Taking Bangkok by Storm

I know you will all be surprised by what I'm about to tell you...Katy and I have done more cultural things today!!! Aren't you all impressed!? I think it has a lot to do with the fact that our hotel does not have a pool which makes the whole swimming and tanning thing less of an interest to us (or atleast to me).

Two nights ago we decided to check out Bangkok's China Town. Our travel book said that there would be flashing neon lights all over and it would look like a giant christmas tree...well, there were neon lights but it wasn't really what I was expecting. I guess all China Town's are the same, tons of weird food and people eating on every single sidewalk.

Yesterday we traveled to the Grand Palace and the Viman Mek Mansion (the largest building in the world made out of teak wood) also known as the Teak Mansion.
The Grand Palace was the former royal residence. Today, it is used by the king only for certain ceremonial occassions such as Coronation Day. The kings current residence is in the northern part of the city. Within the same grounds as the Grand Palace is Wat Phra Kaew, also known as the Temple of the Emerald Buddha (we were not allowed to take pictures). The Buddha is actually made of jasper and is housed in the main chapel.
As for the Viman Mek Mansion...it was built in the early 20th century for King Rama V (it was built in 19 months!). The mansion is filled with graceful staircases, octagonal rooms and lattice walls. The interior is filled with various personal effects of the king and queen. (we were not allowed to take any pictures either)

Today, we took a private LongTail Boat on an hour and a half tour which started out on the Chao Phraya River, and down Khlong Bangkok Noi (one of the many small canal we ended up traveling down). Along the way we stopped down the canal so that a lady in a smaller boat could come and sell us things (as per usual) so we bought a water and our driver a beer. We passed a floating dock which housed many smaller boats with little kitchens on them. The food smelled delicious but neither of us were hungry so we didn't bother to stop.
As we trekked on down the canals we saw children swimming (I wouldn't recommend it), people out on their porches, many different kinds of houses (dilapitated and not), people fishing, and on occassion grafitti on the walls that surrounded the canal.
It was an amazing trip, one that I am glad we decided to go on. It always interesting to see the parts of a city that most people don't get a chance to check out. It's a great way to see how other people in the world live.

---

---

---