We were then off on our “get to know Bangkok” day. We took the bus over to the area where
the Grand Palace is, and the bus was really funny. It did have a roof, but it
was still very open-aired (all the windows were open). And it had fans in the ceilings. The
ceiling was also quite low and I will constantly be watching out for my head. On our way to the Grand Palace we came across this man who started talking to
Cathy; we ended up taking a Tuk-Tuk (motorized taxis) that are meant to hold
3 at best, but really probably just 2. We ALL (four of us) piled into one and the driver
took us to a boat to ride through the river and canals for a few hours.
We saw many wooden
dwellings that were on stilts and a lot of people hanging their laundry out for
the day. Most of the time we
zipped around and all of a sudden our guide stopped our boat and started going
backwards. He stopped completely and started pointing excitedly at the rocks at
the base of a house. We looked, and were confused, not realizing for a little
while what he was pointing out. But it was a huge lizard (he said alligator,
but a non-biting one), it was definitely a lizard. I was amazed that he saw it so well. This happened a couple
of times, he must always have a look out for them for the tourists he drives
around. In other places people were feeding the fish and they would all be up
at the surface, so many that some were half way out of the water, flopping
around. It was quite a spectacle. At one point, he slowed
down and a few ladies came over with their little paddle boats filled with
their wares to sell, they were really cute. He also let us stop at a temple area to take pictures. There was this
HUGE statue of Buddha with some other buildings and figures that were in the
Thai temple style. It was fun to walk around and see things. I’ve seen a lot of
places where you can burn incense for luck (and of course places to donate
money for luck as well). And
usually in these areas there is a floor that is raised up above the ground
level by just a few inches, and it is considered respectful to take of your shoes
before walking on it.
He let us off at Wat Arun (Temple of the Dawn), which had spectacularly
steep steps to climb to get to the top level of the structure. There were a few levels to climb up and
the whole thing was covered with ceramic mosaics and designs. We got to see
beautiful panoramas of the city from up there.
Next Cathy took us over Wat Pho (the Reclining Buddha). It
is just how it sounds, it’s the Thai Buddha in this side-ways position laying
down, and it is MASSIVE! According
to Wikipedia (the source for all truth and wisdom) the statue is 15 m high and
43 m long, for all of us who don’t regularly think in terms of meters that is
almost 50 feet tall and 141 feet long. It’s all covered in gold leafing except
the soles of his feet which are some sort of black stone and mother of pearl
decorations. Cathy didn’t go
inside with us (she’s seen it a million times), instead she met a monk and
started conversing with him outside. According to him, the Buddha was built
first but it kept getting too dirty so they then build a temple around it. The certainly planned for space for
people to walk around in there, but not so much for the height of the Buddha,
because if you look closely at the roof, the point of his had/crown almost
touches a corner of it.
After that we took a break for lunch and then it was off to the Grand Palace to see the Emerald
Buddha. In size comparison it’s a bit of a let down after the reclining Buddha,
and it’s made of Jade, not Emerald. But it was still a spectacular site. You
walk into the main temple on the grounds and it’s this huge room full of gold
and sparkly material (mostly colored glass and gem stones). The grounds were extensive. The grounds had several buildings and
it was interesting to see all the details that went into each building. The moldings and the sparkle of it all
were really incredible, and everything is so colorful.
After that we took a taxi ride to a mall to pick up a phone
for Kari while she’s here an extra week without everyone else. The taxi driver asked us if we could do
him a favor: stop at a shop and look around so he could get 5L free in gas.
Apparently this is a common thing, bring tourists to our shop and we’ll give
you free gas. So we did and it was
a funny thing. They took us through a pretty fancy jewelry store. First we saw
the men at work carving and shaping the rings. Then this room full of all the
products (rings, ear rings, pendants, etc.) where they had all the sales people.
One lady seemed to be convinced that if she followed me around long enough, I’d
buy something. Poor woman. She kept
at it though taking me through the next room with all the pearls and
textiles. I’m sure they all do that, pick a customer and stay with them to pick up
the commission, but in my case it wasn’t very effective, I just felt stalked
rather than being helped.
After that it was on to get a phone, and plane tickets for
when we go to Chang Mai and Chang Rai. We took Tuk-tuks for this, but opted to
take two rather than our smushed adventure of that morning. Then it was on to dinner and the cab
ride home. Driving here is a little crazy, but seems fairly comparable to what
I saw in South Africa and Russia.
Except their nicer to pedestrians here. By this time, as you can imagine I was EXHAUSTED. We hadn’t
been in Bangkok for 24 hours yet, and all of that was one day. Very fun! But I did fall asleep on the
cab ride home.
