Thailand: Part 4 - More Than One Night in Bangkok

Patrick and I grappled with the task of remembering the lyrics to the song "One Night In Bangkok" through out our entire time in Bangkok. We never quite came up with the right lyrics but had some good laughs making up our own.

We stayed at the lovely Arun Residence, which is located near old part of Bangkok, the Grand Palace and Wat Pho. It's named for the temple that sits across the river. The views of Wat Arun were stunning, especially at night (as seen below). The hotel is quite small hosting only 7 quaint rooms but does have a fancy restaurant(The Deck) and bar(Amorosa) that see more traffic interested in the lavish views. We arrived later in the evening and opted to have dinner at the Deck.

Upon entering the restaurant, we felt a slight jolt back into western civilization. Most of the romantic dining patrons seemed to be from other western origins (Europe, England, etc). As we sat down heads spun around, shocked that we were sitting down. We definitely got some ugly looks for having a baby with us - perhaps it was the late hour or just that the restaurant was not perceived as a baby friendly location. But people gotta eat after a long day of travel...so, we ignored them.

Overall, we felt the Deck was a bit overpriced. Food was good but cost substantially more than it should have. Some of the entrees (priced at 450 Baht - $15) cost as much as American restaurants. By Thai standards this is absurd. Really in the end, I think we ate better food other places that cost maybe 30 - 60 Baht ($1 - 2).

The next morning after breakfast on the Deck (included with the room), we headed out to visit the Grand Palace. Here is a typical street scene near our hotel. (Note: the street is flooded, as it IS the tail end of monsoon season)
Outside the Grand Palace, which priviously served at the royal residence for the Kings of Thailand, there is a garment check station. Yes, there were people being turned away for inappropriate dress. They may have had some loaner garments available to help guest cover up, as we saw a large number of patrons wearing the same purple Thai style pants or long Thai sarongs - all matching.
Grand Palace is also home to Wat Phra Kaew (Temple of the Emerald Buddha). Above are couple Wikipedia images of the Emerald Buddha, one of Thailand most precious and important objects. Pictures are forbidden in the sacred hall where the Emerald Buddha is located thus I've used images from other sources here. (Image on the left shows the small Buddha enshrined within it's ornate alter and close up image on the right) Apparently, the Emerald Buddha is made out of Jadeite though the it was originally believed that the carving was emerald when it "surfaced" in the 1400s. It also has 3 golden garment sets that the King changes during 3 seasonal ceremonies; one for hot season(Emerald Buddha wears Summer Season attire above), rainy season and cool season.
Thotkhirithon or giant demon figures standing guard.
Patrick standing at the base of Phra Sri Rattana Chedi

Every inch of the palace grounds, temple and accompanying buildings (inside and out!) are layered with intricate detailed embellishments. Gilded hand-painted murals extend along huge walls depicting various scenes from the Ramakian (the Thai equivalent to the Ramayana). The mirrored and glimmering tile work is fantastical and other worldly.
Of course, with all the insane beauty surrounding him, Alston chooses to obsess over flowers!!

A scene almost like Disney World.

That evening we hit Khao San road, which had been deemed the backpackers haven and is usually popular with budget travelers and offers lots of great cheap eats. There is a section of a few blocks which has been closed off to car traffic and functions like a pedestrian mall. We strolled around here and neighboring streets for the evening. Dinner was in a hole in the wall Indian restaurant, Roti-Mataba not far from Khao San.
While in Thailand we learned of a new phenomenon - FISH SPA! When we were in Chiang Mai, Robin had pointed out a swanky fish spa in upscale building with a glass wall that overlooked the shopping district. We'd had never heard of this before but apparently it's sweeping the world! What is Fish Spa you ask??
It's a foot spa treatment that uses...YES, FISH to remove dead skin from your feet and calves. Essentially, it's like sticking your feet in a giant aquarium and letting the fish nibble at you. As wacky as it sounds this trend is really taking over. We did not opt for a full spa treatment but did find one spa to enticed us to try a brief "hand massage" and permit us to dip our hand in the "spa" tank for a minute or two. (note: above image shows spa bench where you would sit with feet dangling into fish tank)
Not sure we were racing to book a longer treatment but we did find that this controversial spa trend is hitting the US (click to watch AP video on Alexandria, VA based spa). There is even apparently a nail salon in Oakland with fish pedicures.

Breakfasts on the Deck proved to be a great way to start the day. Especially, when they feature vibrant and taste dragon fruit. Alston enjoyed watching the boats cruise on the river too.

Day 2 in Bankok - WAT time! Wat Pho is location of the world reknown reclining Buddha. Well, there are other reclining Buddhas but when people talk about THE reclining Buddha they mean this one, which is the largest in all of Thailand. The stature measures 46 meters long and 15 meters tall and is covered with gold plating with inlaid mother of pearl on the feet.
There are apparently over a thousand images of Buddha located at Wat Pho.

And a stone pig that we spotted in the garden. It reminded me of this boar that we saw earlier on our trip in Koh Samet that popped out and startled us when walking one afternoon.

We checked out the Siam Square shopping district too. We road the water taxi down the river and then took the skytrain there.
This part of Bangkok feels like many industrialized cities we have visited. Though I will say the malls here are over the top - huge, packed with fancy shops and extensive food courts with GREAT food. Below is an image of one of the malls. To be honest, I can't remember which one because there were 4 HUGE malls right in a row. Mall of America has nothing on Bangkok's malls!

While in the Siam Square 7-11 picking up diapers, we ran into a couple of young ladies who were quite excited to meet Alston. Mostly because they had a "baby" too. I could only laugh when the girl gestured between Alston and her monkey saying "same".

Our last day, we hit the Chatuchak weekend market before going to the airport. We had read numerous reviews that said this market was phenomenal but overwhelming - emphasis on OVERWHELMING. This market is soooo enormous that there is a map.
The map does not even give a sense of how densely packed the vendor stalls are here. It is a crowded maze. I'm still amazed we made it home! Here is a picture down a row of stalls just as the market is closing.
Nancy Chandler has the best maps available for Bangkok, which includes a more useful map of the market with detailed merchandise locations.(Note: Nancy Chandler also makes a great Chiang Mai map too!) Fortunately, Patrick and I were expecting the worst shopping chaos of our lives - so we found the market to be reasonable. Overwhelming - yes but manageable. We decided to hit only a few areas that we thought might be appealing to us (clothing, musical instruments and shadow puppets were on my list). We saw lots of interesting goods. Sadly, though I never did find the shadow puppets. I suspect that vendor either changed location or stopped selling all together. We did find some unexpected things too. In the pet shop area:
Naked baby bunnies or fashionably dressed baby bunnies??? Cute but kinda wrong???
This was just the tip of the iceberg. Lots of oddities. Overall, a fun time. Especially, VIVA!!! Viva is a juice stand/coffee shop/bar. It's an oasis tucked in amidst the jumbled labyrinth. There are 2 of them at sort of either end of the market. It was a comforting open spot to rest. I can only image how busy Viva and the entire market is during high season. Some areas were difficult pass through due to the crowds of people and most walk ways are only two or three people wide. So glad, it was low season!

After our long day of shopping, we raced back through a monsoon to our hotel to collect our bags and head to the airport. Leave it to the stupid tourists to not have an umbrella. I can't remember the last time I ran through a downpour like this. The kind where you are just so wet that you just don't even worry about it any more. If we'd had more time I might have splashed in the puddles more. It was a humorous end to our time in Bangkok and Thailand....
then there was the almost 30 hours to actually get home.