Today was a day about taking it all in. I enjoyed going to many of the more popular tourist attractions, but also found some places off the beaten path that provided great opportunities to soak up the local Bangkok flavor.
It seems as though all the pretty cool things happen in Bangkok in the morning, so it was another early morning for me. When I was on my way to the floating market the morning before, I got to see all the monks come out of the monastery holding silver bowls to get their morning breakfast as we drove by. But this morning, I wanted to be among them. It was nice being the only tourist up at that time and I just watched as I tried to figure it all out. I think that the monks were somehow being released based on age (or maybe seniority) so that the older monks could get to the vendors first. They wandered the streets and food vendors offered up what they had, exchanged some words and a bow and placed the offering into the silver bowl. I definitely want to learn more about the significance of everything. Of course on my way back to my hotel, I grabbed a morning coconut.
After a quick nap and some exploration of my hotel’s adorable pool and garden area, I headed out to venture to some of the tourist attractions. I started walking, but then a tuk tuk driver sold me with the locations he told me he would take me to. The first stop was the Golden Mountain, a large temple that has a 360 degree view of the city when you climb to the top. It was nice to have a better understanding of the city’s layout by looking at it from above.
Next, we headed to the marble temple, which had very intricate designs on the ground’s floors. I also got to see a group of monks chanting. From my understanding, when someone gives an offering (such as boxes of first aid supplies), they get the appropriate number of monks together and thank the donor. I really need to read up on this, though, because it is all so interesting and intriguing to me and you can only learn so much through watching when everything is spoken in another language.
Next, I got dropped off at the Grand Palace. It was beautiful, but very busy and swarming with tourists, so I decided not to go in and see it and instead venture on. Along the street (as in most of Bangkok) were vendors selling different goods, so I stopped for a quick pomegranate juice for my walk.
My parents were asking if I had been impacted by the flooding at all. Bangkok had a pretty bad rainstorm my first night, but is only preparing for the future since they are expecting to get a lot more rain in the upcoming weeks. When I was driving to the floating market, you could see the impact of the high waters since the areas outside Bangkok are at a lower elevation, but my hotel had only taken precautions by lining the sidewalks with sandbags. It was very interesting, though, to walk along the canal in Bangkok and see the effects of the recent rainstorms that increased the water level. Tourists catching boats along the canal had to wade through high water to get to the platform.
Next was the Wat Pho Temple which featured very intricate concrete statues and detailed buildings.
I made it to Bangkok’s Chinatown which was a very hard-working marketplace selling all types of goods. There were not many tourists at all and I felt as though my meandering pace while looking at everything was getting in the way of everyone trying to get their business done. Just beyond Chinatown, I found a pier that had an amazing lookout of Wat Arun and after seeing it, I decided that is where I wanted to head next.
I ventured across the Memorial Bridge which connected both sides of the canal and just after the bridge spotted a temple, so decided to take a look. I found the coolest area (an old cemetery) which housed a small lake that was full of turtles. When I was about to leave, I struck up a conversation with a man who had a very interesting perspective on life.
I had been wondering if the people of Thailand mind being in a place where tourists seem to be the center of attention. This man happened to be a lifelong tour guide who took so much pride in his work. He was telling me that he loved the challenge of trying to gauge what motivated all of his clients to keep them interested and intrigued while on the tour. Tourism was always part of his life because he grew up and paid for his high school education through selling postcards at a local temple (the name of which was not familiar). He also credited that experience with helping him to learn English. I am not sure that all of the Thai would have a similar view of tourists, but it was great to know that at least some of the people appreciate having us in their country.
We talked for quite a while and I learned that he started with a career in banking after following his father’s dreams for him, but decided to be a tour guide instead because as he said “in the temple is where I am happiest” and it allowed him more free time and flexibility to do the things he wanted. I also learned that he grew up in a very poor family and worked from a young age to support his siblings and parents. He said that he could not have wished of being so lucky because coming from nothing drove him to work for something more. What an amazing outlook and attitude. Since he said that many tourists don’t get to see the real Bangkok because they are so fixated on going to the most popular sites, he told me that I had to go to the biggest sitting Buddha in Bangkok, which was a ten minute walk from where we were. I was skeptical that it was going to indeed be the largest Buddha until I saw it.
Wat Arun was my next stop, but I unfortunately could not find my way walking, so had to get a tuk tuk since everything looked so much closer on the map than it actually was. The stairs to climb to the top were so steep, but it was totally worth it to be able to see the view from above and all the complex stone work.
My time in Bangkok came full circle since my night ended with dinner (chicken pad thai) on Khao San Road, which is where my first night in Bangkok began. And of course I just HAD to get a foot massage before I left (one must support the local economy).
