This is my entry for #marketfriday hosted by our only kind and compassionate @dswigle. Several weeks ago, I bought some cheap Thai herbal soap which worked out very well for me. I had to get back to that old market near the Grand Palace to stock up some cheap herbal soaps; I was thinking of about a dozen to last me twelve months. So, I took the opportunity to explore the old Ta Phrachan market (which means Moon Pier Market). This market was originally a water market or ‘floating market’ with vendors selling their goods on their small boats along the river. This market arose during the reign of King Rama I, almost three hundreds years ago.
The King established a new city called Bangkok on the opposite side of the river, where King Taksin built his Royal Palace and city of Thonburi. This market then sprung up as vendors living in Thonburi had to cross over the river to sell their fruits, vegetables, flowers, food and snacks, etc to their customers on the Bangkok side of the river. Therefore, a floating market of small boats full of various goods became a lifeline to people living in the new city. The floating market became a ‘land’ market during the reign of King Rama V. The road building project around Bangkok meant that a road called Prachan road (Moon road) was built along the river with an opening of flat land along the riverbank. Vendors could place their goods on the flattened open land so customers could do their shopping in this open square by the river.
There is an small pier called Ta Prachan Pier where commuters could get on a ferry for crossing over to Thonburi side. There is also a new pier for express boats which travel along the river to a nearby city. These expressed boats were quite a favourite among tourists who liked to see Bangkok at night and for hopping on to various tourists’ attractions along the river. The long lockdown has transformed the lively and crowded pier into a very quiet and lonely place. I haven’t been there over ten years, so I was quite surprised by the reconstructed pier which was very bright and spacious with modern coffee shop and public restrooms. I took a few photos at the pier; the ticket vendor was very kind and allowed me to enter the pier without paying. But I gave her a small tip as she could hardly sell any ferry tickets. She was so polite and gave me official thanking hand gesture for which I returned the same gesture of respect. It’s quite rare to meet people who still practice our old custom of saying ‘thank you’.
I never saw such a quiet market and deserted alley by the river. I was hoping I could get some local snacks and sweets but the market and restaurants around the pier were closed. Another thing, I wanted to check out some local astrologers near the pier. There used to be almost twenty stalls offering astrological predictions, tarot card readings, Indian astrology including psychics for past life readings! But the whole narrow alley was dark and quiet. The atmosphere was quite strange, even the river looks a bit sad and drifting in vacuum. I walked from the deserted pier back toward Phrachan road.
The second oldest university called Thammasat University was closed to the public during the lockdown. I could only take two photos from the gate while the security guard came out of his shelter to see what I was doing. I would have loved to take a close up photo of the old building with the sharp roof called Thammasat Dome. I haven’t visited this place ages ago. The last time I went there to meet an old friend who was doing his master degree in psychology. Some of my old friends used to be involved in students’ uprising against the oppressive government.
There was a bloodbath from official suppression; the military and police kept firing guns, machine guns, throwing grenades into thousands of students gathering in a football field inside the university. Luckily I was too young to understand what was taking place in Bangkok. I only knew there was a curfew and all the roads were dark and deserted. I did see two helicopters flying over the direction of the university from our rooftop. There was smoke in the sky. There were sounds of machine guns from the helicopters. My parents locked up the main gate of my house to prevent me from going out to investigate the matter. I hung around the gate in the evening. Two young men with bloody shirts came past my house; they told me there were lots of dead people shot by the military and police. Several years later, I saw many black and white photos in a secretly published history book which I did manage to secure a copy.
Years of observation, questioning and talking to people with privileged information; I could see the bigger picture and I realised that most people were just dispensable pawns being manipulated by puppet masters behind the curtain. Those who instigated the bloodbath continued to live in their comfortable houses. I am afraid that history might repeat itself before the end of this year. Even the head of the military was manipulated and gloomed for their role as persecutors. It was someone else in the helicopters firing M16 at those students. Some foreign insurgents with Thai traitors did manage to create a nasty division among Thai people. Some student leaders were either with the CIA or MI6; they betrayed their friends and escaped to study abroad with full scholarships! Very few people would dare to tell the truth for fear of their safety. I hope that true history would be disclosed one day; I was only privy to some snapshots of the past stories.
I had to leave the reminiscing of the bloody past behind and looked for some herbal shops. Most were closed and only three small shops were open for business. I bought some herbal ointment and balm from each shop as the prices were reasonable and these would keep for several years. I have begun to stock up on medicine and vitamins in case there’s some sudden societal and financial collapse. There were very few people along this famous road which used to be thronged with stalls selling fake antiques and amulets. Thai people are very superstitious and some are willing to pay millions of bahts for famous amulets.
