4 posts tagged “bangkok”

Today was our last day in Bangkok, and so, our last day in Thailand.  Checkout was at noon, so we used every bit of that.  We ate a nice sedate breakfast and relaxed and made sure we could pack everything away easily.  We picked out some clothes for the plane flight and kept them separate.

Our bags could be stored downstairs, so we headed out with just a few bags... the requisite back-pack and the camera bag (that doesn't look like a camera bag).

Next to the night-market was a huge park.  So, after breakfast and a coffee, we checked out the park.  It was quite well appointed, with meandering paths and roadway, and plenty of playground equipment.  Near every playground, there was also free exercise equipment.  Recumbent bicycles, sit-up benches, a peck-deck thing that used your own weight in the seat for resistance.  Pretty cool.  We'd been there about 45 minutes when we saw something swimming in a small water channel.  It sort of looked like a small crocodile.  After rubbing our eyes and having a second look, it proved to be a 2.5m dragon.  HUGE!  Over the course of the afternoon we saw around 10 of them, walking in the park or swimming in the lakes.  Astounding!  We couldn't find a toilet that was open, so instead, we headed for a shopping centre. 

The proved to be a little more difficult than we first expected, but it ended up ok.  We wandered around the shopping centre trying to get Vievey to drop off to sleep in the stroller.  That didn't work so we went outside to the rough cobblestones and she was asleep in minutes.  It was about dinner time, so after a bit of frantic searching, we found a nice Japanese restaurant in, what appeared to be a foodcourt mainly comprised of Japanese restaurants.  Genevieve woke up so we headed back to the apartment building, through the park.  By that stage it was full of people jogging, exercising and playing various sports, include a curious volleyball played entirely by kicking only, with a wicker ball.  Amazing to watch.

When we got back, they let us all have a shower in the gym, and then we bid our farewells and cabbed it to the airport.  Again, the freeways were pretty amazing and the cab driver was a leadfoot, which didn't help. 

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So today it was take two for the Palace and reclining Buddha.  (Yes, we double-checked with the reception desk, as well as voicing our disappointment that we weren't informed about yesterday).

Again, we took an Express Ferry up the river.  Today, I noticed a few workers unloading barges full of water hyacinth - pretty futile, but had to be done I guess.

We thought we'd hit the reclining Buddha first, and then the palace.  The location of the reclining Buddha has many, many temples and other structures in its grounds.  In some ways, it eclipses the Royal Palace grounds in splendour - but particularly in detail and adournment. There were plenty of tourists, and plenty of schoolkids checking them out.  (The schoolkids seemed to give an indication of the money that's in Bangkok - although all dressed the same, the keen eye could see some money in shoes, watches, jewellery, backpacks, iPods, cameras and other bling).

So, after checking out a few, we ventured to the reclining Buddha. As with all other temples we visited, there were racks where you could doff and store your shoes, which we did.  You enter at the head end, and slowly file down past to the feet.  The thing is... gotta say... fahreekin huge.  I mean... literally enourmous.  It's nigh-on-impossible to get it in one camera shot.  Alongside the corridor next to the buddha were hundreds of metal pots.  You could pay a small fee, and get a cup of coins so that you could place a coin in each pot, as you walked down.  This kept Genevieve amused... well... at least for 2 minutes anyway!  (The reverence and meaning of putting the coins in was diminshed slightly when a woman with a big trolley came up behind us, emptying all of the pots again, so that the cups could be filled to go around again).

We looked at a few other things, but really, we thought we'd keep moving and check out the Palace.

After a 15 min walk (VV in the stroller) we were at the gates, and then, in the Palace.  They didn't seem to be too stringent on the dresscode, however we showed our reverence by having sleeves and long pants. The grounds were pristine and there were soldiers in the finest all over the place.  Many of the buildings you could go inside did not allow photographs, but that didn't matter, as there was enough beauty outside to satisfy.  Gold, especially, was all over the place, as well as moziacs, monkey-gods and even a huge belfry with a gold bell at the top.  There was also one temple being refurbished, which was interesting to watch. We saw the Jade Buddha, which is tiny, seated atop a huge platform adorned with all sorts of designs and carvings.  This is one of the most holy places in Thailand.

