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Thailand iSland hOPPinG
SILK HOLIDAYS
DepArt Sept. 2017–Oct. 2018
12-day island-hopping
journey to Phuket, Krabi,
Phi Phi and Koh Lanta;
from $3,179 (airfare
and taxes included)
naTiOnal GeOGraPhic
JOurneyS icOnic JaPan
G ADventureS
DepArt Apr. 2018–Oct. 2018
12-day guided tour
of Tokyo, Tsumago,
Kanazawa-Shi,
Hiroshima-Shi and Kyoto;
from $5,999 (land-only)
cALL A trAveL SpecIALISt:
1-866-667-4777
VieTnam, cambOdia & The
richeS Of The mekOnG
AmAWAterWAYS
DepArt Oct. 2017–Dec. 2018
8-day river cruise from
Ho Chi Minh City to Siem
Reap (or reverse); from
$3,951 based on Oct. 16,
23 and 30, 2017 sailings in
category C (AMA Travel
extra on select sailings:
Save $250 per person,
plus $100 onboard
credit per person)
cALL A cruISe SpecIALISt:
1-866-989-6594
26
Fall 2017
AMA InsIder
B
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.
To outsiders, it’s these temples that
tend to define Thailand’s capital, and
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) or sacred Wat Phra Kaew
(Temple of the Emerald Buddha) within
Bangkok’s ornate Grand Palace—is still a
great way to glean the country’s customs.
Indeed, seeing these monumental
sites is easier than ever today: Afford-
able flights from Alberta can turn your
dreams into reality. And once you’re in
Bangkok, hotels and activities are also
quite reasonable.
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 the 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
recent history is examined as well, via
displays on the 1932 coup that ushered
in Siam’s constitutional monarchy, and
on Thailand’s modern-day relationship
with the West—and its impact on poli-
tics, education, fashion and food.
My time at the museum reinforces a
few well-worn ideas about Thai culture,
cALL A trAveL SpecIALISt:
1-866-667-4777