Bangkok - Day Thirteen

A Monk at Wat Pho

After a good night's sleep and a very hot shower, and a great hotel breakfast (bacon, eggs, potatoes, even pastries), time to discover Bangkok. Not surprisingly, Bangkok was hot. It is the hottest city in the world after all. We went in the winter, so if you don't like the heat, in December it tends to cool down to the upper 80's and that's as cold as it's gonna get.

We took the BTS to the crowded river boats. There's day pass designed for tourists that gives you unlimited rides...do NOT buy the day pass. Just get on the boat and pay when the ticket lady comes around like the locals do, it's cheaper.

The first place we went was Wat Pho to see the reclining Buddha. It's so much larger than I thought it would be and I was blown away by it's striking prowess the same way I was with Michelangelo's David.

The hair detail was so intricate.

Outside of the temple that housed the Buddha were a number of beautiful stupas covered with ornate floral designs. From certain angles they looked like bright skyscrapers.

At Wat Pho, a came across this awesome diagram for the body on the side of a wall. There were also diagrams describing armor and warriors.

Wat Pho is full of gems (like the photo at the top of the post). Be sure to take your time there and poke around.

We tried these bite size type crepe things from a road-side stand. They were adorable and I thought they'd be savory but they were s-w-e-e-t. The white is actually marshmallow. Not my thing. But they're still adorable.

Then we walked over to the Royal Palace. The Palace is fairly sprawling with many different temples all the colors of the rainbow. Some of the buildings were covered with small pieces of reflective glass that glimmered in the sunlight. Stunning.

Colors, colors everywhere. Yet, it didn't feel tacky. Well done.

The actual Palace was also beautiful, though less colorful.

Palace admission was 400 Bht per person.

After the palace, we were starving, so we walked towards the river and ate at the restaurant in back of the Royal Thai Navy Club which we'd read about in our Groovy Map. I'll admit, the food wasn't the best, but the view is perfect. You're right on the river watching boats and barges go by while drinking a cold beer.

I had pad thai. Hubs had fried chicken and cashews which was much better.

2 Beers + 2 Entrees + The View = 320 Bht. A fine deal indeed.

Bellies full, we climbed back on the packed river boat, back to the subway, finally arriving back to the hotel. We ended up staying in for the rest of the night, eating our leftovers from Aryaa's, and stowing up energy for the next day.