Thai-ing it all up!
July 26, 2018
On our second day in Bangkok, and final day in Thailand, we wanted to check out one of the floating markets but found out that many of the good ones are only open on weekends. There was one that is open daily but is apparently incredibly touristy and not authentic anymore. It was also an hour and a half away, so we decided to skip this and stay in the city.
The Skytrain
We took our first Skytrain ride here to the river and then grabbed a ferry boat up the river. From the river we were able to see all the interesting architecture of the modern parts of the city as well as the old city homes and buildings. We passed along the Wat Arun, which had one of the more interesting exteriors of a temple. We also saw the Royal Palace and it was massive. As we rode along the river we were also reminded again of the constant images of the King. The river was full of various boats, including the long tail boats. These old wooden boats were most interesting (the boat version of a tuktuk) because they basically had a semi-truck engine with a shaft attached to a propeller, and every time one flew by it sounded like a truck driving past you, with sound of a turbo and exhaust spewing out of the back.
Wat Pho from our trip down the river.
After a few stops on the ferry, we got off to visit Wat Pho. This was definitely one of the more interesting temples we have visited. One of the main attractions here is the Reclining Buddha. We walked into a huge hall and the statue took up the entire space, measuring 150 feet long. It was massive and incredibly detailed. The feet had mother-of-pearl stones making the patterns and images, and then rest was entirely covered in gold leaf.
The Reclining Buddha.
As we continued to walk through the palace it became clear that some type of event was happening but we couldn’t tell what it was right away. We later found out that we were here on Buddhist Lent and the next day was one of the King’s birthdays. Apparently, everyone was gearing up for a very big celebration just as we were getting ready to leave Thailand. Throughout the temple there were kids sitting with monks drawing artwork of Buddha, participating in singing/chanting competitions, and visiting the temples to pray. Some were also eager to chat with us and practice their English.
One of the many temples in Wat Pho.
As we walked through, we noticed that this temple was a lot more elaborate than some of the others we have visited. The smaller temples, or chedis, were covered in colorful tiles and decorative flowers. There were also many more small temples throughout. We also noticed random Chinese figures and animals statues throughout which used to be ballasts on ships that traded with China, and they were later moved to the temple.
Apparently we just couldn't get enough of China, so our next ferry stop was to Bangkok's Chinatown. This is one of the largest and oldest Chinatown's in the world. The main strip and every side street around was jammed with stalls and stores all dedicated to one item. There was one shop selling only stickers and another selling different sizes of plastic shopping bags. There were also tons of gold shops.
As the sunset, we headed to Lumpini Park. It is a very pretty park and as we stood on the bank of the lake we were taking in all the birds and fish. As we looked out we saw what we thought were otters or beavers swimming together and moving toward the shore. We stayed to watch them a bit (assuming they were cute otters playing around), but as they approached the shore and stuck their heads out we saw a long tongue stick out and quickly realized they were some sort of huge reptile. Anna quickly decided it was time to leave. We looked this up later and they are monitor lizards. Apparently they have recently become a nuisance at the park with more than 400 taking over the area. It was getting so back that they decided to relocate many of them to a wildlife preserve, but there are still about 100 living in the park.
The view from Lumpini Park...before the those monitor lizards get you!
Our final stop in Bangkok was one of the many shopping centers. There are massive malls on every street here and they are quite popular. We stopped in for Anna to find a local bookstore, since she has been collecting books in the language of every country we visit. Of course, Chuck was then distracted by all the camera stores here. He had never seen so many of these cameras and lenses in person so he was very excited. Anna of course didn’t realize these specific lenses could actually be that different than the several he already owns, but she let him have his moment.
Final Notes on Thailand:
- The pollution here is out of control and it doesn’t seem like they are too concerned with animal welfare based on the types of tourist attractions. It does seem like that is changing over time, so we will see.
- Thai food is amazing and we could get used to eating it for every meal.
- Anna discovered that she is not actually that interested in street food. While we were both very excited about it going into the trip, she decided that there was something about the smell of animal meat sitting out in 90 degree weather combined with exhaust fumes that just weren’t very appetizing.
- Buddhism is such as huge part of life here. Between the regular sight of monks, temples every block, and spirit houses throughout the country, it seems to be both a religion and a way of life.
