Bangkok? Wat Pho?

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  Bangkok, Thailand
Wednesday, February 27, 2008

So anyway, we arrived in Bangkok after another flight, and met a very nice Canadian girl called Melanie who has been staying in the hostel with us... Its ridiculously humid here, the city was covered in a nice smog as we stepped out of the airport, which was a lovely greeting for us..and we bartered our first ride in a cab to Kho San Rd which is the main touristy sort of area...its easy to get to the main sites here and although not especially scenic it means we can tick some sites of the list quickly and get out of the city to SEE the real thailand.

Ate some good food, had my first green curry which was pretty spicy...im sure the only ingredients are coconut milk, chicken and chilli...chilli and chilli.

Took a tuktuk around the city, the driver was pretty determined to take us to see a 'pingpong show' - look that one up for yourselves, although firewall might stop you! they are pretty mental guys, seeing as a tuktuk is a moped with 4 seats precariously balanced on the back...but they know the city so i suppose that may justify the insane corner taking!

This morning we got up to go to see the Grand Palace...it took us an hour and a half to leave the hostel, all sleepy and sluggish. got the BEST breakfast in the world, fresh mango, papaya, pineapple, banana, watermelon and yoghurt and honey for about 30 pence. and then it rained and for the first time since we arruived i was COLD!

struggled a bit to find it as we were stupidly determined to go on foot. it sucks being a tourist and being trapped in an area only able to rely on tuktuk drivers and taxis who try and scam you for every baht you have...'hello miss, where you from? England?! Ah Lovely jubbly, you want jewellery? Grand palace? i take you to see jewellery on the way!! only 10 baht. each'...to put that into perspective 10 baht is pretty much nothing, but to have to drive around for an hour before getting anywhere is infuriating.

We met an ozzy called Luke who was walking too, and so, taking the scenic route got there..it was pretty incredible, after covering up all those indecent shoulders and ankles you walk into a courtyard guarded by these 13ft statues of gods painted in primary colours...every temple is gold and mosaicd (is that a word?) in coloured glass, it would be kitch if it wasnt holy.

We took off our shoes and sat in the inner temple looking at the emerald buddha high up on a 2 metre golden plinth. The inner of the temple is decorated in murals of the buddhas life, and it smells of the incense burnt by the devotees. there is a special roped off section of the floor where monks prey, and the soft chanting was incredibly soothing.. I was actually surprised we were allowed into the temple whilst the monks were there...women arent even allowed to sit next to monks belongings.

NExt was Wat Pho, a temple filled with a giant reclining golden buddha (are you sensing a theme yet?) it was HUGE, i cant even imagine how long it must have taken to construct. Plus it was inside the temple, poses a similar dilemma to teh old 'ship in a bottle'..pretty cool though.

We took a shorter route back to our hostel and have spent the rest of the afternoon looking at the map trying to decide what to do next...Were leavinig Bangkok tomorrow (thank god) and going to Chanchukaburi..(spelt maybe like that) to see the bridge over the river Kwai (not the film) before heading North to Chang Mai, stopping off at a monkey temple on the way... exciting stuff...im just hoping jet lag isnt going to catch up on me!