Reclining Buddha and Dinner Show (Friday, November 6th, 2015)

First thing this morning we got a text with a picture from our oldest daughter, showing us that it had snowed at home. Oh, we are sure not ready for that!

As we headed down stairs to breakfast we noticed that we had a message, so we went to the front desk and waiting for us there was a package. We picked it up and took it to breakfast with us. As we were eating, we opened it up and it was from our friend Saovanee that had given us the wonderful tour around Bangkok two days previous. 

It was a set of beautiful elephant salt and pepper shakers. It reminded us of the clay elephants we had made two days before at the Sampran Riverside. What a thoughtful gift from a wonderful friend. We will enjoy them very much! 

After breakfast we decided to walk down the street from our hotel to a wholesale shopping district called Pratunam market. It would be about a 15 minute walk, so we thought that would be fun before our Gate-1 orientation meeting later this morning.  The walk took us by a lot of the usual street vendors.

There are hot woks of oil at just about every stand we pass on the street

As we got further from the hotel, the area got more and more interesting. We had to cross a large set of train tracks, and there were some very interesting shops along the way. We saw a glass cutting shop (all done my hand) and a metal shop where all of the was recycled which we really liked to see.  We saw several workers preparing the used metal for resale.  All were working with very simple hand tools as they squared up the ends so they could be resold. 

We got to the wholesale shops, and because it was so early only a few of the shops were beginning to open. So the wholesale building felt a little uncomfortable with everything closed up. We didn’t stay long and then headed back to the hotel. 

Looking down from the pedestrian bridge into the wholesale market

On our way back a train was on the tracks, and it was right there next to us, like 4 feet away as it sped by. Pretty scary compared to what we are used to but was just a way of life for all others that were waiting for the train to pass.  

These trains really go speeding through town!

We finally thought we were starting to get used to Bangkok, but with each new area, it feels like a new world all over again.  

One of the interesting things we saw on our walk was Thai women commuting to work on motorcycle taxis.  Since it wouldn't be appropriate to touch their driver, they ride sidesaddle, and rarely held on. 

This woman was holding on to the back, but that is unusual

I'm sure she's only holding on because of the railroad tracks

 They even do this on the highways.  They have great balance!  It is just fascinating to us.

And this hard working man delivering rice first thing in the morning

Our Gate-1 orientation meeting was from 10:00 to 11:00 and then we had about an hour to ourselves before our first tour left. We enjoyed meeting Mike who would be our Tour Director for the next 2-weeks, and getting to know a little bit about the other people we would be traveling with.

Steve and I took advantage of our hour by walking through the park again and grabbing a couple of coffees at 7-11. We enjoyed our coffees on the bus along with a banana and Cliff Bar for lunch as we drove to our temple tour. This was our first time of many to come where enjoyed the luxury of our Gate-1 bus, our driver Pong and our busboy Yut who worked to keep the bus clean and comfortable for us.

The drive through Bangkok was as interesting as our others, and we once again noticed the fascinating mix of ancient and modern. We drove through Chinatown, by the Bangkok Flower Market and then on to the colorful Indian Market where lots of textiles are sold. 

China Town

I think the power lines in China Town are even work than other parts of Bangkok

The Bangkok Flower Market under all of it's umbrellas, to keep the sun off the flowers.

Another view of the Bangkok Flower Market

Our tour destination was the Wat Po Temple, the oldest and largest temple in the city, with the incredible giant Reclining Buddha, over 150 feet long and almost 40 feet high.  It is so large, and in such a small building that you really can't get a single picture of the entire Buddha all at once.

The crowds to see the Reclining Buddha were large, making picture taking a bit of a challenge!

The Buddha's head is the first thing you see as you enter the front of the building

As you make your way through the building, most of the Buddha comes into view.

But you have to look the other direction to see the feet.  You can't view the entire Reclining Buddha all at once.

The all important selfie

After we walked through the building, we turned around and walked back through the building behind the Reclining Buddha.  On this side of the building there is a large line of offering pots.  The Buddhist people believe in reincarnation, and are supposed to give an offering for each of their remaining lives, but since none of them know how many lives they will have, or how many they have already lived, they leave an offering in each pot just to be safe.

The line of offering pots goes from one end of the Reclining Buddha building to the other, with an offering being left in each pot

Our final view of the Reclining Buddha as we leave the temple

We had time to look around the grounds at the pagoda’s where the ashes of the first 3 kings of Thailand are entombed, and then we had a chance to go in the temple itself. 

These guys were standing guard all over the temple grounds

And his friend

The three pagodas where the ashes of the first three kings of Thailand are buried

The grounds of the temple

The pagodas are very ornate and colorful

Over time the gold wears off of the Buddhas and they have to be prepared and have the gold reapplied.  That is why we sometimes see the black Buddhas

As we walked through the temple, a monk was giving a lesson to a group of school kids that were there on a field trip.  It was fun to listen in, even though we couldn't understand a word.

 We then drove to Royal Avenue where most of the Government offices are located. We enjoy the sights that we see while we are driving around.  Like the two license plates below.  Interesting...

