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Published: April 20th 2007
Grand Palace
Tourists tourists everywhere... including...me... First of all, I take back what I wrote yesterday about feeling sexy. Its not that much fun to constantly sweat. I think I have had about five bottles of water and I've only peed once. Too much information? Sorry.
Well, jet-lag finally caught up with me yesterday. I went to my hotel room around 5:30 p.m. to take a nap and woke up around 1:30 a.m.. So this morning I got up extra early - 7:30 to be exact, and went to breakfast. This time I just had a piece of toast - nothing interesting. I was going to head off after breakfast to do more sight seeing but it was so ridiculously hot by 9 a.m. that I decided to return to my hotel and change into lighter clothing. Which was a very good idea because it progressively got hotter. Thank god for other fair skinned people - I was not the only tourist looking ruddy and fatigued by mid-day. I have no idea how muslim women go about in this weather wearing head scarves. I would die.
My first stop was the grand palace - which was beautiful but a major tourist trap. To be
allowed to enter the palace grounds you must be dressed appropriately - my knee long shorts and tank top was not appropriate so I had to rent a long sarong and wear my sweat-shirt over my tank top. HHOTTTTT!!!!! Once on the grounds I walked around the heavily manicured gardens and colorfully mosaic-ed temples. Dr. Suess must have been inspired a bit by Thai architecture, not to mention Gaudi. The Grand Palace houses the Emerald Buddha - a gleaming ornate sculpture that was first found sometime in the 15th century. No pictures are allowed of it because it is so sacred so I cannot show it to you. As I sat among the other worshipers at the feet of this Buddha, a woman next to me showed me how to pray buddhist- style. You sit on your knees and bow three times and then wai (put your hands together in prayer near your face) and then sit lotus style and meditate. I didn't really meditate. I just looked around overwhelmed. Then I thanked her and moved on. Around the walls of the Palace are enormous paintings of the story of Buddha (think Siddhartha) and everything is very difficult to take
another guard
You can tell this guy is really tough. Not only is he holding up a building while wrestling 2 snakes, but a monster is scratching his nuts! pictures of without getting a buttload of tourists in the shot. By this time I had enough of wearing my sweatshirt in 97 degree weather so I returned my sarong and head to Wat Pho.
Wat Pho is the home of the Reclining Buddha and the school of Thai massage. The reclining Buddha is about half a football field long and fills its own temple. It was too big to get in one picture, so I don't know if you'll really get the scale. It was about 11 a.m. at this point and I had started to feel faint. I bought more water and treated myself to a cab ride home to my hotel. On the way I noticed a cautionary sign for drivers on the side of a bus which pretty much describes the manner of driving that goes on in Bangkok.
After showering, I forced myself to eat something because I had no strength ( It is too hot to be hungry at all - Maurina will sympathize with this) and then I drank 2 more bottles of water and headed across the street to get a Thai massage. At $6 for an hour, I am
reclining Buddha
I wish you could see just how big this guy is... He is GI-NORMOUS convinced that Thai massage could save the world. Unlike most massages, this kind manipulates your arms and legs into all sorts of strange positions - pushing and pulling. Pressure points are accessed and afterwards you feel about 2 inches taller and completely invigorated. If I could get one every day for the rest of my life I would. Well, that is all for now. I'm off to get all sweaty again wandering around.
Love to all.
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Lydia
non-member comment
WOW.....
I LOVE THE PICS! It looks and sounds like a whole nother world over there. I have been checking this thing wondering when I would see pics and stuff. Then today I realized I had not checked it in a bit and sure enough you had two new entries with pics. The one with the god holding the snakes is funny. I am glad you are having such a good time. When do you start working? Or did you already?