Wat Pho and Chinatown

---

Day 3 and still not sleeping well. I. get over how messed up sleeping is on this trip. Normally after a couple of nights I'm fine. Not so far on this jaunt.

I grab breakfast, banana crape and honey, and head out on the days adventure. Whenever I travel I always end up on some sort of public transportation. This trip is no different. I make my way to the river and plan on hoping on the local express canal boat or commuter boat and make my way down to Wat Pho. I end up missing the narrow walkway to the boat pier and stumble upon a very pretty park in my neighborhood. I spent some time wondering around and then discover the walkway along the water and make my way to the ferry dock. I buy my ticket...USD $.45, wait a few minutes and board the boat. The boats are long and narrow, sit low in the water and have a small platform on the back. The boat driver and dock worker communicate via whistle commands and getting on and off the boat consists of quickly hoping from dock to boat or vise versa very quickly. They don't wait long and if you delay, you could miss the boat. It's fairly crowded but I find a spot to stand and ride the 10 minutes to my stop. Out in the main river it's nice to take in some of the other areas of the city and see how shops have been built on stilts out into the water. Tug boats are pulling barges, commuter boats are all around, long tail boats are hauling tourists, it's a river of a lot of action. We arrive at my stop and I jump off into a small market built on stilts. It continues out onto the street with food stall vendors. The smells are so enticing! After one very successful street crossing, I'm at Wat Pho.

This is the site I was most looking forward to. It's a large facility with several buildings and areas and is the national headquarters for teaching and preserving traditional Thai medicines. It was busy with tourists but nothing like Wat Phra Kaew and I was able to move about the people well. I entered on the end with the main attraction so I started off with a bang. The reclining buddha. This is a massive...45 meters long by 15 meters high...gold buddha laying on its side. Walking thru the massive temple that holds the buddha was impressive in and of itself. But then you add in the buddha. What a site! As I made way slowly thru the temple I was drawn to its interior walls. As I stopped and took a moment I realized the entire interior was a painted mural. It was breath taking. A colorful scene with pops of gold. I can only assume the images are telling a story or stories. It was beautiful and my new favorite thing. I found myself slowly walking past and soaking in the images. On the back side of the buddha along the wall were large bronze bowls. For a small fee, less than $1, you got 108 coins and could drop them into the bowls for good luck. One coin per bowl. It was such a lovely sound. I grabbed some coins and joined in.

Next stop on the journey at Wat Pho was the massage school. Part of traditional Thai medicine is massage and I knew this was a not to be missed opportunity. I signed up for a traditional Thai massage for 1 hr and couldn't wait to begin. I was given a pair of linen pants to out on, which are my new favorite obsession and I have to find a pair to buy, and was taken to a bed in this large room. Two things...this was a welcomed break from the heat of mid-day just being in AC and it was a strange feeling to be on a bed in a massive room with beds right next to each other. As the massage began, the atmosphere all blurred and melted away. My masseuse, an older Thai man, went to work on my feet and legs. A Thai massage is different than a Swedish or deep tissue massage. There is a lot of pushing on your bones and certain points on the body and pushing and twisting. At times I thought I was going to end up in a hospital getting a cast and other moments I was completely relaxed and in bliss. I had joints Crack in my body that I didn't know you could crack. By the end, I was feeling renewed, relaxed, realigned and energized! I thanked my new friend many times, reluctantly gave back the pants and headed back out to see the rest of the grounds moving at a very slow pace.

The grounds here are beautiful. There are several garden like spaces and figurines and massive trees. The entire complex is beautiful. It's welcoming and there are benches everywhere that encourage you to sit and soak it in. All the buildings very between the white rectangular temples with the green, red and gold roofs to the porcelain square like buildings with several tiers and a spire on top. It's a perfect mix to keep things interesting and diverse.

There are large spire like tower buildings here and they seem to loom over all the grounds. I make my way in and out of buildings taking little breaks on the benches in the shade. Making my way around all the buildings I'm just struck by all the detail and the different characters and statues. This is such a peaceful and calming place, even with a pretty good crowd of people.

After several hours, I decide to depart. The afternoon heat is full on and it's time for a dip in the pool. As i make my way back to the commuter boat i stop to buy a whole coconut for some refreshing juice. I board a boat pretty quickly and start making my way back to my home stop. The worker on the boat is coming around asking for tickets. I tell him i need to buy a ticket. We end up in a bit of an argument. He essentially overcharged me by 50 Baht. Which is less than $2 USD but it's about the principle. I relent and pay but am frustrated to run into this sort of thing. Back at my pier, i inquire about a canal boat trip and then make my way back to the hotel.

After a little pool time and a shower i head back out for my night tour. I'm doing a walking and eating tour in Chinatown! Bangkok's Chinatown is known as the largest Chinatown in the world. It takes up a large area in the city and offers everything your senses desire! We're a small group of 5 people plus the guide. A couple from Australia and a mother/daughter from San Francisco. Our guide Pang is super nice and has great information on the area as a whole. In this area of town the buildings are taller and there are people, lights and noise everywhere! Street food is everywhere in Bangkok, not just in Chinatown town, but I'm been nervous to eat it. Worried about them cooking and cleaning with clean water. So this tour was especially appealing. Our first stop is for a pink noodle fish soap dish. Due to my non-existence tolerance for spicey food, i get a special bowl. The fish is a little gross but the noodles and broth are amazing! We continue our walk and are now on the main drag in Chinatown town. I love all the large brightly lit signs and sights it has to offer. On a random Wednesday night it's the happening place. Our next stop is for dim sum at a restaurant. Part of when we get is green noddles with a shrimp thing in the center. This is one of my favorite things from the night! We move on making our way thru the streets past all the vendors selling everything from DVDs to souvenirs and food vendors selling things like shark fin (please don't buy this) to donuts to thai tacos and fresh fruit. Our next stop is for chinese donuts and green sauce. I'm still not clear what was in the green sauce but it was good! We literally stood in the street with cars whizzing past as we ate this. From here we moved on to a special tea. It was not my favorite but it's very traditional and the vendor has been in this place selling teas for a crazy number of years. The next stop was for seafood. We sit down at this vendors table and they are spread out way into the street. They are practically taking up an entire lane. It's crazy to me. As we sit and wait for food i think to myself...It's not the street food i need to worry about it's the exhaust from the cars! Haha! We sit right next to the vendors big card of giant shrimp, crabs, clams, all sorts of things. We eat family style and i feel like i could be on an Anthony Bourdain food show episode. This vendor is known for their fresh seafood and they did not disappoint! We had 5 different dishes and all were amazing! At this point I'm absolutely stuffed but we move on to another stop. The streets are alive with people and every vendor area is packed. Turns out that most vendors stay open to midnight with some staying open as late as 2 am. Our next stop is for rolled noodles and pork. This meal is amazing!!!! Had i not been so full i would have asked for seconds!!! After this, we wonder back through the streets dodging in and out of vendors and people. We stop for traditional Thai tacos which i can only describe as sweet and delicious! Then a final stop for ginger oap and tea. The tea i can drink but not the soap. Stuffed and tired, i depart from the group a very happy girl ready for bed and the next days adventure. If you are going to Bangkok, be sure to hit up Chinatown or do this tour with Bangkok Food Tours.

·Please note i still can't upload photos. Please see my instagram page at Her Sole Abroad for pictures.

---