Thailand Days 1-2

Arriving in Bangkok

Rather uneventful. Arrived at midnight, caught a cab to what I thought would be a guest house but ended up being a rather expensive hotel, but oh well. I was way too tired to care how expensive my room was. In the morning, I walked around the city for a little while, stumbling upon an art market where I chatted up the artists for a little while before checking into the Viengtai Hotel where our group would be staying that night.

Tuk-Tuk... Took

Now, I had been warned numerous times not to take the tuk tuks (little motorbike/car taxis) because they scam tourists but I'm ashamed to say the tuk tuks took me. I was going to walk out to Wat Pho (the reclining Buddha) when I ran into a curiously helpful guy who told me about some special thing the government had done that day where they decided to give the tuk tuks free gas for one day in order to promote tourism (because usually the tuk tuks take people to stores instead of where they want to go in hopes that they'll purchase something and the driver can get some sort of commission off of it or free gas). With the free gas, the drivers would theoretically stop scamming tourists and instead take them where they wanted to go. No chance. While I must say that I loved zipping through the streets at high speeds, camera in one hand and the other furiously gripping the bar, I was none the less really disappointed when I wasn't able taken to several dress shops and jewelry stores and only four temples, one of which was closed for prayer. At any rate, I refused to by anything, which eventually led to a little quarrel and my tuk tuk abandoning me at some temple. No big deal though. Next time I hopped on a tuk tuk I had the sense and knowledge to argue my way on for dirt cheap with no shopping. Anyhow, here are photos from the ride:

This was my driver. Sketchy looking character, eh?

That's one big buddha

The first temple we visited on my tuk tuk adventure was the Temple of the Big Buddha. And yes, he was big. Really big. Towering over the surrounding houses and buildings, I could see the buddha long before we arrived. Standing at the feet of such a giant structure made me feel like an ant. My photos can hardly capture the magnitude of it's size, but hopefully you can get the generally idea of how big it was.

The Skin You're In

One interesting thing I learned about Thai Buddhism and ritual is they put gold leaf on Buddha statues because they believe this will help them have nice skin in the next life. Everywhere I went there were people putting gold leaf on statues.

The Lucky Buddha

The next temple I went to was the home of the Lucky Buddha, a rather unimpressive buddha that apparently floated into Bangkok one day on a piece of wood. Legend is that Someone tried to burn the buddha but it wouldn't burn--there wasn't even a change of color on the gold leaf. Urban legends... I didn't even bother taking many pictures.

I am not George Bush

The next temple stop with my tuk tuk was to see the Black Buddha though unfortunately the place was closed for prayer and I met a rather negative man who thought this was an appropriate time to attack me for my president's foreign policy. I calmly reminded him that every country suffers under corruption of some kind and that neither his country nor my own are exempt from it. But he just got nasty with me and kept attacking me about it. He wasn't interested in having an intellectual conversation. He didn't hear anything I was saying. He just wanted to make broad generalization about me and my country because he was upset. Eventually I had to just walk away. I failed to converse with him. I failed to rationalize with him. I failed to convince him. There was nothing left to do but walk away--I wasn't going to be equally rude by getting angry with him. That's one thing that I think is so unique about being an American ex-pat: everyone wants to criticize your country and they often blame you personally for it. I can't tell you how many times I've been ganged up on in the midst of a large group of Brits and Canadians and left to defend myself against crimes I never committed. There's a reason why few Americans travel overseas...

The Marble Temple

This is where my tuk tuk left me. Oh well. By this time I was so glad to be rid of him. He had taken me to three stores against my wishes and was really rude when I didn't buy anything. But who cares. I had a really great time there and took some fabulous photos.

The alter inside of the temple.

This was a really interesting exhibit about the different poses of buddha and what each one means. By far the most common one is the buddha with an outstretched arm, palm forward, which signifies calming the ocean.

Here a woman and her children are praying.

The Venice of Asia

Bangkok is well known for it's intricate labyrinth of canals which serve numerous purposes from transporting goods to transporting tourists--I fell into the later group along with my new Australian friends. Here are some photos from my adventure!

This is a very famous bridge in Bangkok and my center when I got lost in the city.

This is one of the many adorned long tail boats outside the river houses all along the canals. I just love the color in this photo, don't you?

A cute kid who waved at us as we passed by on the boat. Poor mother. Looks like she's got her hands full.

Some funny guys fishing along the river. They're not in perfect focus, but I like how they seem to remain still while the rest of the photo is in motion.

This lady was hilarious. She was selling food and other souvenirs to all the foreigners on the river and refused to take no for an answer when we declined to buy anything. Eventually she won a few of us over because she was just so darn cute. What a great smile! I think we bought a few beers from her because it was so stinking hot and humid that day and bought some bread too which we later fed to a huge school of catfish on the river.

100 Grand

The Grand Palace was beyond amazing. I've never seen anything quite like it. A former palace and central temple in Bangkok, the Grand Palace now serves as the home to the Emerald Buddha, official temple of the King, and perhaps the most adorned tourist site in all of Asia. I could have spent days here. There were so many buildings and things to look at but unfortunately we were in a little bit of a hurry to get out--Dane, one of the Aussies I was with, wasn't allowed to come in because too much of his legs were showing. But we had a fabulous time. It really is an amazing place. See for yourself.

The Emerald Buddha lives inside this building and though it would have been fascinating to get a picture of it, photography wasn't allowed inside the building. Anyhow, the Emerald Buddha is perhaps the key symbol of Thai Buddhism and was fiercely fought over between Thailand, Laos, and Burma for thousands of year, but has lived in Thailand for the last 500 (I think). He sits on top of a giant mound of gold and the king puts clothes on the rather small statue in an elaborate ceremony for each of the three seasons: Summer, Rainy, and Winter.

In the Army

We ran into several military men at the Grand Palace and I had to take some photos. (You all know that I can't resist a man in uniform! lol. Jk.)

This guy is just too cool for school.

The Reclining Buddha

The last temple I visited in Bangkok was Wat Pho--the temple of The Reclining Buddha. Reclining buddhas are everywhere in Thailand but this temple is special because their's is the largest--it hardly fits inside the building!

This is the bottom of the Buddha's big toe. hehe.

The Overnight Train

The second night was spent on an overnight train to Suratthani in the south. It was rather uneventful, just a good opportunity for me to get to know my fellow travelers; we were a group of 12 with 4 Australians, 7 Brits, and me--the token American. The only thing worth mentioning here is that everyone complained all night about squatty potties and how they refused to use the squat on the train (they had a choice between the squat or a western toilet). I however refused to use the Western toilet. Though me and squatty potties have had a rocky relationship over the past 6 months, I still maintain that they are generally much safer (hygienically speaking)--you don't have to touch anything.

More adventures to come!! I've got at least 12 more posts to make--just don't expect them all to come very quickly! It's hard business racking my brain about all of this stuff... Meanwhile, if you don't want to wait to see the photos, check them out in my web album. Click on "My Albums" on the left side of the page.