day two in the city of angels -- all about the buddhas

16 march 2009
monday

after a less than comfortable night's sleep, we woke early to begin our day. on the itinerary: the canals, the grand palace & massages.

bangkok is hot. there is no way around it. my lonely planet guidebook mentions that bangkok is the world's hottest city according to the world meteorological association, and boy is that the truth. on an average march day, the temperature is about 34 degrees celsius, which meant it was nearly 94 degrees.

we had breakfast at a cute, and rather western, cafe called elefin. a beautiful cappuccino and an omelette rounded out my first thai breakfast. in all honesty, a traditional thai breakfast is generally noodles and soup; which is not exactly my ideal morning food. a trip to the equally western bathroom, we headed out.

another trip on the skytrain, which i love ( may have mentioned that already..) and we found ourselves at the chao praya river. we purchased a day pass and headed out onto our taxi boat.

bangkok is often called the 'venice of the east' and that is certainly true. canals are a way of life; there are floating markets, water taxis and large pavilions on the water. we had a great time making our way north up the river, to the mahala pier. along the way, we saw the famous oriental hotel and the temple of the dawn. both of which are mentioned in every tour guide and pamphlet across the city.

after getting off the water taxi, we made our way out in search of the grand palace. the palace is a large compound of buildings and it was often said that if we went to bangkok and did not see the palace, that it was as if we never visited. we asked for directions and it turned out that we were staring at the palace the whole time. it's always fun to be laughed at by tuk-tuk drivers, we just didn't know what we were looking for!

i suppose then, that since we looked so perplexed and confused, that we were a great target for a scam. our hot and sticky selves ran into a man who claimed that the palace was closed until 130p so that the monks could pray. well, we fell for that line, hook line and sinker. we then thought that this nice man was so helpful in pointing out nearby places that we could visit, and we were soon in tuk-tuks speeding away from the palace.

our roundabout tour of bangkok was not all lost; we saw a very tall buddha, some monks and grabbed some cokes. after stopping at a tailor, which was not on our itinerary, and a very expensive jewelry store, again not on our itinerary, we realized we were being scammed. after getting yelled at by the driver to stay inside the store for 'just five minutes' so that he could get a gas coupon, we sternly ordered the drivers to take us back to the grand palace. 10 baht later, we were outside the grand palace, which was open.

apparently our little tour of bangkok is common. we were warned about similar antics in india; drivers taking passengers to their friend's shops or places where they receive commissions, regardless of the destination.

we were able to laugh at the situation, as no one was hurt and we didn't lose anything except for about 45 minutes.

finally making it to the grand palace, we entered the clothing building. all buddhist temples have strict dress codes, of which we had been warned. shorts were not allowed, and capris could not be too tight. there could be no rips or ratty clothes and shoulders had to be covered.

i was wearing a floor length dress, though it was strapless; so i brought along a sweater to cover my arms. ren, kelsey and mckendree were wearing t-shirts and gym capris, all of which were deemed too short.they had a nifty little mark on the wall, something like the 'you must be this tall to ride the ride,' signs; except that the mark is for the length of pants. therefore, at the clothing building, the girls were able to rent skirts to wear. there were also large button down shirts to cover shoulders and pants for men to wear.

we made our way towards the admissions line and paid the 'foreigner' price. this is common practice in thailand, where prices are inflated for any non-thai. i suppose i can understand the theory, but when thais pay 1 usd and we pay 10, it can become frustrating.

with the girls in their skirts and i in my sweater, we made our way into the palace.

i think i may have mentioned how how it can be in bangkok; and i was now wearing a sweater. there is no way to stay calm, cool and collected in a sweater, in the hot sun, with no shade in sight. needless to say, boy were we all sweaty.

the palace itself was wonderful. all the buildings were ornate and intricate. every inch of the buildings were tiled, beaded, or covered in gold leave. simply overwhelming.

at the grand palace is the emerald buddha. he is not actually emerald, he's jade. there is a huge building just for him, covered in more jewels and tiles. we took off our shoes and tiptoed to the back of the temple, finding the marble floor to be wonderfully cool and the fans to be perfect, cooling us off gently. the buddha himself was not so big, but the shrine around him was grandiose. he had guards, offerings, flowers and was dressed in a summer robe.