There had been some improvements of the old shops and vendors’ area during the past ten years. The amulet stalls along the footpath had been organised and allocated to new amulet centers in the nearby area while many vendors have moved to new shopping mall which allocated the whole floor as the new amulet center. Most people wouldn’t know that there’s a cluster of shops specialising in reproduction of antiques such as Buddha statues. These shops were the sources of antique props or period props for the film industry. But most shops were closed for business: no tourism and two years of spasmodic lockdown!! I did feel the pain of ordinary hard working people who had no idea about the globalists’ Great Reset. Many people still do not understand what’s taking place and held false hopes with misguided new investments.
I did warn some of my close friends about two years ago of the uncertainty and sudden changes but I had no idea things would become so ‘bloody’ in the near future. Some friends had thanked me for urging them to cancel their travel plans a few months before the spread of the virus. Some friends were warned against new investment projects. I had saved quite a few people’s lives by telling them to wait till the end of the year for more effective vaccines. Now I have to safe myself from aggressive government policy to force people to get the jab. Next month only people who are fully vaccinated would be allowed in restaurants.
The government really didn’t know what they were doing; they just accepted recommendations proposed by crooked technocrats. All vaxxed people in the same restaurant to increase each other’s spike proteins loads! These proud people would suffer from strange illness in the near future. Some of our doctors and nurses have began to pass away at home without any witness. One woman’ s autopsy showed severe blood clot on the left side of the brain. I walked along the quiet road knowing that many more people will drop dead like fallen leaves soon; estimated total number of death (with COVID) was around three hundreds per day.
Realising the big game plan, I gave a big sigh while taking photos of the surroundings. I wished I could do something which could mitigate the situation; in fact I did try to contact some famous opinion leaders but no one responded to my messages. I realised the power and influence of drug businesses and the medical corruption in my country. Luckily there has been some Thai telegram group discussing about the Great Reset and plandemic. I kept telling myself I could not save everyone; even some of my relatives thought I was crazy to tell them not to get the jab.
I did manage to buy four herbal soaps and a few more bottles of herbal balm. These would become handy probably next year. Then I crossed the road to take a walk in Wat Mahatad which was the first temple built by King Rama I after he moved over to Bangkok. The temple is around two hundred and fifty years old, I couldn’t see the original old building. Most of the old trees were gone long time ago; new and bigger buildings replace all the old wooden ones. I discovered the shrine and statue of the famous army commander of King Taksin known as ‘ ‘Maha Sura Singhanat’. He was the brother of King Rama I; the three men had been colleagues since the early days of their employment at the Palace in Ayutthaya. How fate played strange tricks with these three young soldiers; two best of friends became King of Siam while the younger brother was the best warrior and became a Viceroy during his older brother’s reign.
Thai people respect Phraya Maha Sura Singhanat as his bravery and fighting spirit made him won several battles over the Burmese troops. The Viceroy was also a big supporter of the art, literature and architecture. He built several old buildings in and around the temple which became part of the National Museum, National Theatre by the river. Without him, Siam could not win several battles over bigger hoards of Burmese soldiers. I did wonder what he thought about our political predicament. The atmosphere in the temple was strangely indifferent to our reality though very calm.
On my way to the bus stop, a lonely vendor had just set up his second-hand books display; he was hoping there might be some customers. The curfew was still on from 9pm which meant that he would have less than five hours to make money. So, I bought a guide book on Bath, an old Roman city in England, for twenty baht (about sixty cents). He told me that’s the first time he ventured out after two months. In normal time, the footpath would be very crowded with hawkers, vendors and customers looking for bargain items in small pieces of antiques, amulets and second-hand collectibles.
The sky became quite grey and heavy with evening clouds. I hurried along the path towards the riverside looking for waiting passengers at a nearest bus stop. The car park inside the Navy Club was empty of cars and deserted. I decided to cross over to the other side and waited for a passing bus. After ten minutes, an orange bus approached at high speed, it wouldn’t be safe to try to stop the bus by standing in the middle of the road. Luckily, the bus driver saw me waving with my cap, so he stopped the bus for me. There were only two passengers on the bus that’s why he needed all the passengers he could get along the route. I was glad to get back to the inner city with plenty of time before the curfew time.
