Day 104 - Wat Pho and Churches

In a country known for its heavy presence of the Buddhist religion and numerous temples sprawling throughout its cities, it was nice to step away from it and see something else – a church! Maco had to go to church today, so we found one along the Chao Phraya river – the beautiful Holy Rosary Church right next to a schoolyard. It makes me wonder how these students and their families came to Christianity. Were they converted amongst all the Buddhists in the city, or was it already their religion to begin with?

We stayed for a short while, before heading along the Chao Phraya river again to Wat Pho. This would be another day spent almost entirely getting from one place to another on the river. The roof of the structure housing the reclining Buddha was being renovated, and with a donation, tourists could write their wishes on a roof tile, which would then be included in the new roof.

Wat Pho is not only a famous temple, but is also known for its massage school. I got a dose of the massage skills on my first visit here with family, but this time around, I went to a massage place just outside of the temple grounds with graduates from the school. It was probably the most painful, but also the best massage I'd ever received. These women really know how to apply pressure on your tense muscles to relax them. I think I was on the brink of tears a couple of moments during the hour long session from the pain. If you could only get one massage while in Bangkok, I'd really recommend getting a Wat Pho massage, as it is the best value – only 250 baht for one hour.

Refreshed and ready to explore some more, we took a tuk-tuk to Khao San Road so that Maco could get a dose of the backpacker scene. Still crowded like the other times I visited, and still full of foreigners, I sought out a Lonely Planet – India guidebook for my future travels. I managed to find a used 2007 version for a very good discount. I was reluctant to purchase it because it's literally bigger than the size of a brick, but thought I would really need it to navigate such a huge country.

The sun set soon after and we quickly headed back to the commuter boats to get a ride back to our hotel, since I didn't know when the boats stopped operating at night each day.

Holy Rosary Church

Plinking Coins into the Alms Bowls at Wat Pho

Grilled Pork

Day 66 - Myanmar Embassy and Wat Pho

Woke up early to head to the Myanmar Embassy to apply for my 30 day visa to the country. I booked my flight for July 31, since I had to be out of Thailand by that date. I plan on visiting for about three weeks, give or take. Getting out of Khao San road using local transportation is difficult because there aren't any subways or sky trains near the old city. It's a good spot for you to visit some of the famous temples and the Grand Palace though.

I ended up taking a boat down the Chao Phraya River to get to the embassy. It was a convienent and quick way to get around a city full of gridlock road traffic throughout the day.

Afterwards, I met up with Quang at Wat Pho, which I had already visited with my family over a month ago. It was cool to see everything again though. You get to see some of the things you missed the first time around, when it was blazing hot outside. The weather today wasn't too bad and we got to explore the grounds a little more.

Afterwards, we took another boat ride down the river to Chinatown to grab some food and check out some of the bargains at the wholesale markets. By the time we wanted to leave, there was rush hour traffic and no taxi would take us back to Khao San road without paying a premium, so we took the boat back up.

We ended up getting lost along the river because the boat didn't stop at our pier. We took a couple transfers back and forth along the river, until we reached yet another University. For some reason, I feel like I always get lost at a university. Luckily, we were able to walk our way back to our hotel.

At night, we met up with Quang's friend, who took us to Silom road, where we had dinner and went to the infamous Patpong district to see what was offered there...

Day 10 - Top 3 Bangkok Attractions

Bangkok tourism overload today! We spend about 12 hours in the blazing heat of Bangkok visiting as many tourist sites as possible, including the 3 most popular spots - Wat Pho, Wat Arun, and the Grand Palace. Many of these places require visitors to dress in respectful clothing, including sleeved shirts, closed-heeled shoes, and pants that cover the knees.

We started early in the morning since we wanted to try and visit all the popular attractions in the morning before it got too hot outside. Also, many of the most popular tourist sites had operating hours that only left a short window of opportunity to visit. After breakfast, we took the Skytrain from our hotel to the Saen Saeb canal, where we took an express boat through the canal to a stop near the Grand Palace. The water in Thailand is filthy and it was an interesting experience riding these canal boats because they barely stop at each pier for long to wait for stragglers so you have to be quick to jump on the boat before it leaves for the next stop. Travelling through the canal at high speeds means lots of splashing of dirty water, which you have to dodge by covering your face or making sure tarp is held up on the sides of the boat to block the water from coming into the boat. 

After we got off the canal boat, we took a taxi to the Grand Palace, which used to be home to the Royal Family before they relocated to Dusit. The Palace is the resting place for the sacred Emerald Buddha, a small figurine of around 45 cm that is considered to be the palladium of all of Thailand. The entire Palace grounds hold many temples, some of which are gilded beautifully with shimmering gold, and almost all the walls on the inside are painted with very intricate and detailed murals depicting scenes of the many lives of Buddha.

The closest attraction to the Grand Palace was the Wat Pho, and we were refused a taxi ride for the first time because the taxi driver insisted on NOT using the meter, but negotiating a taxi fare on the spot. I think it was because the distance was so short, that he didn't want to bother using the meter. With so many taxi drivers available, we just took the next one. 

Wat Pho is Thailand's biggest and oldest temple. The main spectacle of this site is the biggest reclining Buddha in Thailand. It is 46 meters long and is housed in it's own temple. Wat Pho is also considered to be the birth of traditional Thai massage, and there is a school on the temple grounds where tourists can get massages for decent prices.

We then took a quick ferry ride over the Chao Phraya River to reach Wat Arun, a temple most known for the multicolored tiers decorated with thousands of pieces of broken porcelain, much of which was donated by the local people. The climb to the highest accessible tier was steep, and it didn't provide the best views of the city, so I don't think it's worth it to climb up if you are scared of heights.

Getting the top 3 attractions out of the way, we proceeded to one last temple - the Wat Indrawihan, which houses a 105 foot standing Buddha, before heading to Khao San Road, which is known as "backpacker" central because of all the foreigners walking the streets and all the cheap guesthouses and hotel rooms you can reserve. There was a sort of "hippie/counter culture" vibe when I walked through the street. Dreadlocks, piercings, tattoos, and flowy genie pants were popular there. It seemed like it would be the perfect party scene once night hit. With all this sight-seeing, I think I'm due for a night out drinking soon...

Outside the entrance to the Grand Palace and the rainclouds hovering above

The Grand Palace - The Phra Si Rattana Chedi, which is believed to contain a piece of the Buddha's breastbone.

The Grand Palace - An example of the Murals painted on the walls

The Grand Palace

Wat Pho - The statue of the reclining Buddha

Wat Arun

Wat Arun - A Closeup of the broken pieces of porcelain

Wat Indrawihan