Before coming to Bangkok I did some research into things to do and places to visit around Bangkok and discovered that the bridge over the river Kwai is not too far and it can be done in a one day excursion... but decided to have a backup plan just in case...so I got in touch with my Bangkok expert, Susana. She lived in Bangkok for more than half a year so who better to ask? :-)
She gave me a few recommendations, I checked where all of them were in order to get a sense of how far and how long it would take to visit them.
As yesterday I was very tired I didn't fancy spending today running around all day catching trains, taxis, tuk tuks and whatnot so I went into my back up plan and opted to visit one of Susana's recommendations, the Grand Palace and another nearby temple Wat Pho (The reclining buda).
My original plan was to get up early to avoid the midday sun, take the BTS (overground) towards the centre and then a taxi.
As I walked down the street from my hotel I couldn't help to notice the amazing electrical installation.
You can hear the electricity buzzing as you walk by... it's also wise to look for hunging cables and try not to hit them with you head as you walk through...
Also very handy in case of a heart attack... just pull from one of the cables and you'll be good to go in no time. :-)
You may think this is just a one off thing... but no... the whole town is wired this way!
As I got out of the BTS I stopped a taxi and I got really lucky as my taxi driver not only understood where I wanted to go , remember they can't read latin characters so I asked earlier how the place I was going was called and repeated it to the taxi driver, he afirmed with his head and signal me to get in... and for my amazement he put the taxi-meter on!!!
Usually taxi drivers try to rip you off ... not as much as in Egypt though... they prefer not to put the taxi-meter on and just tell you how much they are going to charge you (usually 4-5 times the real price) and it's up to you whether you take it or not.
I must have found the only honest taxi driver in Bangkok!!! a pity he couldn't speak english otherwise I would've asked him for his card and used him every time...
Anyway, I digress...
Between breakfast, the BTS, the taxi etc... I got there at 11:30 not 9:30 as I was hoping... although the extra sleep felt really good.
The taxi fare was 78 Bath (a couple of euros). Remember this figure because I'll come back to it...
As there was a lot of traffic and we were sitting on it I told him I would do the rest walking as we were already on one of the sides of the Wat Pho temple... what I didn't know is that there was only one entry and it was on the opposite side of where I was so I had to walk for 30 minutes under the scorching midday sun until I found the main gate...
I this point I already had drunk the half a litre of water I brought with me...
The reclining Buddha was in the temple right in the centre of the whole complex.
Every door to every temple is guarded by two warrior statues like below
Normally before entering a Buddhist temple you leave your shoes outside but in this case they had this handy carry bags so you just stick you shoes in it and take it with you inside so you don't find yourself wondering who and why did they steal your old sandals at the entrance.
The reclining Buddha is 46 metres long and all the walls are decorated by many murals
Despite of the 46 metres it was still difficult to walk with so many people
The head and the body are not very impressive...
but the feet were another thing altogether
And these are some of the surronding areas of the temple...
Some of the warriors guarding the doors were quite impressive in the detail
Looks like the Thai Massage was already popular back in the day...
And more guardians
By now I was completely dihydrated but there was a nice coffee shop by the exit so a good lemonade and a new bottle of water allowed me to continue the visit to the Grand Palace ... but that will go in the next post as this one is getting too long... due to the many pictures...
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