Bangkok Arrival!

---

---

I'm here! After three flights and one bus ride, I arrived at my hotel just before midnight. The travel was fine, but it was a very long day plus. My ride to the airport arrived at 4:00am (thanks Steph!) and I flew from RDU to DC at 6am. After a 4.5 hour layover, I flew 13 hours to Seoul. After a 1.5 hour layover, it was another six hours to Bangkok. I warched a total of five movies (Slumdog Millionaire, Vicky Christina Barcelona, The Changeling, The Express, and The Secret Lives of Bees) during the flights. I only slept maybe six hours total. On the DC-Seoul flight, the guy behind me used the restroom even more than I did (did he ever hear of Avodart?) and every time he got up, he yanked my chair back. Once we finally arrived in Bangkok, Immigration was easy and I got my luggage fairly quickly. I took the Airport Expess bus to just a few blocks from the hotel and walked from there.

I got to bed about 12:30am, but could only sleep until 6:30am so I got up and decided to get an early start on the Bangkok sightseeing. I did the highlights today: Wat Po (giant reclining Buddha), Wat Arun (Yemple of Dawn), Wat Phra Kaeo (Emerald Buddha), and the Golden Palace. I started the day with a boat trip along the Bangkok klongs (canals) and it was interesting to see the houses, both big and small, along the way. I then moved on to the temples and palaces and did a lot of walking! It's very warm here today and I had taxi drivers and tuk-tuk chasing me all over the place! They say everything is "too far" even if it's right aruond the corner. They also kept telling me it was a holiday today (some unspecified Buddhist cleberation) and that every place I was headed was closed or not open until late in the afternoon. Instead, they wanted to take me somewhere else for "special shopping", but everywhere I went on foot was open at the regular hours and there was no sign of any celebrations.

I started at Wat Po since I wanted to see the giant (151 feet x 53 feet) Buddha first. It was amazing and beautiful! It's not solid gold, but is covered in gold leaf. You can walk all the way around it and you leave a coin in each of ~100 pots for blessings and good luck. I then took a two minute boat ride across the Chao Phraya River to Wat Arun, the Temple of Dawn that was impressive in the late morning. You can climb the highest tower via a series of very high, very steep steps to a height of 282 feet. Up is much easier than down! There's a great view across the river here and you can see Way Po and the Grand Palace complex.

That's where I headed next only to find out that I wasn't dressed correctly and would have to rent a skirt if I wanted to go inside. Miniskirts are allowed (which I forgot to pack), but shorts and capri pants are unacceptable. I really wanted to go inside so Annual Skirt Day 2009 is now in the books! The complex is huge and I started with Wat Phra Kaeo which has a green jasper Buddha, called an Emerald Buddha, on top of a stunningly gold altar with several other gold Buddhas. There are several other smaller temples nearby and a miniature model of Angkor Wat. A short walk (that seems long in a long skirt worn over long shorts) is the Grand Palace, the former home of the Thai kings. Most of the buildings are closed, but they are impressive enough from the outside. Most are so big, it's impossible to take a picture of the entire building.

I finally got too hot and too tired to look around any more and headed back to the hotel. Along the way I passed through quite a few local markets selling everything under the sun. The food looked interesting, but I passed on the squid on a stick! I went back to the hotel to freshen up, reapply sunscreen, and head out for a late linch. I walked to Khao San Road, the backpacker area of Bangkok. It's an interesting place and I felt very old walking around. I ate lunch at a pub - Singha beer and delicious garlic pork that had more garlic on it than anything else I have ever eaten! I'll be brushing my teeth for hours this evening.

I'm thinking of heading back to Wat Arun to watch the sunset tonight. Although it's called the Temple of Dawn, my guidebook says it's more impressive at sunset so that could be worth seeing. I may hop n a tuk-tuk and I'm pretty tired at the moment. I'm off to Kanchnaburi in the morning and get back to Bangkok late afternoon on Thursday. More soon...

P.S. I hear NC got snow! I'm sorry I missed it (not)! It must be 90F here and I'm loving it!

---

Photos

Me with the Reclining Buddha at Wat Po
This Buddha is 151 feet long and 53 feet high!

Me (in a SKIRT!) with the Golden Chedis
You have to be dressed "appropriately" to enter the Grand Palace Complex. I had on 3/4 pants (trousers), but this was not acceptable. If I had worn a miniskirt, I would have been fine!