Temples

---

Today I wanted to go back downtown to view some of the big tourist attractions that I missed when I was in that part of town on Wednesday. So I took a cab (I didn't want to walk another 4 hours to get downtown this time) and after my driver got lost a couple times and stopped to ask for directions on two different occasions, he finally got me to Wat Intharawihan, which was where I wanted to go first. This is a Buddhist temple (all the temples are Buddhist, so this is the last time I will specifically mention the temples as being Buddhist) with a statue of Buddha that is 32 meters tall. Someone told me about it the other day so I wanted to see it for myself. It was pretty impressive and the view from the top was nice as well. After spending some time exploring there I wandered a little further and found another nice temple, Wat Saket. After wandering around in there I was sitting outside the temple in a little garden they had when two Thai girls came up to me and asked me if they could ask me a couple questions for their homework. So they just asked me some simple stuff, like my name, age, where I'm from, what I thought of Bangkok. It was interesting to be able to interact with Thais but they were definitely hitting on me cause they kept giggling and talking to each other in Thai anytime I spoke, so it was pretty amusing. Then when they finished asking me questions they had their friend come over and take a picture of them with me.

After I left there I walked around a bit further and stumbled across a really nice, fancy Thai restaurant so I sat down and had lunch there. The place was really nice and it was incredibly formal, but the food was good and cheap and I was able to sit in air conditioning for a while so it was really nice. After lunch I went into another temple complex, Wat Suthat, and just as I got into the main room where the statue of Buddha was, my camera batteries died so I had to leave and go hunting for batteries. I eventually found so I was able to get the pictures I wanted. After I left there I walked down the street a bit further to the King's palace complex. The Grand Palace is a big complex where the King's residence is and they have a few temples, one of which has an emerald Buddha which is supposed to be really sacred. I wasn't allowed to take pictures of that but I got a bunch of pictures of the complex. By that point I was really tired so I wandered around through some street markets and caught a cab back to the apartment (I got a cab on the second try this time!). So now I'm hanging out in my room. The other 2 guys got here earlier and the girl is arriving shortly. This would be longer but I've been talking to them so I've been distracted.

Here are my notes for today:

1) What I heard about the temples is pretty much true: Once you've seen one or two, you've pretty much seen them all. I think I've seen about 5 or 6 different temples so far and except for the extravagant ones (like the 100 foot tall Buddha) they're all basically the same. They're all beautiful but I've realized there isn't really a need to go see all the temples.

2) I think I've got the taxis figured out. I definitely got ripped off the other day when the driver charged me 400 baht to take me back home. I had a taxi take me back downtown today and he used the meter this time and it only cost me 120 baht for the drive, plus 65 baht in tolls, which the passenger is always responsible for paying. On the way back it also only cost me 120 so I know that whenever I get in a cab I have to make sure the meter is on. As far as the drivers kicking me out of the taxi and not driving me to where I want to go, I think it's due to 1 of 2 things: 1) The drivers don't know where I want to go or 2) They don't want to drive this far, since it takes about 30-40 minutes to get to where I am from downtown.

3) I saw a little kid drop his pants and start peeing in a bush on the sidewalk today. I just thought it was funny.

4) I got approached by some guy today who asked me where I was going and where I was from, pretty much the same conversation that all the scammers start out with. He wanted to tell me about a temple that was only open today so I asked him to show me on my map where it was. So he sat down with me and started pointing things out to me on my map and telling me where they were and he began telling me how today and only today, the government run tuk tuks were free! What a deal! But I'm pretty sure that all the tuk tuks are privately owned. So he wanted to take me to the temple that was only open today and was for free, but I told him I wanted to go to the palace instead. He tried to persuade me to do otherwise since according to him the palace didn't open until 3 today, but I told him no and said I'd go to the "free and only open today" temple later. At this point he stood up and shouted at me that I was stupid and walked away. It gave me a good laugh and he helped me to figure out where in the city I was since I was a bit lost again. But it seems like all the scammers start out by asking where you're going and try to tell you that where you're going is closed and that instead, there is another temple that is only open today and they can arrange for you to get there.

---

Photos

Wat Intharawihan
This is the giant Buddha with me in front of it.

Part of the Grand Palace
There were multiple buildings inside the complex. This is only one.

Wat Phrakaew
Temple of the Emerald Buddha

Comments

[cassie]

i really liked it when i went to the grand palace! some of the buildings were so intricate in their design and decor, it was definitely an awesome experience. we also liked the melding of two styles there, as parts were traditional and others were more modern. pretty nice. glad to see things are going well and you are getting comfortable in the city. i know i've said it a bunch of times already, but i really really enjoy reading your blog! it's great, as are the pictures =)