A Journey to Thailand and Japan: Day Two
May 17th, 2008My friends Siam and Meow went off to Bangkok to get married. A group of us decided to go to the ceremony and get a chance to see a part of the world we’d never been before. So, we bought the plane tickets and set off on our grand adventure!
WAT’S GOING ON?
9 AM, and it time to go sightseeing! Siam and Meow meet us at the hotel bearing gifts: chicken skewers and sticky rice. Yum! That, combined with the complimentary hotel breakfast, gets us ready for the day ahead. We pile into a van and head off.
It’s worth mentioning that we had a driver with us where ever we went. The traffic in Bangkok is insane. The combination of millions of cars, motorcycles, and tuk-tuks driven by people with no regards for lane divisions makes America’s traffic look like child’s play. It feels like your in a video game at times. Amazingly, people do this on a daily basis and I don’t ever see any accidents!
First stop of the trip: Wat Pho. This is a temple famous for a gigantic reclining Buddha. We arrive at the temple and pay for a ticket. Well, not all of us — only the farang (foreigners). If you’re Thai, you get in free. This would be a recurring theme of the trip.
The first thing I notice about the temple grounds is that there is nothing austere about them. Colors are vibrant, everything is lavish. Gold is everywhere. Almost gaudy. It’s quite a stark contrast to the cathedrals of Europe. However, it’s not bad, and after a while, I get used to it, even start to appreciate it.
Time for the main attraction. We go up to the steps of the temple, take our shoes off, and enter the building. Buddha is big. Enormous. He takes up the entire space. He’s also looking pretty happy — after all, he’s looking pretty comfortable, lying down and all that. It’s a really impressive sight. The temple walls are also really detailed, but Buddha dominates, and you can’t keep your eyes off of him.
While you’re eyes are on him, your ears are hearing strange noises…. it sounds like metallic rain. On the back wall of the temple, there’s a row of about 50 pots, with people putting pennies into them. Siam’s friend Note explains that if you put a penny in each pot, your wish is granted. I buy pennies for me and Jon, wish for a fun trip for all, and get to work. Wish granted.
Next up: The Grand Palace. This is home to Wat Phra Kaew, home of the Emerald Buddha. It’s explained to us that it’s not really made of emerald, but jade. It’s the most sacred Buddha in Thailand. We enter the grounds (after paying the farang fee, naturally), and walk around. It’s even more gold and colors than the first Wat. Also, there are statues of giants that guard the palace scattered around. It’s really cool. We take our shoes off and enter the temple.
Inside, you see the Emerald Buddha. It’s tiny. It’s also really high up on a gigantic pyramid of gold ornamentation. It’s quiet. Monks are meditating. We sit down and soak it all in. It’s really peaceful in here — I could stay for hours. Unfortunately, there’s more to see, so we only stay for a few minutes.
Once out on the temple grounds, we come upon a water fountain. We’re all thirsty and drink up. That is, all of us except for Jon, who’s leery of drinking tap water. Ironically, the only one on the trip who had stomach problems was Jon. He should have had the holy temple water! Now we’re all immortal except for him.
After walking the grounds, we’re all hungry and stop at something close to a strip mall and eat. It has air conditioning, which is all we really needed at that point. I also learn about the proper Thai way to eat food: with a fork and spoon. You use the fork to shovel stuff onto your spoon, then eat with the spoon. The spoon is big, and you can put a bunch of food on it. It makes for fast eating.
Next up, Dusit Palace. Well, not really. Due to a late lunch, and the unending Bangkok traffic, we arrive just in time for the palace to close. We walk around the grounds a bit, and move on. It was probably pretty nice inside. Next time.
Our big entertainment for the night is going to be a river cruise and dinner. We drive up to the hotel where the cruise begins, and have drinks until it’s time. We all drink Chang beer and wish that the air conditioning would work just a little better. Jet lag is starting to creep in just a bit.
Siam’s family meets us at the hotel, and we all board the boat. It’s a nice boat, and we immediately sit down and order food. Well, Siam’s family orders the food. That was one of the really nice things about the trip…. the Thais ordered food for everyone, and it was all good. Traditionally, all big meals in Thailand are family style. You get to try a bit of everything, and it’s all good, trust me. They would order it, and we would eat it. We had a lot of seafood on this meal, and it was tasty. The boat sets off on the trip, and they say it will be an hour and a half long.
We go up to the top of the boat and watch the sights. We get to see the buildings and temples all lit up at night. It’s cool. However, jet lag has really set in, and the environment is perfect for sleeping. We all sit in silence and fight the urge to sleep. Oh, and the hour and a half is actually four hours.
After the cruise, we go back to the hotel and crash. A pretty awesome first day.