Hot, Hotter and …

Gail and I arrived in Bangkok on the 22nd. Our first stop was our hotel, the Royal Orchid Sheraton, a five star hotel on the banks of the Chao Phraya river. Thanks to a great deal on an Asian travel site, we were enjoying a “champagne” location on our typical beer budget! We walked into our room and were stunned by the view.



After relaxing in our room for a while, we took our first excursion into the 90° heat of Bangkok. Checking the map, we discovered Chinatown was close and it would make for an interesting exploration. Fifteen minutes later we found ourselves passing shop after shop where men were breaking down auto brake drums, transmissions and engine heads by hand—not terribly interesting. Taking a moment to check the map, we were approached by a helpful man who suggested that we actually go to visit a couple of wats (Buddhist temples) since it was a Buddhist holiday and we could get in for free. He also warned us about how to negotiate with the tuk-tuk drivers so that we didn’t pay too much and actually helped us negotiate with the next driver* who came by.



As we climbed into the tuk-tuk we didn’t realize we had just fallen for the classic Bangkok tourist scam. After taking us to the first wat, the tuk-tuk driver asked us to go to a jewelry expo on the way to the next wat because it would allow him to get a free tank of gas. We looked at each other and suddenly realized what we had gotten into. Although we did eventually get to see the second wat, where they were indeed holding a ceremony to celebrate the life and death of one of the great Thai kings, the afternoon involved an ongoing struggle with the driver between his desire to take us places where we might buy some jewels, clothing or other expensive items and our desire to simply sightsee and get back to our hotel. We, and the driver, were all a bit hot under the collar by the time we arrived back at our hotel. But one positive of this experience was that we did get to zoom all over Bangkok and got to see how the tuk-tuks navigate the crowded rush hour streets. It really was an experience—and cost less than $4 for a several hour “indoctrination” to Bangkok. Both of us said “No tuk-tuks again!!!"

After cooling down we headed out to our first Thai dinner at a place called “Tongue Thai” where we ate spicy mango salad with shrimp, chicken and pork satay and a yellow curry with chicken and potatoes.



It was delicious. And the salad fully lived up to its name! It had little red peppers in it that were the hottest things we had EVER eaten. Phil commented that it was the first time his tongue had literally hurt from eating something delicious—and of course we now know why the name of the place was selected! We wandered back to the hotel and just sat in our room watching the beautiful scene of the river unfold twenty-three floors below with its late evening traffic.



The next morning we discovered that the breakfast included in our room rate was a 5 star breakfast buffet with just about anything you wanted. Mango juice, lychee pastry with lemon custard, crispy bacon, wonderful omelets…and the list goes on. We pigged out and basically it was enough to keep us going right through the day.

We decided to spend our first full day exploring The Grand Palace and several of the beautiful wats on its grounds and near it. So we hopped on one of the river taxis and shot down the river to Ko Ratanakosin, the little island where this huge city was born.





One of our first sights in The Grand Palace was this chedi or stupa, a kind of reliquary.



The building next to it, the Mondop, a repository for the Buddha's teachings,



had amazing tile work. Gail enjoyed taking it in,



along with some of the mythical creatures



and The Grand Palace.



It had been a hot morning and we still had two more wats to visit! After taking a break for rehydration, we walked a few long, long blocks in the sun to Wat Pho where Phil saw a line of golden Buddhas that he's had pictured on his web site for a number of years



as well as the 46 meter long reclining Buddha, which needless to say was too long for one photo.







We hopped aboard a ferry and crossed the river to our last wat of the day, Wat Arun, which has a 82 meter high tower decorated with fragments of Chinese porcelain once used as ballast in Chinese merchant ships.



Of course we had to climb up to the top. On the way down the steep, precipitous steps Gail's legs began to cramp.



We made it to the bottom and decided we had seen enough and sweated enough for one day.

That evening we decided to check out the “food court” at one of the huge shopping malls. I put food court in quotes because it was pretty upscale and not like any food court we had been in before. You get a card with a bar code when you enter. The challenge is then figuring out what to eat. Thai? Indian? Japanese? French? Italian? They had everything including a bar and a dessert kiosk. We selected our food and when it was ready it was picked up by a waiter and delivered to our table. While we ate, a trio of jazz musicians played in the background. Phil commented that Columbia needed a place like this.

After finishing dinner we took the Skytrain back to the river and hopped onto the hotel’s shuttle boat. The shuttle boat is really beautiful…and they give you cold towels and water when you enter to cool you down! We were the only passengers and sat at the back and enjoyed the evening lights on the river as we motored back to the hotel. It was a nice ending to a great day of sightseeing.


* We don't want to blame the driver in the photo. He works in Chiang Rai in Northern Thailand. Unfortunately we didn't get a photo of the driver in Bangkok.