One Night in Bangkok (or maybe two...)

I know many of you have been eagerly awaiting a post about our adventures thus far, and I've been eager to write one; this is, however, the first free moments I've had in which I'm not falling asleep.  We are busy with a capital B, and loving every second!  After a LONG 27-hour trip, we arrived at our guesthouse in Bangkok, The Thara House, around 1a.m. on Wednesday.  Not being one to let some exploring wait until morning, Jon wanted to go check out what there was to check out.  So we found a small little soi (a street off the main road) near our hotel and wandered a bit.  Surprisingly, many of the small food stands, carts, and restaurants were still open. 

We found some tasty snacks, a beer, and enjoyed the sights and sounds of late-night Bangkok.  Some of the sights included a ladyboy (do some research if you don't know what that is... I'd rather not explain), rats the size of cats, and me about dying over a chile pepper eaten off a stick.  We were also able to witness a rat being bludgeoned to death by the restaurant employee because it had gotten into the trash can.  That was disturbing, but more disturbing was the thought that this rat may be skewered and grilled up for our snack the next day.  Sheesh... and this within the first couple hours of arriving.  Trying to adjust to the time change, we decided to head to bed and get a somewhat early start the next day.

So, the next morning (okay, about 3 hours later), we hopped (more like crawled) out of bed and got moving.  We experienced our first shower without doors or curtains.  The showerhead is just on a wall in the bathroom, and the door to the bathroom has a small lip to keep the water in.  We headed out the door to a comfortable morning, although this would not last long.  It is about 20 kinds of hot in Thailand.  We thought that being Floridians would make it easier to adjust, but we spend a lot more time in A/C at home.  I am just going to have to get used to being consistently sweaty, greasy, and smelly (and I am going to have to wash a lot more than in Europe).  Oh, and please be prepared for all those things in our photos (except the smelly part, lucky you), because we have not had one in which our foreheads do not reflect the cameraman.  But I digress...

We decided to walk to the Grand Palace, which is where the king lived up until recently.  A luxurious complex of buildings and sculptures, it was built in the 1780s when the capital of Thailand moved south, and includes magnificent Thai, Cambodian, and Chinese architectural styles.  I particularly enjoyed the paintings around the entire palace wall, which tells the traditional story of the Buddha and his travels through Thailand, called "Ramayana."  It is the longest wall painting in the world, and incredibly ornate and detailed. 

The highlight of the palace is Wat Phra Kaeo, the Temple of the Emerald Buddha.  This Buddhist temple is regarded as the most beautiful and important in all of Thailand, housing the most revered Thai Buddha statue which is carved from a single piece of jade.  Although it is beautiful, it is barely visible from its high perch in the temple, and is almost buried amongst all the other offerings and gold statues around it.  The Buddha wears three different robes throughout the year to depict the three seasons: summer, rainy, and winter.  Most of the buildings in the Grand Palace are still used for official kingdom business and are not open to the public but for one day a year. 

After visiting the Grand Palace, we decided to walk around the walls to another wat (temple), and on the way found a lively market filled with locals and tourists alike.  We tried some yummy bamboo chicken and some yucky durian fruit, which resembled rotting mango in taste and texture.  This is the infamous "smelly fruit" that is banned from most public transportation here. 

There were vendors selling everything from souvenirs to used shoes.  Tuk-tuk drivers hollered at us from the street, and we were even approached by a man wearing an "Official Tourist Police" shirt (there is no such thing).  Just like in any tourist city, Bangkok has its fair share of scams.  One of the more prevalent scams is when locals tell you that a particular place is not open that day or will not open until later, but he will bring you to a list of places for a "good price." Most of the places they bring you are not even authentic (they build fake temples just for this purpose).  We learned quickly the phrase "no tuk-tuk," and kept walking.  When we reached the Wat Pho, we were impressed by the size of the temple.  The largest temple was for the Reclining Buddha, who barely fit inside his appointed home.

We wandered the grounds and explored a bit.  This temple is home to more images of Buddha than any other in Thailand, and we definitely found this to be true.  

After exploring for a good while, we decided to start walking back near the hotel, where Khao San road awaited.  Khao San road is an area that is popular with tourists, filled with bars, restaurants, and shops. 

This is where the nightly novelty vendors sell fried bugs, scorpions, and frogs.  Where the restaurants have names such as the following:

Think Beale Street in Memphis or Bourbon Street in New Orleans and you've got the Thai equivalent in Khao San road.  We stopped for a quick drink and some people watching with a friend we met at the Grand Palace, and then decided to try out a famous Thai foot massage.  We were also interested in getting a fish spa treatment, in which all the little fish come and eat away at the dead skin on your feet.  We bartered a price of 200 baht for 15 minutes in the fish spa and a 30 minute foot massage (about $6). 

The fish spa felt totally unexpected, almost painful but more of a hard tickle.  It was hard to keep our feet in the water at first, and we were just about laughing our heads off (mostly to show that we thought it was funny and not actually quite creepy). After the fish we got our foot massages, which are FANTASTIC after a long day of walking in the heat.  After a quick street stall dinner, we headed straight back to the hotel.  Bangkok had done worn us out on our first day, but we were excited to see what else it had in store for us on the next.