This morning I woke up at 6 something and made myself stay in bed until 7. I then got up and packed my bag and then showered. I took a taxi to Khao San Rd with my bag. I had decided that even though I liked the other hostel, it was just too far out. After going in to check prices at about 3 places, I decided to go to the place the girls had stayed. I got a single room with just fan, private bathroom, and cold shower for 250B. Not the most social way I could do it, but it works, and I like it. It has one of those switches in the door that you have to put the key in to be able to turn on the lights and fan, which I think is a good way to make sure people don't waste energy.
From there I went to the same place we had lunch yesterday--Prakorb is the name, i wrote it down this time! I was boring and got eggs and toast and tea --- 40B for all. Planned out my day/future days in BKK and was getting ready to leave to go to the Grand Palace when Poong called and asked if I was able to meet for lunch. SO my plans changed.
I had heard that taking the river ferry to where it joins the skytrain at central pier was the best/cheapest way to get somewhere far away from Khao San, so I did that. Finding the pier was interesting. I knew where it was on my small/kinda shoddy map, so i walked the few blocks there. So I knew where it was supposed to be, and I saw a sign saying pier this way, but when you looked down the alley, all you can see is a sign for a restaurant that says "old pier" whatever it's called. so i walked about 100 feet further, and then decided it must be down that way. I went back and walked down and asked a worker if it was indeed that way. She told me to continue on, to where I ran into a charter boat woman who told me I had to walk further down along the river to get to the pier. So much for the sign pointing to where it is. I got the boat all the way down the Chao Phraya river for 15B to Central, where I took the Skytrain into Siam Sq. to meet Poong.
We went to a nice/chic cafe nearby and she ordered everything, trying to get a variety of Thai foods for me to try. We had a spring roll to start which I asked what it was because it seemed like ham and melted cheese inside, not what I typically think of being in s spring roll. Next we had broccoli & shrimp stir fry kind of thing. We had a soup based dish that when I asked it, she couldn't remember the Chinese name, so I assume it's not actually Thai (good assumption, right?) It had these things in it that were the consistancy of a gelatin type material...?? We got a fried pork (I think that's what she said it was) and my new favorite dish... These boiled egg things. I can't remember the name, which I need to find!! They're boiled in with sugar and other things that make them oh so sweet and delicious. They are brown, and literally look as though they are made of chocolate, which is a bit discerning at first. I LOVE THESE EGGS/this dish.
After that she took me to the nearby HUGE mall. This place is crazy. I had no idea where I was going and it is just a maze of what seems like it would be a market because of how low the ceilings are, narrow the halls, and how filled these tiny little shops are. She led me to the main hall area and down to the grocery store. She wanted me to try the Durian fruit, which they had precut there. If you don't know what a Durian is, google it. I did a project on it -- having to made ads for it. This fruit in it's shell/peel/outside is bigger than my head and has giant spikes on it. I had read that it smells like "babies' diapers" or "sewage" and so many people from Western society are put off by it and don't want to try it, BUT that the inside fruit part has an undescribable amazing taste.
I tried it, and not being TOO ripe, or in the cover, it didn't really smell too bad, and I had to actually put my nose to it. The taste is definitely undescribable and I don't know what to compare it to. The consistency of the sweetest part is very soft and slimy. This fruit, because of the smell isn't allowed on public transportation in Thailand, and many other Asian countries as well. It was delicious though!!
After that, we took a taxi to Poong's office nearby where she had one of her staff members take me back to the pier. Ken, took me by motorcycle, which was an experience as well. I know he wasn't driving the way he normally would because I was riding -- he didn't dodge in and out of traffic or drive super fast. Still fun.
I got the boat back up the river with the intention of going to the Grand Palace. I even got off at the pier stop. I asked 2 guys (Leland & Marcello) who also got off how long it took to see it all because I realized it would be closing reasonably soon and didn't want to be rushed/waste my money. They told me about an hour minimum and it turned out I only had 45 minutes left. :(
I asked them where they were headed and it turns out they were going to the same place I was. We were going to walk down to the next pier to get the ferry back across the river to go to Wat Arun because it's cheapest that way. Easier said than done. Again, signs are hard to find. You basically have to be at the actual alley/road for there to be a sign, if there is one. So we overshot by about 4 blocks. When we walked down our chosen road, we saw this and headed back the other way, ran into a dead end, so walked back up the next road. We then asked where the pier was and were told to go down the following road. This we found to be a charter river cruise tour only pier, so we started to walk back down to the main road, found a cut through alley and took that, we ended up walking through alleys along warehouses/shanties. (don't worry mom, it was perfectly safe, and I wouldn't have done it alone) This was a glimpse at the hidden bangkok... not that it's far hidden!
We finally found the pier, paid our 3.50B to make it across the river and go to Wat Arun. The thing about all these places you visit is that there is MAYBE one little info sign just saying when it was built, and that's about it. I'm sure there's so much more I could learn -- if I could READ thai. We climbed up the Wat, which is a harrowing experience since its just about a vertical climb. I felt like I needed a harness and ropes for it. The stairs are about 12 inches high (or higher!) and about 6 inches deep. Great view, and beautiful architecture.
We took the ferry back across the river to go to Wat Pho. In the Wat Pho is the reclining Buddha 15M or so tall and 45M long. I read that the core is brick, covered in plaster, and then coated in gold leaf. His feet are inlaid with mother of pearl. Leland and I paid 20B to put 108 coins in 108 pots for good luck. Apparently they don't accurately count them because the girl in front of me was off on her number of coins, I had 4 extra, and Leland had 4 too few. haha, OOHHHWELL.
After that we went to the back of the temple grounds to find the acclaimed Thai Massage school. We all decided that, being written about as top 3 places to get a Thai massage in Bangkok, we'd get one, since we were tired anyway. This time I got a Thai foot massage, where the idea is that the pressure points in your feet are connected to organs and body parts elsewhere on the body. IT WAS AMAZING.
From there we took a Tuk Tuk back to Khao San where they went to go get ready to go to a wedding dinner, and I went to take a nap. After I got food on the street, mmm great stir fry! After going to an internet cafe for a bit to set this blog up and upload pictures, I went to meet them. Because they don't have a cell phone, and didn't know when they would be done with the dinner thing, we had arbitrarily picked a meeting point and time, which didn't work. sad. I walked around Khao San -- at night it is definitely a different beast! I found a new FANTASTIC internet cafe just around the corner. Half the price, brand new equipment, etc.
SO here I am now at Pannee Lodge typing away! It's pretty late so I'm about to get off and finsih posting pics/ captions later. It was unbearable humid today, but when I looked up the temperatures here it's only been high of 85. Someone just came in (hadn't happened in awhile) and it's now POURING outside. I don't have far to go though!
