Thursday, January 15, 2009

Temples

Hello everyone,

We just got back from an hour long foot massage, and it was only 200 baht ($6). It was quite nice after walking around Bangkok all day.
Yesterday was a great day, but that was partially because we did not ride on any tuk-tuks. We woke up and made our way to the river taxi in order to spend most of the day looking at temples. The first temple we saw was called wot pho (wot or wat means buddhist temple). This is where one can see the big resting buddha. We took about a thousand pictures in and around the temple and then made our way to the Grand Palace.
Prior to yesterday, we had tried a couple times to see the Grand Palace, but every time some unknown stranger approached us right before we made it to the front and told us that either we did not have the right clothes on or that is was only open for Thai people at that time. However, these are people who are trying to get you to ride the tuk tuks in order to take you to a further temple. Their goal is to take you to a tailor or jewerly store because they receive high commission when doing so. Anywho, we learned our lesson and we were not about to let anyone fool us. The Grand Palace opens to the public at 830 am and if you are dressed inappropriately they will give you something to wear for free. In short, the grand palace was beautiful. This is where we saw the emerald buddha. It was amazing. I wish I could have taken pictures of the emerald buddha but it was strictly prohibited. Other than that, we have so many pictures of the Grand Palace. We just bought a USB for our camera, so we will post pictures when possible.
After the Grand Palace we ate lunch by the river and met a 65 year old man from Australia who has worked for the Lonely Planet as a researcher for several years. He was very interesting to talk to, and he gave us very good advice. After lunch we made our way to the next temple known as Wat Arun, also known as the Temple of Dawn. I loved this temple because you can climb up the temple from the outside. It was very steep and I think I scared a couple chinese ladies because they thought I was about to fall. I would have not fallen, but it was funny to see their faces. We all laughed when I got to the top. Again, a very beautiful temple.
Yesterday was also laundry day, so we took a bag full of clothes to drop off at a laundry mat. I think it was about 125 baht for a load. Usually, you are supposed to pick the laundry up a couple hours later, but we arrived in the late afternoon and as a result we left it there over night. Bryan had to buy another pair of pants because he had only brought one. He purchased what is known as fisherman pants for 120 baht. He looks very cute in them.
We then went over to Thanon Khao Son, which is a major tourist district. We ate dinner and met a man from Sweden. We talked for a good hour or two about our travels and ended up giving each other our travel blog URLs. It seems as if everyone has one now. Bryan ended up buying a rather nice pair of sunglasses for a 120 baht from a guy walking by our table.
Bryan and I now have a technique for bargaining with the vendors. We call it good cop bad cop, and this is where the other person says “we can get it cheaper somewhere else” or something to that effect. I don’t think it really works, but we will let you know in a couple days.
Jenn, to answer your question about Thai food, yes it is very good. However, the people here never give us spice. I don’t think they understand that we can handle it. We just have to make sure we ask for spicy and sometimes they bring it that way and sometimes they don’t.
We are headed south in about an hour and a half to an island called Ko Phan ngan. We are going by bus and then by boat. It will take us about 11 hours. We will let you all know when we have arrived.
Miss you all. We are having a blast.

No comments:

Post a Comment