Thailand: Touring Bangkok as a Zombie, including Wat Pho

Okay, going backwards a bit. I posted the elephants pictures first because my mom wanted me to. These photos are from our first day in Thailand. We arrived early that morning at 6:00 AM. The flight was overnight and I got no sleep due to a combination of things. It was a little over 6 hours to fly there from Osaka. It was so early that we couldn't check into our hotel or even leave our luggage. We sat in the airport for about an hour and got our bearings and then headed to the hotel. It was about 8 when we arrived there. We dumped off our bag and then headed to the only place that seemed to be open, a park, Lumbini park. I work at a school with this same name, minus the word "park", in Japan. I have been told it's the place where Budda was born. I have no pictures from the morning events as I left my camera battery in my bag at the hotel because it had been charging the night before in Japan and I had forgotten to remove it from the charger. Well, at least I packed it. Anyway, I want to tell the story anyway without photos. The photos you see here are from many, many hours later in the day after we'd checked into the hotel.

My first impression of Thailand was a bit scary. We flew into Bangkok, and I was wise enough to know this wasn't somewhere I wanted to stick around at, so basically we had the 1st day there to have a brief look around and then the next day we were flying out to Chiang Mai. On the taxi ride in I saw many hookers on the street. The sun had only come up a few minutes ago. I wasn't shocked, but yet I was. We weren't passing through the nightlife district or anything. We took the subway to Lumbini park from our hotel. The subway was suprisingly clean and efficient. The street outside wasn't so clean, so I wasn't expecting so much from the subway. It was cheap too and you bought a plastic token instead of a ticket. The park was crowded. Many people were doing Tai Chi in the park. Loads of old people especially. It wasn't a particularly pretty park. There was lots of trash. Not any more than some parts of the US. I used to live in Memphis and I didn't think this park was much worse. By the time we got to the park we started feeling so so sleepy. We sat on a bench. I wanted to sleep, but that wouldn't be wise. Plus the bench was really uncomfortable. We were really fighting sleep at this point. I wished for a love hotel. In Japan you can rent for as little as an hour. I just wanted a nap so badly. I started to accidently doz off and I got awakened by Markian tapping me and telling me to stand up. I was so sleepy and out of it. Everyone stands for the anthem which is broadcast on speakers in big cities in Thailand. I knew that before I got there because I read my guide book, but I was confused when I woke up. Everyone stopped everything. The Thai Chi, the chatting, walking their dogs. It was like someone pressed the pause button on a remote control.

Soon after that we decided to find food. Maybe this combined with lack of sleep was why we felt crappy. I found an Egyptian place (yeah I know, strange thing to have as my first meal in Thailand) in my guidebook that served breakfast. It was still too early for lunch.

We made it to the next train station correctly. It's easier to get around in Bangkok than in Tokyo. We found the restaurant and enjoyed some falfel and hummus. I was so happy. I haven't eatten this stuff since I was back in the states! It was insanely cheap too. I didn't eat much since I still felt weird from no sleep, and I was afraid of my first meal making me sick since you hear so much about people having stomach issues in Thailand. Anyway, it didn't. The food was good and safe. After that we decided to go shopping for a bathingsuit, since I didn't have one and the second half of the trip would be at the beach. Four hours and thirty dollars later, I had a swimsuit. Nothing fit right, so it took too long and I was tired and irritated.

Then we decided to see one thing in Bangkok I did care about seeing before it was too late, Wat Pho. That's what all the pictures you see in the this post. It's known for the massage school at the temple that gives 1 hour thai massages for about $7.00. You can't beat that. I had never had a real massage, and I was extremely tired and irritated, so I thought this would be a good place to visit to relax. I also wanted to see my first Wat or thai temple. Below you see me at the entrance in front of this really cool statue.



Wat Pho is also known as the "temple of the reclining budda" because there is a HUGE reclining budda inside. The pictures don't do it justice, but I tried anyway. It's so different from the big budda in Nara. Stylistically of course and the materials. Way flashier and shinier. I'm used to the minimal looking zen buddism that I see all the time in Japan. This stuff in Thailand looked way busier. It was like my eyes didn't know where to look. I didn't dislike it though.
Look how elaborately the walls and ceiling are painted. Quite impressive and really beautiful.


Above: Markian looking and feeling tired and wanting to sleep. We were ready for that massage!


The feet were my favorite! The patterns were fantastic and the contrast from the rest of the statue was really nice.
A view of the whole thing from the feet.

The back of the budda.


It was so bright and shiny!
Above: Markian for scale is looking pissed, but really he is just sleep deprived. Some of the photos of me here were so bad I just didn't post them. I needed a shower and sleep.


The stupas were really tall and there were so many. Each was coated with mosaics and very colorful.



A detail of the mosaics can be seen above.

Below: A rose made of tiles.
It was a pretty large complex. The massage was fantastic. We had to wait about 15 minutes cause there was a big line. Thai massages are done completely clothed. Which was good for me considering my fear of getting naked I have expressed in previous blog entries. I enjoyed the massage except for the toe cracking. I hate having stuff popped. A Thai massage is almost like having yoga done to your body. They bend you in every which way. It was fantastic. I highly recommend it! You can do it in the US, but it will cost you a pretty penny.
Above: Markian checking out the complex.
Below: A cat and some young monks.




Yes, I know there is a smudge on the above image. There is a piece of lint in my lens that comes and goes and I never think of going to the electronic store to deal with it when I have time.


And finally back to the first statue with a detail. Wat Pho was nice. If only it was so nice getting back to the hotel from there, but it wasn't. We got ripped off by the cabby who took us there. I wasn't going to let it happen again. We walked for about 1 1/2 hours before finding a cabby who would actually use the meter to take us back. It was rather frustrating especially considering how tired we were. We tried to contact my friend in Thailand without any much luck and then decided to go down to Siam Square, the main downtown area, kinda like Times Square in NY and find dinner. We had a nice dinner at the mall there. We thought it was cheap at the time, but later learned it wasn't. We made so many stupid mistakes on our first day, but we enjoyed it anyway. Lack of sleep makes you crazy like that.