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Bangkok Market
Walking down SukhumvitToday we slept in a bit and grabbed breakfast at a local place around the corner from our guesthouse. We walked through the markets for a while before taking a canal boat to Rattanakosin island. Rattanakosin is an island due to the network of defensive canals that King Rama I constructed and home to the Grand Palace and some of the more recognizable temples. Wat Saket, or the Golden Mount is my favorite temple that we visited. Perched on top of a large rock outcropping, the temple overlooks the city, giving me my first real taste of just how sprawling Bangkok is. Stairs wind through jungle and past small waterfalls and shrines before rising to the actual temple. Here, I was able to light incense with a monk and meditate and pray. We took the canal boats back to Sukhumvit and had dinner at a little hole in the wall place down a side street, delicious!
Our train to Surat Thani departed at 6:20 that evening out of the Hua Lamphong station. We had second class tickets and as you can see from the pictures, the accommodations were pretty dismal. The seats folded down into lower bunks, and an upper
Canal
From Sukhumvit to Rattanakosin Island bunk was stowed above. A central fan provided the only ventilation, but when the bunks were in place the windows had to be closed and the blinds blocked the fan. Needless to say it was quite warm, but thanks to my good friend Nyquil I survived the night and actually was able to sleep for a few hours. We arrived at the Surat Thani train station at around 9:00 am the next morning and after hanging out around town for an hour or two, boarded a bus to Ban Ta Khun. When we told people that we were heading to Ratchabhrapha lake we got many confused looks and shaking heads. Most people use Surat Thani as a hopping off point to the islands of Samui, Pha Ngan, Tao and Phuket and the tour bus drivers were frustrated that we didn’t want to join the Full Moon Party. On the bus we met a woman from Koh Samui who helped us secure a ride up to the lake after we had sampled some local dragon fruit and seen Ban Ta Khun’s temple.
I am having a lot of trouble putting my experience at Ratchabrapha into words, so I am going
Steps to the Golden Mount
My favorite temple in Bangkok! to work on that tonight and will hopefully be ready to post tomorrow morning. It has been an incredible past few days. I am very happy and loving Thailand! Hope everyone at home is doing well.
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anuj
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this is awesome
this is so awesome hooray for carl miss you already dog