I thought the name The Land of Smiles was just an exageration to bring in tourists, but today I realized that the name was spot on. I woke up with a bit of a hangover. I went out for dinner last night met an Englishman, dutch guy and two Austrian girls and we ended up haveing a few drinks. Nothing too exciting, but i was feeling it this morning.
I walked to the Grand Palace, the "must-see" of Bangkok, and I have to be honest, it was pretty amazing. Unfortunately, as my luck always goes, the main attraction the Emerald Buddha was closed for renovation. Either way, it was still a really great visit. I'd describe it, but it's better if you just check out the pictures.
THen i walked to Wat Pho, which was also really nice, and a much more managable size than the Grand Palace (I think i spent an hour or more just walking around the palace's complex). Wat Pho's claim to fame is the Recliining Buddha, a huge gold statue of Buddha...reclining. Wat Pho also houses a thai massage school as well as a primary school. It was so cute to see the little Thai kids in their uniforms, I took a picture of some boys goofing off in a classroom. It was great we made faces at eachother and they hammed it up for the camera.
After a quick bite, I took a longboat ride down the Chao Praya River. It was probably the highlight of my trip. The longboat looked a little rickety and when we started out on the water (which was pretty choppy) there were honestly a few seconds that I thought the boat was going to spring a leak. But it didn't and once you get used to the bumping around it's fine. Plus, the water in the canals was much more calm.
I read in my guidebook that Bangkok is sometimes called the Venice of Asia. Never been to venice, but i could see what they were getting at. The canals are lined with houses that are built on stilts.There is a whole huge suburban community lining the river. Some of it lies on little clumps of land, but most of it is on stilts hovering just about a meter above sea level. It is amazing to be able to get that close to these little houses, some were more like shacks). You could actually see inside some of them. In fron of one of the more rickety shacnks, a girls still in her school uniform was chatting on a bright pink cell phone. The houses looked really run down, and there were clothes hanging everywhere and mangy dogs on the porch. But after seeing the cell phone, i wonder what the standard of living is really like. I'm sure that if I stayed a few days with one of those families, i would b e blown away at the iPods and other modern luxuries.
I felt a bit weird peering into people's homes and taking pictures of them sitting on their porches, but they were used to it and they just smiled and waved happily. It's funny, b/c the thai smile never seems faked. It's not like they are just putting it on to be nice, it's like they are genuinely happy to see you. They really are the friendliest people that I have ever met.
I kept thinking on the boat about what was appropriate behaviour for a tourist. You are supposed ot avoid getting ripped off, but often tourists rip off the sellers. In all honestly it wouldn't kill you to pay 10 dollars for a pair of jeans that would otherwise cost you 70. I am getting a bit tired of being constantly harrased to buy, buy, buy, but I try to remember that this is how these people eat. And to them they are ripping off some rich tourists to pay for food for their family. So I try not to get too annoyed.
Nevertheless, I am ready to get out of Bangkok. I have a little day trip to Ayutthaya (which i paid way too much for) and then I think I might head down to an island in the gulf coast called Ko Chang for a couple days before heading up north. But I am spending way too much, mostly by making rookie mistakes, so I am a bit worried about money. Especially since I don't have a job when i get back to OZ. But i'm trying not to panick and just enjoy my time. I can always just spend a couple days camping on the beach if money gets really tight.
