Bangkok, Thailand - March 11, 2013

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Monday, March 11, 2013

Early morning for Cindy and I. Cindy was up at 4:30am and I was up at 5:00am. I suspect some of this is because of the jet leg, however another part is because of the excitement of being on holiday. Before the kids got up, Cindy worked on sorting photos and I worked on my travel blog. I then spent an hour in the Executive lounge from 6:00am - & 7:00am reading school stuff and finishing up my travel blog.

By 8:00am, all of us were up and heading to breakfast in the executive lounge. The breakfast items were the same from the prior day, however there were a few new items. One cool thing was a honeycomb on a rack tilted and setup on an angle dripping fresh honey into a bowl. We have never seen anything like this before. Also the concierge in the lounge had remembered from day one that we loved a particular sweet roll. We had a half dozen+ of these rolls waiting for us. What great service.

Today we visited some very interesting sites in Bangkok, areas that when you think of Thailand, you see these sites. The sites we visited were the Grand Palace, Wat Po, and Wat Arun.

Grand Palace

By 9:15a, we were in a taxi heading to the Grand Palace. The hotel said the taxi ride would cost 100 Bhat (less than $4 US). Somewhere on the way to the Grand Palace, I must have misunderstood the driver because he originally took us to a boat pier down some side busy alley. He apologized and then took us to the Grand Palace. He dropped us off in front of the entrance. As soon as we got out it was crazy with the number of people. We were told in advance we could not enter the Grand Palace with knees and shoulders exposed. Just as we started to head to the entrance, we were forbidden to even get close to the entrance. Cindy had come fully prepared and did not require any cover ups, however Jenny, Michael, and I were not adequately dressed, darn it. We initially did not see any place where you could rent cover ups. We ended up walking over to a market close to the Grand Palace and we found a shop to purchase cover ups. Michael and I bought slacks (kinda like these) and Jenny PJ type bottoms. After my poor negotiations with the owner, $1,000 Bhat, we were proud owners of new clothes. I need to learn how to negotiate more. Oh yeah, Cindy got a new free fan. Good times.

After clothing ourselves, we went back to the entrance of the Grand Palace and we were able to enter with no problem. The garden area we entered into was crowded, however not as crowded as we had expected. Once we entered the Palace, you were immediately overwhelmed by the beauty of all the buildings in the Palace. The beauty was around the color and ornate look of each of the buildings. The color, intrinsic designs, and visual stimulation to the senses was the most incredible site we have ever seen. Absolutely incredible.

A little about the Grand Palace. Construction of the Palace began in 1782 and was built as a new capital of Thailand and the rest place for the Emerald Buddha and residence of the king. The wall that surrounds it is a city among a city and at one time was self sufficient. The royal family that used to live there now lives in Dusit, Thailand. It is said that the Wat Phra Kaeo (inside the Grand Palace) is Thailand’s holiest temple. Unlike many of the temples in Thailand, the Wat Phra Kaeo does not have residence monks. Once we entered the area for foreigners, the crowds were enormous. It was shoulder to shoulder and very difficult to take photos; however once you get through this the crowds significantly lighten up. We you really look at all the fine detail to the exterior of the buildings, you wonder how long it took to craft all this. As a Cindy did have a great observation that the exterior of the buildings are beautiful, however in the interior weren’t as amazing.

We spent about 1.5 hours walking through the Palace area and as it got later in the day it increasely got very hotter and humid. We were all warned that it would get very hot and humid, typical for Thailand. It felt like Houston summers. One saving grace, however not much, was entering all the temples you had to remove your shoes. The cool floors helped some.

After we finished touring the Grand Palace, we walked back out to the main street looking for a place where we could cool off and have a sugary beverage. We found a place called Navy Wife café. The A/C was wonderful, thank goodness we all bought sugary drinks and a place to sit around for a while.

After our rest at the café, we walked about 10 minutes and arrived at the next site, Wat Po.

Wat Po

After seeing the beauty of the Grand Palace it was hard to image anything as stunning as that. The Wat Po did not disappoint us, however it did not have the grandeur as a few hours ago. Wat Po is the oldest and largest temple in Thailand and is the foremost center for public education. To some, the Wat Po is dilapidated. The Wat Po was built in the 1780’s during Rama I. according to our DK Eyewitness travel book is states that Wat Po is the traditional medicine center and the home of the Institute of Message. There are 300 practicing monks here. What was fascinating about the Way Po was the reclining Buddha. The size was absolutely incredible. This by far is the largest Buddha we have seen and it is lying on its side. It measures 150 ft (46m) and is gilded with gold. We took several photos with the kids and then the kids took several photos of Cindy and I. The other amazing part was the size of the feet. The feet has mother of peril imbedded. This site was very interesting and great photo opportunities.

After visiting the Wat Po we walked to find the water pier so we can take a ferry across the river to visit the Wat Arun. We walked to an area where I thought was the boarding area for the ferry, however Thai lady so elegantly told us “do you understand” this not the area for the ferry ride, rather a one hour of the river. We walked back where we started earlier and guess what, the pier we needed to get a ferry to cross the river. We quickly boarded the ferry and within 5 minutes and 12 Bhats (10 cents) we were on the other side.

Wat Arun

We arrived at the other side of the river and quickly disembarked and walked towards the Wat Arun. The Wat Arun is used on several pieces of currency. Other than walking around the perimeter of the Wat, to experience this site, you need to climb it. The climb is very very steep and challenges your legs strength and breathing. Several of the photos hopefully show what I am describing. A little about the Wat Arun. Rama I and Rama II were responsible for the current size of the structure. Part of the exterior façade is constructed with broken pieces of porcelain. The Wat Arun measures 260ft (79m) on the main prang and circumference is 768ft (234m). We climbed as far as you as you are allowed to climb and this was a blast, however the descent was really tricky because of the steepness.

When reflecting on the three sites we visited, the kids liked the Wat Arun the best. I suspect it is because of the challenge.

We headed back to the pier to catch another ferry (same cost) to go back where we started earlier. Once on the other side, finding a taxi to take us back to the hotel was tricky. We paid 100 Bhat for trip from the hotel to the Grand Palace, however most of the taxi’s laughed at us when we would pay the same going back, and they all wanted 300 Bhat. We started walking towards the Grand Palace and we were able to find a taxi for 200 Bhat. The ride back to the hotel was interesting. It took forever and when we were not sitting in traffic, the taxi driver was driving into oncoming traffic. Pure crazy.

Once back at the hotel we cleaned up and then went the Executive lounge for afternoon tea and snacks and then later on adult beverages. Since we were all exhausted, we just ate dinner at the hotel. The food was awesome. Cindy and Jenny had a margarita pizza, Michael a salad and burger, and I had a club sandwich. Michael’s burger had an over easy egg on it, my sandwich had a overhard egg on it.

We had a very busy day and we went back to the room to call it is a day.



Tuesday we are flying to Phuket and staying at the JW Marriott resort on the beach. Stay tune for our next update.

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Photos

Jenny and Michael at the Leaning Buddha
Wat Po