Walking tour of Bangkok..well some of it!

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Walking since morning
Nice fruit break for lunchtime meal
Lots of stuff to see!

Well, I got an early start this morning. Grabbed a quick bite for breakfast...nothing too spectacular but scrambled eggs, sausage and toast for a buck...can't complain too much! So after consuming my cheap vittles I headed out with a sketchy map provided by the hotel.

I figured I had the whole day to explore so I just headed in the general direction of the Wat Pho...the largest temple in Bangkok. It is also home to this huge golden reclining Buddha. I tried taking a picture but since my flash doesn't really reach THAT far it was kinda dark. Then I got the brilliant idea to shell out a few baht for a postcard of the darn thing. I wandered around the temple for quite a while since there was a lot to see and other darn tourists are really, really slow walkers! I was reading that they have traditional Thai Massages offered at the Wat Pho but I figured I just had a massage in HCM City so I decided to save my money and didn't check out the tents and pricing.

On my way to the Wat Po I walked through a couple of interesting neighbourhoods. The first neighbourhood was full of shops selling golden Buddha’s. I'm not talking just the type you put on your mantle piece. I'm talking about life size and even larger! Crazy. I'm not sure who they sell these giant Buddha’s to but they were just massive! Then there was another neighbourhood where there were stalls and stalls of electronic goods. You need your stereo, microwave, television repaired it looked like that was the place to go. Mind you they were fixing things right on the street. All I'll say is if you brought your microwave there to be fixed I don't think they are an "authorized" dealer and your warranty may be invalid. haha

Around lunchtime I walked around a market that was close to the Chao Praya River. Lots of interesting stalls to check out and of course a lot of yummy foods. Being so hot here in Bangkok my appetite hasn't been all that big (I know, I know, that may sound like a surprise to some!) but I figured I should eat something so I grabbed some cool and refreshing fruit to eat...so yummy and so cheap too! It was great timing too on my part since it gave my feet a bit of a break and sort of gave me a second wind before heading off towards the National Museum. Along the way I walked by more sellers of everything! This time it seemed like a lot of them were selling lighters, jewelry, "artifact" type items, religious relics and such. I wasn't really all that interested in the stuff. BUT was interested in watching the sellers and potential buyers. There were some pretty serious potential buyers out there. Many of them with those magnifying type glass things that a gemologist would use...not sure what it is called?? Not sure what they were looking for but there was this one guy looking at what appeared to be ceramic carvings about double the size of a toonie...and they were selling for only 3 Thai Baht each ($1CDN = 30 TB)...so not at all very expensive!

I eventually made it to the National Museum. It wasn't very busy at all. In fact it almost felt like I was one of the only visitors! There were some interesting displays on the history of Thailand but after a while I got tired of reading all of the information and have to admit after a while I just started admiring the displays without reading much. 😊 There were a lot of other rooms to check out too. In the centre they had about 10 rooms with different artifacts ranging from clothing, ceramics, gold, funeral relics, musical instruments, weapons and stuff like that. So a whole mish mash of stuff. There were other buildings that housed artwork from different time periods of Thailand. Some of it was interesting. Some of it kinda scary...I think it's the eyes that get to me. Oh and too funny, they had all of these Buddha’s on display in one room and I swear they were all cross-eyed! lol

Hmm, after the National Museum visit I made my way back to Khao San Road...this is wear a lot of tourists/backpacker types hang out. Lots of stuff to buy and food to be eaten. Don't worry, I was just looking! Plus I needed to find a photo place where I could take a couple of photos for the visa's I'll need to enter Cambodia and Laos in the coming weeks. I remember being "all prepared" before leaving home but about 15 hours into my trip upon landing in the Hong Kong airport I remembered that I forgot them at home! DOH! Thank goodness getting a passport photo taken here in Bangkok is super cheap! I don't plan on buying anything here in Bangkok until after I take my one week tour up north...which by the way, I leave for Sukothai early tomorrow morning! Then I have a "free" week here in Bangkok again. I'm thinking of booking a beach trip somewhere in that time since I think a week in Bangkok may be a bit too much for me! We'll see. So next week, after I'm back from my first tour I'll do some "serious" shopping...but not too crazy...because I'll be able to package some of it up and send 'er home! bawhahaha…what a plan.

Anyway, I have to send off a few quick email before meeting some peoples for dinner. Hope all is well on the home front.

Hugs and stuff,
Bonster

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