We decided to take an Uber to the Buddha, as it was over an hour walk. Normally not a problem for us, we like to walk and explore at the same time, however, we hadn’t dealt with the jetlag properly yet and didn’t wake until 11am!!!
It took about 35 mins, again weaving in and out of traffic. Experiencing the roads of Bangkok is something I won’t forget. I honestly don’t believe I could drive there, I probably wouldn’t even be willing to try. The journey costs 139 baht, that is like £2.50, utter madness, we gave him a bit more as a tip.
So, we get to Wat Pho, and pay our way in, an absolute steal at 100 baht plus a free bottle of water (which was very much needed!). This place is impressive, such beautiful structures. The colours are stunning. There are also lots of different style buddhas and statues around with some fantastic facial expressions. The first large Buddha we came to, was stunning and had many people meditating around it and offering gifts. Due to not doing much research we thought it was the Reclining Buddha, so we sat and took a moment and both felt rather underwhelmed. After all it was the number one thing to do in Bangkok. Sarah piped up that she was confused that the Buddha wasn't reclining. Anyhow, we continued to explore.
Turns out it wasn’t the Reclining Buddha, we found the Reclining Buddha, yep we did, and I think due to thinking we’d found it earlier, we were blown away. It was huge! It barely fit in the temple! And was actually reclining, go figure :D.
Was such an incredible thing to see. The Buddha was built in 1832 by Rama III and is 15m high and 46 long, spectacular. There are 108 bronze pots inside the temple where it appears to be good luck to change money into small coins and put one inside each pot. This creates a fascinating noise throughout and outside the temple, just add something special to the whole experience. We spent little over an hour at Wat Pho, I highly recommend it, if you ever visit Bangkok.
Next it was time to see some water. I love water. Not sure what it is about it, might be the sound it makes, but I find it rather relaxing. So, I could see on the map that we were close to the river, so we decided to head there. While attempting to get to the shoreline, we ended up in a bar, don’t you just love happy accidents? We decided to take a break and have a drink. Turns out the bar was directly on the river and had a great view of the Wat Arun (Temple of the Dawn).
We did a bit of research whilst we were at the bar and realised we weren’t far from the Flower Market, so we drank up and headed off in search of some flower power.
Neither of us is still convinced we found it, there were people selling flowers, beautiful brightly coloured flowers, but it looked nothing like the pictures in the brochure (Google images ). It was a fascinating place though. It was like a lot of the industrial / market areas we saw; they look like they're in complete disorder. Or would I class it as chaos? I can see some structure though, so perhaps they're more complex. The way somethings worked was obvious, but interwoven in the complicated (Just for you that Martin/Vernon ). But amongst all this is contentment and people just getting on with it. It was a hive of activity though, incredible produce for sale, fruits and vegetables I’d never seen before, some I didn’t even know their name. Still don’t.
We then looked at heading back to our district and thanks to the awesomeness of Google Maps, we discovered the quickest way back was to get a boat! “I’m on a boat mot$%^@££$”. Sorry about that, it just happens when I say the word boat, “I’m…NO!”. So, we boarded and enjoyed a short cruise down the river, and took the opportunity to take some pictures of Bangkok from the water. The journey for two was less than a pound, so I would recommend this if you're visiting, you get to see a lot of the city for your money.
It’s turns out our stop was right next to the state tower, the home of the Lebua hotel which featured in the film Hangover 2. Google informed us that there was a Sky Bar here, the highest open air bar in the world! So, we thought, 'let’s have a drink'. After some enquires we make our way to the lift, where a very polite gentleman calls the lift for us and in we get. Few more people get in on the way to the top floor, including what turns out to be a member of staff to the Sky Bar. As we get to the top floor and the doors open she asked us if we’re heading to the Sky Bar, to which we respond yes, and she very politely goes, oh we have a dress code. I look down at me shorts and walking boots, while thinking, is there a problem here? Turns out there was, I, my clothes were the problem. Apparently, I needed trousers, and a shirt. Sarah had trousers and sandals and could have stayed, but she decided against it :D. We’re going to try and go back there next week as we have a few more nights in Bangkok before heading to Sydney.
The night ended with a stroll to get some food. We headed to Patpong Night Market. Turns out the name of the market is only 50% correct. You could argue it should be called the Ping-Pong Market, as we must have been asked a dozen times if we wanted to see a Ping-Pong sex show!! For the record, we didn’t go. I've spoken to people who have been and there are some things you just can't unsee! The market was good, but much like all the other markets, just at night.
Next things took an odd turn. Or to be more accurate, we took a wrong turn! We ended walking down a street lined with what can only be described as gangs of prostitutes. A street which, rather oddly as we turned on to it, a Thai man informed us this "is for the Japanese only", we ignored him. The whole road was full of establishments with 10-20 women outside. Then whomever was in charge had a card with the faces of the ladies on, to help you choose perhaps. It felt plain wrong, proper seedy! A spot of power walking got us of this street sharpish. We found some food, had a beer, and called it a night.
Next up we head north to Chang Mai.
If you use 'the gram', then we'll be posting pictures on there using #friendlytravellers.
