We got breakfast at the hotel since the tea shop was was closed. After that we checked out and got a van to the airport. I had timed it for the train so we got there significantly early. We sat in the terminal and got mainly snacky food for lunch.
We had dinner at a high end place that claimed to have molecular gastronomy. I would say that some of the dishes got way away from what was expected which is what molecular gastronomy is about. Many of the dishes also were rather traditional presentations. The mix of it was good. We ordered more on the adventurous side and were not disappointed.
Adam Nick and I went a few doors down from the hotel to grab some tea. The tea shop was absolutely adorable and we talked a lit about mid term future plans. Both Adam and Nick seem to have decent ideas of what they want to do.
The girls got back from the mall and we went to get a second round of tea.
Steph and I went to two parks but had adventures on the way to both of them
To start out the day we grabbed some tasty food at the street vendors on our street then started walking south to the tobacco monopoly. We then went east to the park but had to walk through some depot looking areas. The park had a fence going around the entire perimeter and we started wondering if we were even allowed in the park. We saw probably 30 workers cleaning it up but only 6 or so people that looked like they were using it for enjoyment. There was a group of 3 guys practicing parkor and they were interesting to watch. We stopped by some office buildings close by and grabbed lunch at the stands near their bases.
We took a cab to lumphini park, but took the long way around since the cab driver didn’t understand what we were saying. I downloaded Google translate to help out with that. At lumphini park we saw many lizards and got to see two of them fight. It was really nice to get away from the rush and noise of the city. We walked over to join the others at the platinum mall and I left Steph there with Tina. I went back to the hotel with Adam and Nick. Nick and I wandered off south of the hotel and stopped in the last restaurant on our street. It was tasty and filling.
We went to a really nice restaurant near where the massage palace is and it was incredibly tasty fusion food. I got the tom yum pizza which had all the tasty cheese and crust of pizza with all the spice and seafood of tom yum. We got dessert which was tasty and then Steph went to the massage palace but they were fully booked for the rest of the evening. We walked through soi cowboy a few times since we were near there and then took the train back to Nana station. Nick Steph and I were the only ones still out so we decided to randomly wander for a bit. We went north into the Arab district and saw more of the same market stalls. Steph and I then headed back to the hotel for a reasonable nights sleep. Nick went out wandering and I am hoping to hear a good story tomorrow morning.
The second part of the tour was very enjoyable. We took a ferry across the river to the temple of the dawn. It was a really amazing older structure. The temple was also something one can climb. We went past the lower level of hell, up to the middle level of earth, and made it all the way to the upper level of heaven. I suppose one could consider Tue very top of the temple to represent nirvana. The stairs got steeper as the steps got higher so that at the top of the temple I was having trouble lifting my foot to the next step. It was a glorious view of the city and the river from atop the temple. After the dizzying descent from the temple we went to the canals. I really enjoyed seeing all the houses along the canals and was intrigued at how mixed the level of house was. There were mansions and shacks very close to each other. There were also decently large sections that had been destroyed in flood and never rebuilt. There were many temples along the canals and we stopped at one to feed the fish. They were of the giant catfish variety but the largest if the group were only two feet long or so. Jeremy got a beer from one of the random shop boats that was in the busier areas of the canals. Since we were going to be staying at Khoisan road on the way back through Bangkok we decided to just head back to the hotel.
We stopped for lunch and got some really tasty food and drinks. A large contingent got more of the Thai ice tea and I had the problem of not knowing what my food is supposed to be again. I might want to start knowing and remembering what I order but where is the fun in that.
The tour started out by taking us to the temple of the golden Buddha. It was very pretty and amazing that so much gold was in a single statue. The statue had been hidden from pillagers by a layer of plaster like the emerald Buddha and many others. While the practice of hiding the expensive Buddhas has kept some of the great ones around it also led to the practice of chopping of Buddha heads to see what they are made of.
We saw how the wallpaper is actually a lot of intricate hand paintings and all the different types of offerings.
We then went to the center of the city to see the city monument that is supposed to house the guardian spirit of the city. Bangkok is odd in that it has two, since they made a new one but didn’t have a place to put the old one.
The temple of the emerald Buddha and the royal grounds were next and all of it was very pretty. We were shown how some of the monks were allowed to have fun with the religious paintings. It was also interesting how the religions fused together with it being mostly Buddhist with a lot of Hinduism and a splash of local spiritualism.
The thrones and royal items were neat to see and the elephant parking was also neat.
The next stop was the temple of the reclining Buddha and the main Buddha statue there was massive. It was interesting also that the bottom of the feet were a mural.
There were lots of other smaller things at that temple since it was meant to be a teaching temple for Thai massage and later yoga.
The tour with tong group was picking us up at the hotel at 8am so we all came down around 7:30 to grab breakfast. The hotel breakfast was really good albeit pricy compared to the alternatives. Once everyone was ready we met the guide Jing and the driver Jom. We left for the old city to start the tour and she gave us lits of good info along the way.
It's an Exciting World 