA MeMber ChoiCe VACAtions
Explore the best
sights, sounds and
flavours of Southeast
Asia, including:
• Bangkok’s
floating markets
(optional tour
extension)
• Riverboat cruise
along the mighty
Mekong
• Cambodia’s
Angkor Wat, the
world’s largest
religious structure
• A Vietnamese
cooking class
in Hoi An
Contact a CAA Travel
Consultant for details:
1-800-564-6222 or
caask.ca/travel
30
FAll 2017
CAA sAsKAtCheWAn
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Gold statues and monumental spires at Wat Phra Kaew
angkok is both ancient
and up-to-the-minute. It’s
a centuries-old metropolis
where waterside shanties
give way to soaring sky-
scrapers, sprawling open-
air markets abut modern
megamalls, and gleaming
Buddhist temples lie
within sight of concrete
apartment complexes.
It’s these temples that tend to define
Thailand’s capital. Making a pilgrimage
to the ancient shrines—including the
80-metre-high Wat Saket (its name,
Golden Mount, a literal description
of its remarkable appearance), sacred
Wat Phra Kaew (Temple of the Emerald
Buddha) within Bangkok’s ornate
Grand Palace, or Wat Pho (Temple
of the Reclining Buddha) and its
massive gold leaf–covered Buddha
statue—is still a great way to glean the
country’s customs.
But Thailand doesn’t exist in a
vacuum. For hundreds of years, Thai
people have been exposed to everyone,
from their neighbours in Myanmar,
Cambodia and China to travellers and
traders from the West. Bangkok is a
Southeast Asian melting pot to which
ingredients continue to be added.
No matter where I find myself in the
coastal capital, it’s easy to see how
outside influences have shaped the
city’s (and country’s) history, traditions
and evolving modern culture.
The Museum of Siam is exemplary
in this regard, offering an immersion
in “what being Thai means.” Steps from
Bangkok’s central Chao Phraya River,
the neoclassical mansion’s interactive
exhibits chronicle the 14th-century
founding of Ayutthaya—the ancient
capital of what was once known as
Siam (a.k.a. Thailand today)—and the
changes wrought by the 1765 Burmese-
Siamese War. The country’s more
Vietnam
Cambodia
Laos