Bangkok - Day 1 (continued)

Ahhhhhh....Coffee and free WiFi...how I love thee....

So, after trekking through another neighborhood and trying to follow our maps, we finally made it to the block that is the Grand Palace grounds. Now, at the Grand Palace, they are very strict about dress code - no shorts, no tank tops, and nothing that the sorority-set wears for "Girls Gone Wild." So, of course, Chris was out of compliance. But, no fear, we knew that they would let you borrow clothes inside. What we hadn't counted on was the local scam artists dressed in official looking clothes standing on the corner and trying to force you to go to their tailor shops to purchase another outfit OR yelling at you that the Grand Palace was closed but they could take you to this amazing standing Buddha. Thankfully, we knew enough to just keep walking to the actual entrance. We figured if there was really a problem the men with machine guns would let us know.

We got in, Chris borrowed some pants, and we began exploring the amazing complex. For anyone who has never been, it is impossible to imagine just how big and shiny this place is. The biggest draw for most people is the Emerald Buddha. I really appreciated how peaceful the temple here was, despite being full of tourists and practitioners. We wandered for quite awhile before deciding it was time for lunch and a dose of a/c. Thankfully, there was an Au Bon Pair across the street. I realize that it sounds crazy to eat at an american chain while in Bangkok, but you can never underestimate the draw of a/c on a sweltering day. (OK - time for breakfast...I'll finish later :-)

Bangkok - Day 1

Of course, the first order of the day was to find some coffee. One of the only nice things about staying in a really touristy place is that you know finding a latte will be easy. For us, it was painless. Just outside our hotel lobby is a place called Coffee World. They serve great drinks and have free wifi. Perfect. Buddy Lodge provides breakfast tickets for its guests, so we decided to give it a try. We were a little surprised to find the breakfast set up in an Irish pub, but what have you got lose from free food? It was much better than we anticipated. Once we were caffeinated and fed, we set out to find ourselves a wat. We had a decent map in our travel books and a touristy map, so, really, how hard could it be? I mean, everything looks so close! And that was our first mistake...

Turns out, the English names for Thai streets vary widely, traffic is a nightmare with crosswalks holding no sway over the drivers, and climate acclimation is not something to sneeze at. After a year on the tundra, Bangkok is hot! We meandered down the streets that seemed right and found a neighborhood school and temple. It was very peaceful seeing the monks in their saffron robes going about their duties or gathered in classes. This was the first place someone mentioned the "Standing Buddha" that we just had to see. We hadn't heard of it, so we just kept on wandering. We finally found a main road and were able to get our bearings. We looked into the National Gallery, but we decided to move across the street to the National Museum, instead (artifacts instead of paintings). Of course, crossing the street meant walking a block and going under the main road. Here, we were stopped by a tuk-tuk driver and offered a ride to this amazing standing Buddha. We just kept walking. We made it to the museum and took full advantage of the air conditioned gift shop as our first stop. Once we were cooled down, we wandered. The museum was a great intro to Thailand's history and culture. Unfortunately, most of the exhibit halls merely used fans to circulate hot air. On the upside, an air conditioned Hagen-Dahz stand was waiting for us at the exit.

Once we spent a little more quality time with our map, we plodded on to the Grand Palace. (To be continued...after I've bought more internet time :-)

Thailand - Arrival

After a 13 hour flight, a 4 hour layover in Tokyo, and another 6 1/2 hour flight, we finally made it in to Bangkok around midnight. We took a shuttle from the plane to the terminal (a first for us), and quickly made our way through immigration and customs. A short cab ride brought us to the infamous Khao San Road and our hotel - Buddy Lodge. The road is closed off to cars most of the time, so we were all grateful that we packed lightly. The trek to the other end of the road and our destination was the stereotypical Thailand backpacker scene. Lots of dreadlocked hippies, drunken frat daddys and scantily-clad girls. We finally saw our bright yellow sign above the golden arches and got ourselves a room. Since Jason is with us on this leg of our journey, we simply got an extra bed for our room, and the 3 of us crashed.