Tuk-Tuks & Long Tail Boats: What Better Way to Get Around?

Sawatdee khrab!! Hi everyone!

Meet our friend Ying! Ying is super cool and we had an excellent time with her yesterday! For those of you who don't know, it just happens by coincidence that Susan, who is the person who replaced me when I left my job at IPI, is from Bangkok and therefore was able to put us in contact with Ying, her friend from home. Ying was very nice and offered to meet and show us around town, and we ended up having a blast. Well, as long as our jet lag would allow it!

So I called Ying on Saturday night, feeling already a little woozy from the jet lag and ready to go to bed soon, thinking that we'd certainly be able to pack in a full night's rest before the next day. Well, obviously I was wrong! It's okay though, if you've ever experienced a tuk tuk ride then you know you don't ever need coffee in the morning. If you haven't, then first off I highly recommend you try it sometime, and secondly I should warn you that it's not much different from taking a 3 wheeled kamikaze motorbike through traffic, holding on for dear life in the back seat hoping the driver actually has the level of awareness of his surroundings as he promises he does. Actually it's just like that. If you need a video aid then I'll distribute one I took of the ride, but in the mean time you can just take a look at this:

Tuk-Tuk Ride in Bangkok

Anyway, we made it to the Grand Palace safely enough and met Ying outside the main gate. The actual Grand Palace itself is off limits to the public as it's still in use for certain occasions, but we got to see the surrounding temple, notably Wat Phra Kaew (the Temple of the Emerald Buddha) and Wat Pho (Temple of the Reclining Buddha). Inside the walls of Wat Phra Kaew were scenes depicting the Ramakien, which is actually derived from the Hindu Ramayana epic, and statues of the giant guardians featured in the tale. Further inside was the temple itself, where we took off our shoes (we weren't wearing flip flops that day, or shorts for that matter, a point of respect when visiting any holy places here... we were boiling hot!) and knelt before the Emerald Buddha inside. The story of the Buddha is actually pretty neat - apparently the statue was originally a gift to the king of Cambodia several hundred years ago and was captured a number of times by different invading forces around the region, going completely lost at one point when it was covered by plaster. When rediscovered in Thailand, it was stolen once again but eventually found it's way to it's current (as far it seems, probably not final!) resting spot here. Afterwards we went to Wat Pho nearby which featured (besides the Thai massage, which was born here) a 150 foot long statue of the reclining buddha, almost completely covered in gold lace. It was so long it was impossible to get a full shot of the statue indoors, but it was a very impressive sight! After we were done with all that Ying took us downtown to the popular shopping centers where I bought a shirt and we all ate lunch at what must have been the world's most efficient food court on the top level. We were so burnt from the time adjustment and all the activity that day that we called it quits in the afternoon, went back to Kao Sahn, took a nap, ate dinner, and fell asleep again, hopefully signaling the beginning of the end our jet lag- whoo!

Today, Leila and I took it easy in the morning, bought some more cool t shirts on the street, predictably sat at our favorite bar in Susie's walkway (called Susies bar - go figure!), and booked our trip to Koh Tao this evening. The bus takes off at 9 tonight, we arrive at Chuompong at about 5 then take a ferry over to the island. I start my scuba lessons tomorrow - how sweet is that! In four days I'll be certified open water diver! We got a nice package deal from the travel agent, in which the travel to the island, guest house room and diving instructions cost 8000 baht altogether - or about, hmmm $230. Beat that, US prices!!! Next time I post it'll be near the blue bathtub waters for Koh Tao!

Oh yeah one more thing... at one point today Leila and I decided we wanted another tuk-tuk ride, you know, for the memories. We ultimately decided to ask the guy to take us to the river where we could pick up a long tail boat so we can see the canals and the city skyline. THAT was an awesome experience, and I would definitely suggest anyone going to Thailand to take a ride on one of those while they're in Bangkok. We did a one hour tour, but I wish we had the time to do the 2 hour one. The one we did skipped over the water snake farm and the floating market, but we still got to feed the fish and saw house after house built on stilts, with people out back sitting on hammocks, washing clothes, fishing in the canals, monks reading scripture, what have you, all along the way. It was a really interesting look into the lives of those that live here. Take a look at the pictures.

I hope everything's going well back home. Keep on sending us updates about the goings on with you, because otherwise we'll probably be tempted to slip off the grid completely before too long! I kid, I kid!

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