After the palace, we grabbed a cab and went to Pantip Plaza, which is the 'technology' marketplace.  Basically, heap and heaps and heaps of crap again and again, and a few good shops/bargains scattered here and there.  I got some batteries, memory and a few accesories for the cameras.  Naomi is very happy to leave.

As we only had a few days in Bangkok, we had to do a modicum of planning. I went down to the reception desk on the evening of the day when we arrived, and got a map and some brochures. We thought we would see the Palace, the reclining Buddha, and (of course) do a bit of shopping.  We knew what the night-market was like, so we could check out some of the other ones, knowing that we could always go back there easily to get things.

So I double-checked our planned itinerary with the people at reception (as shown in the photo below - that's me on the TV, which you can see on one of the channels from your room).

The problem is... they left out one very vital detail (more on that later).

The easiest way to the palace was to take a Taxi to the river, and take an 'express ferry' up to the palace (about 7 stops on the ferry).  So, we walked to the main road (opposite the night market), to get a coffee.  Oh... everything's still closed.  OK... cab it is then.  The driver's English was... errr... limited so we finally got through where we wanted to go.  Even our map was of minimal use, as it was English/Western letters, not in Thai script.

When we arrived at the river, we were inundated with tour operators.  'Cheap' prices of about $30 for the day.  However, the 'Express Ferry' was all we needed, and it only cost 50c.  We found it, and got on.  The river was filled with Water Hyacinth, choking the port areas.  It didn't seem to bother the various ferries, barges and longboats. The Express Ferry had a tour guide with a microphone, pointing out a few of the sights.  We then got off at the jetty for the palace.

We then found out that today was a Buddhist holiday, and both the Palace, and the reclining Buddha (nearby) would be closed until mid-afternoon.  That certainly didn't fit with our plans. 

We thought we'd grab a Tuk-tuk and head straight to the shopping plaza we wanted to end up at.  The Tuk-tuk driver (who looked disconcertingly like Charles Bronson), said that the plaza wouldn't really be open yet.  Instead, he suggested he take us to see a temple with the 'lucky Buddha' "only open today on special holiday" as well as to Lapiadary to get some rubies and another place to get a good suit.  We smelt 'scam', but then when he named his price of 50 baht ($1.60) we thought, hey... why not?

He'd obviously been driving in Bangkok traffic for many years, as he just flowed along.  We were sometimes in potentially hair-raising situations, but he could just cruise through, as calm as anything.

We stopped at our first place, a temple.  We walked in and were greeted by a gentleman in a suit. He explained that, yes, this temple was only open on special days.  There were a few monks inside, and some people were purchasing or bringing their own gift-packs (bucket with cleaning products, clothing and food) for their favourite monk.  There were also statues of deceased monks that had small squares of gold leaf on them.  The more popular the monk, the more gold they had on them.  The guy in the suit was the manager of the temple (I think, more than anything, he was project managing its refurbishment).  When he found out we were from Australia, he personally thanked us for all the help we gave post-Tsunami and said we could take some pictures if we liked, because "I'm the manager here!"

We stayed for a little while and then got back into the Tuk-tuk.  Next, was the Royal Lapiadary.  As far as we can ascertain, the King seems to get a few bucks from the mining of rubies and sapphires in Thailand (keeping the best for the Queen, of course).  We were shown an background video, and then went into the showroom is where they sell them.  And, because of aforementioned Buddhist holiday, today only was tax-free.  And, it was also highly lucky to by rubies on this day "Buy stones... for your women".  So... err... I did ;)

We then went to another tailor.  We weren't interested, but Charles Bronson got a petrol voucher if we did - and he'd looked after us up until this point so we thought, 'why not'?  I didn't need another suit, but man... the offers were tempting (especially once we said we weren't interested and started for the door).

Finally, we bid our Tuk-tuk driver farewell, after he dropped us at MDK, a mulit-story shopping market/centre/mall.  Huge. And, largely, full of crap.  We spent a few hours in there, but pretty-much left disappointed.

We caught a taxi home...  After the smooth flow of the Tuk-tuk, the taxi ride was quite hair-raising, but we made it home safely.  Then, it was time for a feed, and to hit the hay.