We’re coming to the end of our second day in Bangkok. Here’s what we’ve done so far.
Yesterday:
We took the Skytrain (very modern, like the DC/Amsterdam metro) to the river to get the Chao Phraya River Express, a boat service that runs up and down the river. We planned to take it all the way (40 minutes, 20 baht = about 45 cents) and to incorporate another boat ride, but we just ran out of time so we got off the boat and followed the Chinatown walking tour in our Lonely Planet guide. It was a bit much for me, but Ian liked it. It was extremely crowded and smelly and the polution is really bad. We were going down these little alleyways that were crowded with vendors selling everything under the sun, especially stinky unidentifiable food. A highlight for both of us was the dried, shrunken pig’s face (we took a picture, so you can look forward to seeing it, too).
Shockingly, we were both not terribly jet-lagged. I started falling asleep at dinner, but that’s not bad considering the very long flight and early arrival time that we had (no nap). This morning, we woke up at a normal time and have absolutely no jet-lag. Maybe our homeopathic jet-lag medicine actually worked.
Today we went to the big temples in Bangkok, Wat Phra Kaew and Wat Pho. They’re really beautiful and full of Buddha statues, including one very large one, the reclining Buddha. We both had an hour-long traditional Thai massage, with herbs. We didn’t know what that meant beforehand. Basically, they just steam a bag of herb and then rub it all over you. At the end, if you’re white, you’re now yellow. We still are. We had an interesting tuk-tuk driver on the way, who tried to get us to stop everywhere and said “just look! You look 5 minute, I get petrol coupon. Just one more shop, Papa, just one more!”
Ian had lunch on the street. It was very authentic. He had one bit of something that looked like a shrimp with roach-like legs. He says that the legs were hard. I had to look away for fear of gagging. Now we’ve just had a more palatable dinner and are on our way to who knows where. We haven’t decided yet.
It’s very very hot here. Chiang Mai (leaving on Tuesday night) should be more bearable.
There are little Thai kids next to us here playing internet video games.
That’s all for now.