The Westin Grande And The Joe Louis Theatre

On the first day of our four day stay in Bangkok, we didn't want to go out. Dad, while reading Mom's notes on Bangkok, started wondering whether going to Tea would be a good idea. The Mandarin Oriental Hotel was way too expensive and so were many others. Mom happened to stumble across an ad in the Bangkok Post for the Westin Grande Hotel,saying that there was to be a special Tea from December 17th to the 4th of January. We looked into it a little further, and Voila!!, a reasonably priced tea on the 7th floor at a very fancy hotel in Bangkok. And we were going that afternoon.

The Westin Grande was VEEEEEEEEEERRRRRRRRRRYYYYYYYYYY fancy!!! The lobby (inside) had water in ponds that would flow under glass walls to the outside. The "Tea Room" was called the Zest Piano Bar, and had large slanted glass windows on both sides of the room. A huge glass lamp on the wall hung over a bar that changed colors every few seconds.

We ordered two Festive Tea sets, including pastries, tea sandwiches and several different spreads. Also, and most importantly, Vanilla Ceylon and English Breakfast Tea. It was all VEEEEEEEEEERRRRRRRRRRYYYYYYYYYY tasty, and we got good photos!!!






Afterwards, we headed to the Joe Louis Puppet Theatre. We headed past Lumpini Park (see Bangkok - The Sleepless City) to the night market and then onward to the theatre itself. The theatre was created for a man nicknamed Joe Louis who was committed to the puppets. The puppets of Thailand are a dying art, and this man loved them. He started making the puppets for his own satisfaction, and then for the satisfaction of his audiences. His children and grandchildren are all taught traditional Thai dance and the way to control the puppets. The show, The Birth of Ganesh, was about the birth of Ganesh with characters from the Ramayana, a traditional Southeast Asian theatrical dance. In the Hindu religion, the mother of Ganesh is Parvati, Shiva's wife. In the show, his mother was Uma, wife of Isuan.