Bangkok Day One

Our first day in Bangkok was the Fourth of July. Here, nothing was closed, with one exception (see later in post). We crammed a lot into the day, and used the majority of the public transportation available. First, we took the skytrain towards the river (Mae Nam Chao Praya).

High-rises and hotels seen from the public river boat (Photo credit: Emily)

From there, it was a quick walk to the public river boat which would take us up the river towards the Ko Ratanakosin area, where many wats (temples) are situated. The boat ride was nice, and we were able to see many sights from the water. After getting off we walked to the Royal Palace, a compound that contained the former residence of the Thai royal family.

Royal residence, built in a European style. The most recent US president to stay there was Bill Clinton. (Photo Credit: Emily)

Within the walls were Wat Phra Kaew (the home of the Emerald Buddha) and many other brightly decorated buildings of varying importance. Unfortunately, we were not able to see the Emerald Buddha, as the wat was closed for July 4th. As we are in Bangkok, it was not closed for US Independence Day but for a private ceremony.

Various wats, residences and buildings within the compound. (Photo credit all: Emily)

Leaving the compound, we then walked to the Navy Wives restaurant and had a delicious and authentic Thai lunch. We sampled many dishes including phad Thai and green curry. Soon after we took a long tail boat ride around the canals of Bangkok. We saw many interesting houses and large monitor lizards in the water, and we fed humongous catfish loaves of bread.

The view from the long tail boat (Photo credit: Becca)

Disembarking from the second boat ride of the day, we walked to Wat Pho and saw the third largest Buddha in Thailand. Covered by the wat, the Buddha is a massive statue that is reclined, standing at 15m high and 43m long (that's 30 ft tall and 129 ft long for us Americans).

Photo credit: Emily

After viewing the many different buildings and statues, it was important that we the massage school within the wat. This is a traditional Thai massage school, where we all enjoyed a massage.

Even with intricate details, Wat Pho was much simpler than Wat Phra Kaew. (Photo Credit: Emily)

In a Thai massage and the masseuse uses her hands and body weight to massage areas that need relaxing. The massage was originally meant to relieve tension from weary workers who stood or crouched all day in rice fields or other jobs. We then took two tuk-tuks (motorized, covered rickshaws) to the flower market.

Becca, Michelle and Sarah in the tuktuk (Photo Credit: Emily)

This is where we ran into a tight spot. Tuk-tuks are notorious for taking tourists to places they do not want to go.  Luckily, we had a guide to orient us for this first day, and she negotiated the price and where we were going. However, traffic was heavy and the tuk-tuk containing Mom, Sarah and me went zooming ahead of Emily and Dad, causing us to feel rather uneasy. In the end, although we ended up having to pay higher than agreed upon, we found each other. The flower market was really impressive, with many orchids and roses.

It was very interesting that the flowers didn't wilt or dry up in the heat. We got a small flower wreath of a type that is made at most stands and is meant to be an offering to Buddha.

One of many styles of flower wreaths (Photo Credit: Emily)

Thailand is about 95% Buddhist, and it surely shows in the number of wats and images of Buddha.

Monks leaving the ceremony at the Temple of the Emerald Buddha (Wat Phra Kaew). (Photo credit: Emily)

We then took the public boat back to the skytrain stop, with many locals cramming on during rush hour. Without much sleep between landing in Bangkok and starting our day, we were all exhausted and headed back to the hotel. After about an hour of down time, we attempted to go find the night market and ended up in a mall. Overwhelmed and tired, we bought melon and bao from the local market and headed home for the night.

Side note:  So far the heat and humidity have been pretty bad, but once you get hot, you're fine. You just have to realize that you're going to be perpetually sweaty and pink. Drinking lots of water is imperative, as you need as much as you can get.

-Becca