We just returned from an amazing morning touring Bangkok.
We started the morning with a nice breakfast at "The Deck" (our hotel's restaurant which is right on the the channel).
From there we walked a block to Wat Pho. One of Bangkok's famous Buddhist temples. Admission to Wat Pho was a lofty 50 Baht each ($1.75). The Reclining Buddha was breathtaking. Only minor hiccup was when I hit my head on a threshold -- ouch, only a little blood though. It took us about an hour to see Wat Pho in its entirety.
We left Wat Pho with plans to go to the Grand Palace only to run into a friendly Thai man who told us it was closed until 1 pm. He suggested that we go to the Black Buddha, Golden Mount Temple, and then come back to the Grand Palace. He hooked us up with a Tuk Tuk ride that would take us to all of these places for 40 Baht ($1.50). So off we went in our first Tuk Tuk. We have a short video of it that I'm trying to upload to youtube -- we'll see if that works.
Our first stop was the Black Buddha. It was a very small temple that only had one other person inside. We started visiting with him only to find out that he owns Royal Thai Rice. They ship rice all over the world -- I assume him to be a very wealthy guy. He explained the history of the Black Buddha and how it was his best place for luck. Very interesting man -- every Thai person we have met has been extremely open and friendly. I thought the Brazilians had the monopoly on this but the Thai are all smiles and positivity.
The driver asked us to do him a favor by stopping at a local shop to just browse. I had read prior to the trip of this scam that the Tuk Tuk drivers have by getting you to stop at places that you didn't intend. We agreed to stop for 5 minutes. The store was called Manhattan and it was a dive of a clothing store. Only stayed 5 minutes and then moved on to see the Golden Mount Temple.
We walked to the top of the Golden Mount for some great views of Bangkok. It is an enormous city that we won't even scratch the surface of touring. It gave us a nice birds' eye view. Walking down, we rang the bells for good luck. Thai people are Buddhist and believe in projecting and giving off positive energy so that they will, in turn, have a blessed life. I have never seen such a consistent effort to be friendly and nice that I have here. Granted we are tourists and they are providing services but it just feels different. We'll see if that remains throughout our travels.
From there, we headed to the Grand Palace only to find that it was much too busy for us. We decided to head back to the hotel to rest. Along the way, we stopped at a number of street markets selling jewelery, silks, and food. We ate our first Thai meal at a small place in one of the markets. We had to ask the guy in the table next to us to help us order. It's difficult to explain that we don't want meat or seafood. We have a language cheatsheet but it doesn't really help that much -- at least so far. Any hoo, the meal was fantastic but didn't fill me up. We stopped another joint right next to the water. Shared a Singha beer and ordered a spicy basil dish. Blazing hot but the spice didn't stay with you. Extremely good too.
Well, that's all for now. We are pretty well-adjusted to the time change but need a short nap to relax. More to come.
Dan and Kilee
