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Published: June 19th 2006
After a five hour nap on the worlds firmest mattress, I woke up rather refresshed and ready to tackle my first full day in Bangkok. The whole group met at 8am in our classroom to have our first orientation meeting with Dr. Lash. After a quick overview of our accellerated class schedule (our first test is already on Wednesday!) he took us over to the student dining hall (think open-aired mall food court with eight different stalls of asian food). Nothing was in english so we basically had to just point at what we wanted and hope for the best. My roommate Brian and I went to one with a spread that pretty much looked like panda express. We both pointed at something that we thought looked like a spicy beef dish, only to be told it upon paying that it was fish (I think they were battered and fried whole sardines). But it tasted awesome none the less, and for the grand total price of 18 Bhat (that's a wapping 50 cents) you really can't beat it.
After breakfast we hopped on the bus to start our day long tour of Bangkok. On the bus ride downtown (our campus
if 45km from the city, or as Dr. Lash says, we're staying in Aroroa) Siddi gave us a nice overview of Thai history and culture before ariving at our first Wat of the day. Right off the bat we were struck with awe as we walked into the temple containing the worlds largest reclining gold Buddha. The statue itself was awe inspiring (down the the mother of pearl inlayed soles of his feet) and the detail of the whole building was truly fabulous (the walls were covered floor to ceiling with hand painted scenes, and gold leaf everywhere). The grounds of Wat Pho were also quite beautiful and contained dozens of these amazing towers (I'll get back to you with the official name tomorrow) which contain the remains of kings and other important Thai people from history.
Our next stop on the tour was the Grand Palace which was the home to the king of Thailand for many years. I have never seen such opulence in my life as all of the buildings were covered in gold and hand layed mosaics (the most amazing part of course was that the whole palace was built in a span of three
Check out those Pants!
We had to rent pants in order to enter the Wat containing the Emerald Buddha. From left: Dave, myself and Brian (my roommate).years). This is also the home to the famous Emerald Buddha which was equally beautiful. Unfortunately, right after leaving the Wat a monsoon hit and we were forced to cut our tour of the Grand Palace somewhat short.
Of course not all was lost, because what does one do when they cant sight see outside? The go shopping! Since there was much interest by the group as a whole, Siddi took us to a very nice tailor where we all got fitted for custom made suits. When we first arrived I have to admit I was a little on the fence about getting anything made because I don't exactly wear suits that often (I think I can count how many times each year by the numbers of weddings we attend). But after spending an hour looking at two floors of fine fabrics and watching everyone get measured, I caved. So after picking out fabrics I walked out with a custom made italian wool/cashmere suit, two custom made french cuff shirts, and two silk ties for a mere 8,000 Bhat (roughly $200). I'll show you pictures tomorrow as they will be comming to campus for our first fitting in less
Outside the Grand Palace
This is just a sampling of the amazing detail and ordamentation that covered the Grand palace. than 24 hours 😊
Our long day of touring and shopping ended with a very nice dinner cruise on the river that runs through Bangkok. It reminded me very much of a Spirit of Chicago cruse except instead of seeing lit up sky scrapers the banks were lined with palaces, Wats and other magnificant ancient buildings. All in all it was a wonderful day and a great way to kick off the trip.
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Mary Lou (aka Mom)
non-member comment
Love the pants
Too bad you only get to rent the pants. They'd go over so well in Chicago! Not much mention of classes-and to think you get credit for this?! Anyhow, sounds like a blast.