Friday, March 15, 2019

After our quick cat nap, I woke up caffeine deprived but ready to take on Thailand. We had to be on the bus at 9:00 AM – and this is where I really shine. Despite the lack of sleep, I refuse to be late. I made Andy set two alarms – because I didn’t want to miss a single moment.

The breakfast is complimentary at our hotel – and it puts USA hotels free breakfast to shame. I naturally gorged myself on fresh fruit (no pineapple this time – looking at you Mark), but had some amazing watermelon, mango, cantaloupe, and I dabbled with dragonfruit. (YUM!)

We met the full group in the lobby – there should have been 18 of us, but one duo didn’t show up. (Still not sure why – maybe they overslept?) The rest of the group was really great – and it seems like everyone will get along pretty well.

Our first stop was this temple that has a giant Buddha made out of solid gold. (Wat Traimit houses the world’s largest massive gold seated Buddha measuring nearly five metres in height and weighing five and a half tons). Bangkok has roughly 400 temples in total.

Andy will post pictures of this later so you can understand how large it truly is. One thing that I researched quite a bit before we left on our trip was the attire for temples was very strict. Men and women needed to cover their knees (sometimes all the way down to their ankles depending on the temple) and had to cover their shoulders. This can really stifle someone’s wardrobe choices – and considering it was forecasted to be a balmy 95 degrees I had picked out a few temple outfits.

You were also expected to take off your shoes at each temple, your hat, and sunglasses as well. A little gross from a foot fungus standpoint, but we knew what we were getting into.

The temples were very cool – and even though I don’t know much about Buddhism it was very interesting to experience. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

After leaving the first temple, we went over the the Temple of the Reclining Buddha (Wat Pho). I will be the first to admit, the United States has really ruined us globally. Our tour guide was telling us it was so many meters high and 46 meters long – and I was thinking – cool story, right? Uhm no, it was MASSIVE. So big you couldn’t capture it all in one photograph.

(You can see how massive this reclining Buddha is. He was photobombing our selfie).

I think that part was the most pleasing – just caught us by surprise. Everything is so meticulously crafted in these temples – mosaic tiles – gold – different gems and stones. Just wonderful.

And so many Buddhas. And these are not the Buddhas we are used to – these aren’t a jovial fat man – they are lean. They have four different types: sitting, standing, walking, and reclined. And we saw some of each type.

Yui had mentioned that Affordable World (the company we are traveling with) has massage therapists on staff, and that we could get a better deal through them if we wanted get a massage. I had heard from many people who had gone to Thailand before who said their only regret was NOT getting a massage each day. So yeah, I’m game. We would each get an hour long massage for $17 a person – and that number included the tip.

The large group had lunch together – and then there were eight of us that opted in for the optional tour, which took us to the Grand Palace and on a river tour.

The Grand Palace was packed – but very beautiful. This is also where the Emerald Buddha is housed – this temple is the most important and sacred in Thailand. It’s thought to have been made in the 15th century and was the cause of several wars before ending up for good in Bangkok in 1782. Photography is not allowed – and I can assure you, the Emerald Buddha is much smaller than the Reclining Buddha – you can’t just about miss it!

We were all a little warm at this point – and tired of getting mowed over by other tour groups. We sought reprieve in the AC on our tour bus. We got dropped off at the pier and got a few minutes to relax.

The boat tour was fun – we got on this rickety looking boat – the Thai people’s version of docking a boat is not a very safe one in my eyes. Andy hopped on first – and I took one look at the set up and realized that there was a strong likelihood I would end up in the water. With a little help we all safely boarded. The boat took us down a canal – and there is a spot where the Thai people (And of course hundreds of tourists each year) throw bread over the side of the boat for good luck. Feeding the fish is considered good luck. These fish come out of no where when they see that the boat has stopped.

I was throwing small chunks in – and Andy was taking pictures of the whole spectacle. Youi told me that for an extra blessing I should throw in the whole bun – I figured she meant that they would splash me, but hey! Why not try it? I did – and they went into a frenzy. They were all trying to eat it at once, but were unable to get it from the others. I took her lead and threw one whole bun in – and this time I got my extra “blessing” from the fish.

The rest of the boat ride got a little bit more bumpy – and because Andy and I had gotten seats towards the front of the boat we got plenty of extra “blessings” from hitting wave after wave. We were good sports about it. At this point, our feet were really starting to hurt from all of the walking and we were relieved that this was the rest of the tour for today.

At this point we got dropped back off at our hotel – when we looked at the time we realized we really only had an hour before our massage. We had heard from another girl in the group that she had gone to a mall/place with a bunch of restaurants called Terminal 21. I had misunderstood and thought it was a 10 minute walk, I’m glad we asked the concierge because it turned out that it was a bus or train ride away. That seriously limited our options. We were running out of time – so we ended up just eating at a Thai restaurant on the property. It was next to the pool and we were the only ones sitting outside.

It’s massage time. Can’t wait! Maybe I will get a massage each day I’m in Thailand!

Logistics:

Golden Buddha (Wat Trimtir)

Reclining Buddha (Wat Pho)

Grand Palace

Emerald Buddha (Wat Phra Kaew)

Boat tour (Drove past Temple of Dawn – Wat Arun)

Tomorrow:

Floating Market

Thai Dinner + Traditional Dance Show