Day 2 - Temples - Thursday (and Sim's b-day!)
First thing we did was book a couple of tours.  A bike tour of Bangkok through TAT Tours, and a bus to and from Siem Reap.  We chose comfort over cost, though it would have been better to spend more to fly. Essentially would have saved a day.  Live and learn: time is the most precious asset.  We had to bargain, and got about 15% off.  Thailand is a lot like India; everything is to be haggled over.

Started the first days tour with a boat ride down the main river (chao phraya?).  Everyone wants your money.  The taxi driver took us to the pier on purpose, even though we just wanted to go directly to the major temples.  

Traditional thai long boat

FYI- Thailand has an excellent Skytrain system, better than Vancouver's. Clean and air conditioned. But it does not go into the heart of downtown or anywhere near the main Wats (temples), which is a bit odd. 

The boat ride we bargained down to 1500 baht ($50!) and it took us first along the river to Wat Arun, on the other side (Thonburi or Old Bangkok).  This was a huge Indian temple/monument named after Aruna, goddess of Dawn.    

It was stunning.  Intricate, tall, expansive and old.  No gold here, but many carvings of gods, flowers and elephants.   We climbed some very steep steps to about 60 ft or so to take in the view and take some snaps with the camera.

Now it was starting to get really hot.  The morning was manageable, enjoyable, even.  But I had under estimated the strength of the equatorialSun.  We were going through a lot of water.  

After Wat Arun (about noon now) we boarded our personal tour boat and went to the other shore. Here the boat tour ended and we got off at the pier to the Grand Palace.  

FYI - we had read about the scammers, taking tourists off their plans.  But we experienced it directly (well, almost) as a nice fellow gave us a free map and advice, and showed us some sights to see on his maps, and informed us that the Grand Palace was best visited in the late afternoon (many sections closed off for monks to do prayer), and that a Tuk Tuk driver (auto-rickshaw to us Indians) would take us to a couple of free temples and sight).  We said sure, and got on, but realized at the last moment they were all lying and jumped off and headed directly into the Grand Palace.   In fact, there we loudspeakers around the Palace grounds advising visitors to speak to no one and to proceed directly into the Palace.  

Entrance into the Palace was 800bt for the both of us.  Simmi wore a long dress but still had to rent a blue shirt to cover her shoulders.  It was crowded and there were some long lines, but we got in quickly.

The famous reclining buddha statue

The Palace itself was a very large ground covering some 35 acres.  One could equate this landmark as Thailand's Taj Mahal.   

Intricate designs and golden statues of Buddhas everywhere, along with paintings and carvings of the Ramayana (Thai religion appears to have strong Hindu roots).


In the Palace, we saw beautiful and large art and sculptures of every kind of Thai culture.  Most impressive was the Emerald Buddha, which is actually made of jade.   While it is only 2 ft tall, it sits on a 20 ft high mountain of golden sculptures, and with many Thais offering their worship.  We took a moment to do the same.

At about 1pm, I learned an important lesson about heat exhaustion.   I began to feel tired and nauseated from the hot midday sun. I felt sick with a sore throat and even muscle cramps in my hands. My face was beet red.  I literally needed to spend several minutes in an air conditioned textile museum to lower my core temperature.

Lessons learned:
1. Stay out of the hot equatorial midday sun.
2. Water is not good enough.  Drink something with electrolytes, like fresh cold juice.  I had some ice cold mulberry juice which really helped.
3. Don't over exert yourself in the heat, especially after 24 hours of travel.

Due to my state, we ended up shortening our tour of the Palace (again, impressive, but I will let the pictures do the talking).  We had seen most of the grounds anyway, and luckily found an air conditioned cafe across the street.  We had lunch (sandwich, we hadn't had any real Thai food yet) and cooled off for about an hour. 

Although the midday sun is harsh, by 3pm the shadows start to grow long as the sun already begins to move to set.  It was still hot, but now bearable.

We took a Tuk Tuk to Wat Pho, the Temple of the Reclining Buddha.  This famous landmark did not disapoint and I must have taken a hundred snaps as we marveled at its splendour.  

We did a short prayer here (as the locals were all doing).  Simmi offered a donation, and was given a cup of coins.  Behind the Buddha was a long row of pots (at least a hundred) where you walked and dropped coins into each pot, and made a wish).

Wat Pho is much more than the Buddha, and there were many beautiful temples and courtyards that we visited and tool snaps of.

As we were exiting we noticed (almost by luck since we were not looking for it) the Thai Massage school, which offered 1 hour massages for the equivalent of $15 CDN each.  We got into the queue and experienced the most fantastic massages we'd ever received.  It cured my heat related ails, and got out all the kinks from the flights.  I had vaguely remembered reading about this place, but did not have it in mind. I am very glad we did go, and then and there we decided to get massages as often as possible.  
   
FYI - Thai massage is quite different from our RMT massages back home.  You are clothed (though you empty all pockets, belt, watches etc) and they practically climb on top of you to apply direct strong pressure to muscles and stretch your limbs as if you were doing yoga.  We tipped the ladies well.

Now we felt great as we went back into the Asia Hotel.  This hotel was cheap and roomy, and in a great location.  Still I would not recommend it to others as 1) they charge an obscene amount for internet - which had we known before, would have been a deal breaker) and 2) we found small ants in our room.   Not a hoarde of them but here and there. We asked them and they admitted they do have ants, and said not to put any food out.  No point in changing rooms, then.  We are not squeamish and do realize we are in a 3rd world metropolis, so we didn't mind much.  On the positive, the service was good and the location was great, with a direct walkway to the Skytrain station.

Bangkok deserves a paragraph (or three).  The city is a crowded bustling metropolis of some 15 million.  I would compare it to Mumbai.  Thailand is very much like India (crowded and hot) but cleaner and with more modernity (skytrain as an example).  Very few beggars.

After relaxing at our hotel, we walked about 10 minutes down to MBK Mall, the largest mall in Bangkok.  It was huge. Imagine if Metrotown Mall had 6 levels.  And they sold everything.  Our taxi driver gave us a good tip and said we should eat on the 6th floor.  The food court was at the end (a good 10min walk) and the shops on this floor were like a huge Richmond Night Market.

MBK Mall. The largest mall in Bangkok.

The food court was busy and there were about 30 food stalls, each making a single type od dish (chicken soups, beef soups, noodles, Tom Yum, rice, etc).  You had to buy tokens to give to your selected food stall chefs, and then return leftover tokens for refund.  Not the most convenient but interesting nonetheless.  

FYI- the food in Thailand is absurdly good, and ridiculously cheap.  It is truly a foodies paradise.  We feasted on delicious beef noodle soup, spicy chicken basil and some fried chicken for about $15.

We slept well.