Bangkok

We flew into Bangkok late on Thursday evening. After checking in we hit the streets to find some dinner.  We soon found out that there weren't very many restaurants around our hotel and that thai people eat dinner very early. However, we lucked out big time on an open air seafood restaurant. We were worried about the food because we were one of two groups eating at the restaurant. The food ended up being amazing. The cook came out to ask us how we liked the food and we ended up talking for awhile. She was so sweet! She gave us advice on what to do, what wasn't worth it, and even lent us her tour books. She also gave each of us a key chain that had famous thai items on them. Samantha got a Hindu goddess, I got a river boat, and Mr. Piper got a tuk-tuk.

The next day, we woke up early and headed out to see the temples. We realized that our hotel wasn't in the prime location; in fact, the temples were on the complete opposite side of the city! We took the skytrain over to that area of town. We thought we had the right exit, but apparently we were far from it! So, instead of hopping back on the skytrain, we took a river boat tour through the canals that ended up in the area with all of the famous temples. On the boat ride we got to see a lot of the city when we were on the main river, and then we turned into the canals and got to see the residential side of Bangkok. The canal houses provide a very different way of living than what we are used to! It was interesting to see their lifestyle! We also passed a few riverside temples along the way. After the boat ride, we ended up running into a tourist police who planned out our tour of the temples for us, arranged a tuk-tuk driver for the whole tour, and gave us some great shopping advice. We went to the Buddha Museum first. It had a temple and then a small sanctuary for the remains of buddhists. The remains were kept in small urns and miniature houses placed along the side of a pond. Before our next temple, we stopped at an Chinese Export Mall that is normally not open to the public, but due to the poor economy we could visit. It was also their last day of tax free sales, luckily for us! Samantha and I both bought nice rings for a great price! We then went to a temple located on a hill. We had to climb quiet aways up to see it! However, once at the top, there was a fantastic view of the city. Our last stop with our tuk-tuk driver was the Grand Palace and National Museum. At these temples, you had to be appropriately dress. I was wearing a tank top and shorts so I had to put on a button up mens shirt and a sarong. Samantha had a t-shirt on so she only had to put on a sarong. Mr. Piper had to put on pants since he was wearing shorts. We looked fabulous...not! It was really hot out and the outfits just made it worse. However, the temples were breathtaking. They were very ornate. Every inch was covered in adornment. There were colorful mirror mosaics, gold leafing, carvings, and intricate murals. After that we grabbed a quick lunch and strolled down amulet street. This area was full of sidewalk peddlers hawking amulets that are said to have certain powers. They are taken very seriously and are a very big deal for the thai people. We then found another tuk-tuk driver to take us to the temple that is famous for their large reclining buddha. At the temple, we had a tour guide take us around. He was crazy. Literally. He was super energetic and very flexible. He insisted on taking tons of pictures of us and when he would take them he would do various yoga poses. He was also very loud, hard to understand, and had awful teeth. We were so worn out that he had more energy than the three of us! All we were interested in seeing was the reclining buddha statue..not the rest of the temple, but he took us through it all anyway...every last inch. The reclining buddha was absolutely massive and very impressive. It was really cool. After, Mr Dong (the tour guide), we just wanted to go home, but our sketchy tuk-tuk driver told us that if we went to this one place he would get free gas. We told him no, but he was really insistent on doing it and it didn't seem like he was going to take no for an answer. He ended up taking us to a tailor. We walked in, took one look, and walked out. He didn't seem very happy that we didn't fall for his trick, but he took us home. That night we researched an authentic mom-and-pop thai restaurant. On the taxi ride there it started to rain. The street it was located on was blocked off with construction so our taxi driver had to drop us off a few storefronts away. As we got out of the taxi, the rain really picked up. We ran to the nearest hotel for shelter to wait out the rain. The hotel was disgusting and much to Samantha's dismay, full of mosquitos. Just to top it off, the power went out. The hotel's back up generator kicked in and the lights came back on. The rain eased up and we decided it was time to go eat. However, our restaurant had no lights. So we went to the hotel across the street and ate at their modern-thai restaurant. The food ended up being amazing, so in the end it all worked out.

On Saturday we decided we were templed out so we hit up Thailand's famous outdoor market that sold everything from clothes to pets to housewares to art. It was huge. And crowded. And hot. And smelly. It was really interesting and we did have a good time. Samantha and I were looking for some cheap clothes when Mr. Piper decided that he had picked the wrong shirt to wear (a black polo...as if he had no idea how hot it was the day before...) and needed to buy a new one on the spot. He wasn't being picky...he just wanted a white or beige linen or silk button up shirt. So the mission started. We could have had the shirt made by the time he finally settled on a used pink-red, long-sleeved, not linen or silk shirt. At first, Sam and I were trying to help him, but after several hours of getting shot down we gave up. Finally, when we were about to leave and enjoying our second dragonfruit and pineapple juice smoothie of the day, he found it. We made our way to the skytrain station and decided to call it a day. We went back to the hotel, cleaned up, and headed out to get thai massages. It was our first time getting massages and all in all it was a good experience. For dinner, we wanted to give our mom-and-pop thai restaurant that we could eat at the night before, a second chance. It just wasn't meant to be. We ended up eating next door at an Indian restaurant.

Sunday morning we packed our bags and headed out for the morning. We went to the Jim Thompson Museum which consisted of his historical house full of rare antiques and an art museum. His story was so interesting! For those who don't know, he was an american who came to Thailand and reestablished the silk industry. On the side he collected broken antiques, which in Thailand is considered to be extremely unlucky. He ended up disappearing in Malaysia when he was 61. There are many conspiracy theories as to what exactly happened to him. We then went to a the four-headed buddha shrine. At the shrine we got to see authentic thai dancers. This shrine is known for being very lucky. People rub their money on it and pray for winning lottery tickets here. After grabbing lunch, we headed to the airport.

Bangkok was a very interesting town and we definitely needed more than three full days there!