เราใช้เวลาในการเขียนโพสต์นี้นานมาก เพราะลำดับเวลากับความคิดของตนเองไม่ค่อยลงตัว พอเราหวนคิดถึงอดีตของเหตุการณ์ทางประวัติศาสตร์ของไทย เพราะสถานที่มันพาไปในอดีต แล้วพอกลับมาในปัจจุบัน เราก็มาเจอสภาพการณ์ที่คล้ายคลึงกับอดีตอีก มันทำให้ยิ่งคิดและเป็นกังวลว่า สิ่งที่เลวร้ายกำลังจะเกิดขึ้นซ้ำรอยในอดีตอีกแล้ว การไปเดินเที่ยวตลาดท่าพระจันทร์นี่ ทำให้ชีวิตและความคิดของเรายิ่งวุ่นวายไปใหญ่ ที่ท่าเรือเองก็เงียบเหงามาก แทบไม่มีคนเดินทางเลย ทุกอย่างปิดหมด เราอดหาอาหารว่างและขนมอร่อยๆกินเล่น แต่มีการเปลี่ยนแปลงที่ดีขึ้นที่ท่าพระจันทน์ ที่ท่าเรือทำใหม่หมด ไม่ได้เป็นโครงสร้างไม้เหมือนสมัยก่อน ห้องแถวที่คนเช่าขายของก็ทำเป็นปูน มีทางเดินดีกว่าแต่ก่อน เราพยายามตามหาร้านของบรรดาหมอดู และนักดูโหราศาสตร์ไทย นักอ่านไพ่ยิปซี และพวกคนที่มีญาณในการสื่อสารกับสิ่งที่เรามองไม่เห็น แต่ไม่มีใครมาเปิดให้บริการเลย สมัยก่อนเพื่อนบอกว่าที่นั่น เป็นแหล่งดูดวงและของหมอดูหลากหลายมาก ทุกร้านปิดประตูกันเงียบ
เราก็เดินออกจากท่าเรือหลังจากถ่ายรูปริมน้ำ แดดค่อนข้างร้อนและจ้ามาก บรรยากาศริมน้ำค่อนข้างเศร้าและนิ่งเงียบ เราคงต้องทำใจให้เป็นอุเบกขาให้มากขึ้น พอเดินไปที่ประตูของมหาวิทยาลัยธรรมศาสตร์ เราก็ผิดหวังมากที่เขาปิดประตูไม่ให้คนเข้าไป เราก็ยืนถ่ายรูปอยู่ตรงนั้น รปภเดินออกมาดูว่าเราทำอะไร เขาคงไม่ค่อยเจอนักท่องเที่ยวนัก แล้วเราก็เดินตามหาร้านขายยาแผนโบราณ เจอร้านเล็กๆเปิดอยู่ตรงมุมถนน เราซื้อยาหม่องสูตรโบราณมาสองกระปุก ร้านตามถนนปิดกันส่วนใหญ่ เราเดืนดูตามซอยที่เคยมีร้านขายของเก่า และรูปปั้นพระพุทธรูปมากมายหลายปาง และรูปปั้นเทพแขกอีกหลายๆแบบ. แต่ช่วงนี้ร้านปิดกัน เขาคงขายของไม่ได้เลย เพราะไม่มีการท่องเที่ยวมาสองปีแล้ว เศรษฐกิจตกสะเก็ดกันไปทั่วทุกทิศ
เราเจอร้านขายสบู่สมุนไพรไทยๆ เปิดอยู่ร้านเดียว ก็ไม่มีทางเลือกนัก เราก็ซื่อสบู่มาสี่ก้อน และพวกยาหม่องสมุนไพรสองกระปุก. ตอนนี้เราเริ่มเตรียมสะสมยาและของจำเป็นสำหรับสุขภาพแล้ว เพราะเราคิดว่าบ้านเมืองจะต้องมีเรื่องวุ่นวายก่อนสิ้นปีนี้ ต่อไปพวกยารักษาโรคที่จำเป็นจะหายากมาก และมีราคาแพงมาก. เราแปลกใจที่เห็นคนมาขายหนังสือเก่าในตอนเย็นแล้ว เราก็ไปคุยกับคนขาย เขาบอกว่าพึ่งออกมาขายวันนี้เป็นวันแรกในรอบสองเดือน เราก็เลยช่วยซื้อหนังสือเก่าหนึ่งเล่ม เป็นหนังสือท่องเที่ยวเมืองในอังกฤษ เวลาเริ่มงวด เราก็รีบเดินไปทางท่าช้างเพื่อหาป้ายรถเมล์ เราเดินผ่านราชนาวีสโมสร ที่จอดรถที่นั่นโล่งว่างเปล่า แปลกตามาก ปกติที่นั่นจะมีรถยนต์จอดกันแน่น เราข้ามถนนไปฝั่งตรงข้ามแล้วยืนรอริมถนน เราโยกรถเมล์จากริมถนนอย่างนั้นเพราะเราหาป้ายรถเมล์ไม่ได้ โชคดีมากที่คนขับรถเมล์เห็นเราโบกให้หยุด และจอดให้เราขึ้น ทำให้เรากลับไปในเมืองได้ก่อนฝนตก และมีเวลาซื้อเสบียงก่อนเวลาเคอร์ฟิวสองชั่วโมง เราก็หวังว่าสักวันหนึ่ง ท่าพระจันทร์จะกลับมาคึกคักเหมือนเดิม
Wishing you peace, good health and prosperity.
Stay strong and cheerful.