Blllahhhhhh I stupidly woke up with a cold. Suckkkkks - but when in Thailand, see Thailand! Our first stop for the day was the Grand Palace. We had somewhat of a slow start to the day as usual, so when we got there, the first order of business was obviously food. Right there in the middle of bangkok chaos between street vendors and tuk tuks was a Au Bon Pain. For some reason thats what we chose for breakfast....Anyway got some OJ to stock up on vitamins for the rest of the day. The contrast between the serenity of the cafe in contrast to the street was quite interesting - definitely an experience worth having.
The Grand Palace is incredible. It is a complex of temples, residences, and government buildings. Historically this is the location of where the King of Siam resides, however, these days the current King, Rama IX , lives at another royal complex not too far away. Anyways, the palace is beautiful, and extremely difficult to put into words: Vibrant Colours. Complex patterns. Intricate mosaic. This complex is also very interesting because the influence of other cultures such as chinese, english and indian on thailand is very obvious. The opulence here is exaggerated, but beautiful.
From there we ventured over to the river for a ride through the canals. This was an opportunity to see how many people in the region live. Here is a comparison of the two extremes that exist in Thailand currently:
Along the river we stopped at two other temples: Wat Arun, and Wat Pho. At Wat Arun you can actually climb up the temple through a series of very very steep steps. I got about halfway up until I realized all of a sudden I was terrible fearful of heights! Who knew. Just on the other side of the river is Wat Pho. This is where the Big Buddha lies. It is a huge gold leaf buddha lying on its side inside of a temple.
Wat Pho is also known for its Thai Massage Medical School. So of course since we were there we went for our first massage of the trip. Thai massage is very different than swedish massage typically found at the fancy spas at home. Thai massage is a combination of stretching and putting force on pressure points, while massaging at the same time. Most of the time is is kinda paintful, but at the end you feel really relaxed and spaghetti like.
Next we headed to a mega mall called MBK. There we met up with Annie! Exactly, how crazy is it that I haven't seen Annie in over a year, and the place we are able to meet up in is Bangkok and not Toronto? It is so nice to see her and I am really glad she can tag along with us for a few days while we are here.
My mom, Annie and I looked around the mall a bit while Brad and dad went back to have a fitting for their suits - we will meet them at a restaurant for dinner later. But getting to that restaurant posed to be a challenge. Here, many of the taxi drivers refuse to put on their meters for foreigners . They know they can get more money if they ask for a total sum for the ride. But I am sorry, we are not going to pay 250 baht, when the actual ride is only worth 50 baht. Anyway trying to find a taxi driver willing to drive us to the restaurant (near Khao San Rd) was difficult, especially because we were at a place with many tourists. Eventually we settled on a tuk tuk ride for 150 baht. The only problem was that our driver didn't really know where he was going. So instead of taking us to our final destination, he dropped us off on a grand boulevard fairly close. Although close, we had no idea where the restaurant was. In actuality it was about a 15 minute walk, but our quest to find it took a lot longer. Luckily Annie had her guide book with her, which increased our chances in finding it - maps usually help, but basically we just continued to ask people on the street where is was until eventually we found it. We were about 45 minutes late for our dinner reservation, which was almost ideal, because Bradley and Dad were equally late because their fitting ran long.The meal ended up being a bust. Not terribly good food, but it was just a meal, oh well.
A small street food booth we encountered on our way back from the restaurant to Khao San rd.
Afterwards we took a stroll down Khao San Rd - which is essentially a tourist rd. It caters to backpackers and vacationers looking for a place to party, eat, drink, and shop. Regardless, it had an energetic vibe that resembled that of the rest of bangkok.