Day two in Bangkok was spent as tourists. We visited the Grand Palace, Wat Phra Kaew,
Wat Pho, Wat Arun, and Wat Trimit.
Along the way we learned to navigate a few dodgy alleys, find our way on
to a commuter ferry and also learned, quickly, that the safest way to cross the
street is to walk quickly and at a steady pace!
Day one in Bangkok went a little later than we
originally anticipated so day two started a bit later than expected, but we
still managed to fit in a whole lot of stuff and it turned out to be a
fantastic day.
After and omelet and iced coffee at Nap Park we ventured out
to see the sights. First stop, the Grand Palace. The grand Palace was
established in 1782 when the King Rama I decided the former capital of Thonburi
was not suitable and he chose to move it to the other side of the river, where
the palace was built. It houses not only Royal Residences but also several
government offices and most importantly, the Temple of the Emerald Buddha, Wat
Phra Kaew. Today, however, the palace is
only used for certain ceremonial occasions.
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| First sight upon Entering the Palace |
The Emerald Buddha is a little guy, but also happens to be one of Thailand’s most famous buddha’s. Originally discovered in 1434, this
little Buddha endured an long journey from northern Thailand, where it was
hidden in stucco while traveling to it's current home. On it’s way there it was
seized by Lao forces only to be recovered by Thai’s some time later. The
Emerald Buddha is actually made of Jade, but once thought to be emerald because
of the way in which the magnificent green color was revealed as the stucco was
removed over time, thus giving it the name the Emerald Buddha.
After viewing the Emerald Buddha we wandered around the
palace for a couple hours, listening to the guided audio tour. I wish we had found someone to take a picture of us
together. We were a sight to see in our barrowed “appropriate” clothing, sweating buckets with camera and audio tours hanging form our necks!
Fortunately, we were not the only pair who looked this way.
On our way out of the palace we really wanted icecream but
settled for something called Roselle Juice. Not exactly sure what that is, but
it was cold and passed as a close second.
It was pasteurized too, I’m not honestly sure what it was.
After leaving the Grand Palace, we followed the directions
of “left, and then left again” in search of the reclining Buddha at Wat
Pho. Wat Pho is the oldest and largest
temple in Bangkok, no surprise it’s the largest, it’s home to a reclining Buddha,
who is 46meters long and 15 meters high.
It’s toe is size of a human head.
After the reclining Buddha we had one more “need-to-see,”
The Golden Buddha. This guy is cool because it
too was hidden in plaster and stucco until the mid-1900’s when the plaster fell off after having been dropped while being re-located only to reveal a magnificent 3meter tall, 5 and a half ton solid gold
Buddha!
Unfortunately we got a little distracted on our way to
finding the Golden Buddha. When we thought we were boarding a ferry to take us
down the river we actually found ourselves on a ferry that simply took us
across the river, whoops! But that’s okay, because we just found ourselves in a
very lovely spot and steps away from Wat Arun.
This wasn’t on the agenda at the beginning of the day, but I’m happy we
found ourselves here. That’s the part of traveling with only “sort of” a
plan I like. Wat Arun is named after the indian
god of dawn, Aruna. The entire thing is
82m high and covered in porcelain. The
public was allowed to climb the stairs about two thirds of the way to top, so
of course we did that!
After Wat Arun we made our way back across the river to
catch a ferry that would indeed take us down the river to within walking
distance of Wat Traimit where could find the Golden Buddha. Upon arriving we
saw a sign noting the temple was only open to the public from 8am to 5pm, it was
5:15. But, lucky for us, we must look like good people, because a security guard
approached us and asked what we were looking for. After we explained we were searching for the Golden
Buddha, he showed us the way. It was rather
nice to see this glorious Golden Buddha without the company of other tourists.
After the golden Buddha we found our way back to the ferry
dock to further make our way back to Nap Park hostel. Coincidently, we landed ourselves on an
express ferry that took us directly to the stop we wanted to go to. From there,
had just a little more walking to do.
Unfortuanely we found ourselved on the wrong side of several busy
roads. This was where we learned that
you just have to be brave and quick if you ever want to get across the
street. Just look for a small gap in the
stream of motor vehicles coming at you and GO! The ones you couldn’t see when
you stepped in to the street will just correct their route according to you. So you’re actually best not to stop when they come out of nowhere or
they probably will hit you!
Finally as darkness set in on the day we found ourselves
back on Khosan Rd. We were finally hungry again and had not had the street pad
thai yet. So what do you think we had
for dinner? One dish of pad thai and a spring roll please, thank
you! It was the best meal
I’ve had yet.