upon exiting the emerald buddha's building, we ambled around the grounds and made our way to the grand palace, for which the entire compound is named. cold waters, for 10 baht (roughly 35 cents) and i was rejuvenated. i wanted to look around some more but i could tell that the heat was beginning to get to my comrades.

we took some more photos, ran into a couple of semester at sea kids, turned in the skirts and headed out in search of some food. seeing as we'd had an american breakfast, we were searching for some thai food. deciding upon an indoor and air conditioned restaurant, we piled in a got a table.

i tended to order the same kinds of meals in thailand: pad thai, fried rice, chicken and cashews or glass noodles. glass noodles are strange, and i'm unsure if i like them. they are translucent and rather gummy.

we shared some wonderful spring rolls and tried each other's meals. thai food is generally served as it is finished, so the whole table will not receive their meals at the same time. likewise, meals are meant to be shared, so it's not uncommon to see lots of plates scattered around a thai family's table.

after making a game plan, with the help of my wonderful bangkok book, we headed out in search of the reclining buddha. mckendree and i tended to make the plans and dragged kelsey and ren along; which they said they preferred. i often worry that i'm being too pushy or imposing my own agenda, but i'm glad i did. it would have been a shame to miss out on the big golden buddha.

buddhas in thailand are very different from chinese buddhas, which is what i usually think of. chinese buddhas are short, fat and have big chubby, smiling cheeks. the thai buddha is much different, he is tall and slender with a pointed hat.

the reclining buddha was my favorite. the largest in the world, i could hardly fit him into a photo! upon entering (with no shoes on and shoulders covered, we saw his face. the room wraps around the buddha and we could see him from all angles in his glittering gold.

leaving the buddha behind and dismissing the tuk-tuk drivers, looking for a deal, we headed back to the taxi station. we walked through a large market, where dried fish of every shape, color and size were available to buy. one would certainly find the smell unique in the heat of the day. despite the smell, it was wonderful to see a less commercialized view of bangkok; outside of the glittering malls.

a sleepy ride back down the river, and another chilly ride on the skytrain and we were back in our little neighborhood. bangkok is divided into regions, much like new york has boroughs. our hostel and home base in bangkok was in the sukumvit area, known for shopping and it's red light district. we steered clear of the redlight business and stuck to our street, soi 1.

that afternoon was our first massage, a traditional thai massage for 1 hour cost just under 8usd. what a bargain! after an hour of being 'beat up' as the other girls said, we meandered back to our hostel, feeling sore. i liked the massage; it was like doing yoga while lying on the ground. plus, it's fun to have a tiny little thai woman standing on your back!

at the hostel, we met a great girl named jennifer, from the united states. she was spending a year in japan and had traveled to thailand with friends over their semester break. while jen was at the chatuchak weekend market, she had her entire purse stolen, with her id, passport, visas, credit cards and camera. and she wasn't crying! i would have been a wreck, but she was calm about the entire situation. she was able to get a new passport and her mother was able to wire her money. but she was all alone in bangkok! so after showering, making plans for the following day and getting ready; the five of us headed out for dinner.

we ended up at a pub, which served american food. we rationalized our hamburgers (which were delicious!) by commenting on just how many thais were in the restaurant. american food is everywhere and the thai people love food; no matter where it comes from. it was a great time, telling her all about our program and our perspectives. so often we talk to strangers about the program and simply give an overview, but jen was excited to hear about life on the ship and asked great questions.

after our yummy hamburgers, we made our way back towards the hostel. we stopped at a few of the street stalls and poked through t-shirts and other souvenirs. it seems like stalls thrive at night; simply because it's cooler.

an obligatory stop for ice cream from 7-11 (which was EVERYWHERE. i've never seen so many! not even in the states!), and we ran into a large group from the hostel who were heading out to the night market and then to the red light district. i was tempted to go, for the night market only, but we had plans to be up very early the next morning so i decided to return to the hostel with my girlfriends.

after spending too much time on the computers with the girls, looking up each other's friends on facebook and watching youtube videos; it was time to head to bed. we planned to be up and running around 0615 in order to head off to kanchanaburi.