Another Day in Bangkok

This city is pretty fun. And REALLY hot.

We got up early again this morning and headed out towards the historic district.  Finding a tuk-tuk that wasn't outrageously expensive or a taxi that would actually use the meter was difficult, so we walked a ways, passing through some lesser-touristy spots, but it was cool. You'll have to see the pictures to understand.

The tuk-tuk drivers and taxi drivers said that all the places we wanted to go were closed, but we went anyways.  We went and saw Wat Pho, which has the largest reclining Buddha in the world, as well as the largest collection of golden Buddhas.  It was really cool and we saw hundreds of gold statues.  It's kindof cool that each and every Buddha is slightly different, be it facial expression, clothing, physique, or facial structure.  We found a few that we thought looked like certain people we know.

After Wat Pho, we headed over to the Black Buddha.  I'm not sure why it's called that, but it was a nice temple. We only stopped once to go into a souvenir shop and jewelry store on the way to the Golden Mount, which is a Buddhist temple on a giant hill.  It had great views and was nice and cool... Well, as cool as 100 degree weather with a strong wind can be.

We switched tuk-tuk drivers and then headed to the White Marble Temple.  On the way, we got roped into TWO tailor's shops by the tuk-tuk driver.  One had the same prices but lesser quality of suits and materials, and no fabric other than for suits (not very women-friendly) and the other had same quality but incredibly small selection for quite a bit less, mostly due to the student discount.  We've already got our suits, and not enough time to get started now, but we might see what we can do if/when we come back. I only have suit jackets, so they might be able to make skirts and pants for me.... If I can find more money to buy them.

The White Marble Temple was gorgeous, even though it was the simplest temple we've seen.  The tuk-tuk driver took us to Chinatown when we were done.  We walked around a tiny bit and took some pictures.  Apparently it looks like Hong Kong, but I'll have to wait until I go there to really compare.  We found a little back road and had lunch... Pad/Phat Thai and fried rice again. It was good. Gabe had a beer that he really enjoyed.  After eating, we walked a bit more, and accidentally found Shreyas's hotel.  He arrived today with two other friends.  It seems to be a good location.

We were exhausted at this point, so we headed back to the hotel.  We walked through two blocks of Chinese markets and got thoroughly lost, but it was cool to see the market.  I promptly fell asleep upon arriving back at the hotel, and I'm not sure what Gabe did, but he woke me up at about 8 to go walk around a bit and get dinner. I had a coconut and he had a Thai tea before Shreyas and the other guys texted to meet up.  Since we are leaving tomorrow at 7 for the floating market, I decided I would go to bed rather than go out, so they're down at Patphong Market and should have a good time.

On the way to the hotel this afternoon, something happened that really exemplified Thai culture and hospitality.  Our tuk-tuk was driving normally and there were the usual mopeds and motorcycles and stuff everywhere.  They stack these mopeds with all sorts of stuff, and it looks like they shouldn't be able to balance or move, but they do. Until one today, which got off balance and fell into our tuk-tuk in the middle of rush-hour traffic.  Lots of screeching tires and near-wrecks, but nothing damaged.  Our tuk-tuk driver got up and helped the guy, the taxi driver behind us got out and stopped, and two other mopeds that happened to be passing also stopped.  I don't know if it happens on a regular basis, but everyone was laughing and working quickly to help this guy. Some of the others even stayed to help him repack his stuff and put it back on his moped. I was impressed. The people are really nice here.

So that was our day. I'm headed to bed.


ราตรีสวัสดิ์
Goodnight