Thai license plate written in English

Thai license plate written in Thai

And this is not an unusual sight.  It's hard to get pictures from the bus, but this shows it well enough.

We were supposed to return to our hotel to clean up before our evening adventure, but traffic was so heavy that they bypassed the hotel.  The City of Bangkok was having a bike ride for dad day, so they were closing many of the roads for the event. They were anticipating in excess of 20,000 riders to participate. 

Bangkok traffic is heavy on any normal day, but with the road closures it was nearly impossible to navigate the city.  So our bus driver took us straight to Asiatique, a large modern shopping center on the river. There is a large variety of different shops here, but it also offers a beautiful setting to sit, relax and enjoy the sights. We chose to bypass the shopping and enjoyed a table by the river instead.  We were joined by two other couples from our tour, so we all had a chance to get to know each other a little bit while we watched everything that was going on by the river.

We enjoyed watching the multi-copter that was flying over the river

As well as the jet-boot stunts

We then joined up with our tour for dinner and a Thai dancing show at the Calypso. 

The food was definitely tamed down for the american pallet, which allowed everyone to enjoy it, the dancing was very good and the service was excellent.  It was a very nice way to end our first day as a group together.  We headed back to the Century Park Hotel, Bangkok on the bus, and traffic had eased up quite a bit.

A side note about Bangkok...according to Mike, our Tour Director, there are 11 million in people in Bangkok during the day, and 9 million people that actually live in Bangkok.  Traffic is so heavy because there are 2 million people that have to commute in and out of the city each day, plus everyone else that is moving around.  Mike says that if he leaves his house at 5:00 his commute takes him less than 45 minutes to go approximately 10 miles.  If he leaves at 5:30, it takes him about 1 1/2 hours.  If he leaves at 6:00 he will likely be late to his 8:30 start time, so he elects to leave at 5:00, get to his location and then sleep in his car for an hour and 1/2 before he reports to work....CRAZY!  They are attempting to expand the Sky Train to the suburbs to help with the daily congestion.  Bangkok is 1,500 square kilometers so that's a lot of expansion that needs to be done on the train line.

A Day on Own in Bangkok (Thursday, November 5th, 2015)

We got up early and enjoyed our usual complimentary breakfast on the first floor, and then took a few minutes to look around at the hotel.  As we expected, the pool and fitness areas were both quite beautiful.  They were both located on the 4th floor of the hotel so were very nice and quiet.

After looking around a bit, we finally had time to Facetime with our youngest daughter and catch up on her life, then we also had a chance to Facetime with our oldest daughter and Steve's parents. We had texted them a little bit over the last few days, but it had been fairly brief since everyone was busy.

The time in Bangkok is 14 hours ahead of Denver, but we have found it very easy to communicate with everyone.  We do our Facetime or texting in the morning (when it is still the evening before in Denver), or in the evening, when it is the morning of the same day.  

When we were in Europe in the past, we felt that the time difference was much more difficult to deal with for talking to everyone, but maybe that's because we were on a cruise ship. We're not really sure.

Steve and I had decided that we would get a Thai massage at least once while we were in Bangkok, so while I was doing a little blogging this morning, Steve got on TripAdvisor and started looking for a good Thai massage near our hotel. He loves that sight as when we have used it in the past it has been right on.  

He found place called Bua Sabai Massage that was less than 1/2 mile away that got great reviews. We were both sort of nervous about getting a Thai massage since we had no idea what to expect, but we weren't going to let that stop us!  So we headed off toward the message place.  On our way we walked through the local park.

This is a gorgeous park just a block away from our hotel

Exercise equipment for everyone to use.  What a great idea!

Under the green canopy is an orchid garden

Orchids growing on a tree trunk under the canopy

More beautiful tropical plants under the green canopy

Another gorgeous orchid!

We walked through the park near our hotel, and up about 3 blocks, to Bua Sabai Massage. As we neared the location I continued to get more nervous!

As we approached the front porch, we were greeted by a very nice woman who offered us indoor shoes to put on. We sat down on chairs on the porch and switched from our street shoes to their indoor shoes. We left our street shoes on a small shoe rack on the front porch and went inside. 

The price list in English

The shoe rack with indoor and outdoor shoes

They immediately took us to two small curtained rooms (they were adjoined since we were going as a couple), and gave us loose fitting shirts and pants to put on. The clothes sort of resembled a large pair of hospital scrubs.  Once we were dressed our Thai massage therapists came in. One for Steve and one for me. They started by washing our feet with a wonderful foot scrub and a basin of warm water. We were then invited to lay down on our backs on very comfortable mats with pillows. They started with our feet and legs and worked up to our arms. They use their body weight and manipulated our bodies into positions where we could get a deeper massage. They were small women, but with their technique they were able to give a very deep massage. They use not only their hands, but their feet, forearms and legs to apply just the right pressure. Since we were fully clothed, it was never uncomfortable in any way. 

They could tell where each of us needed the most work and spent more time on those areas. Toward the end of the massage they had us sit up so they could work more on our neck and back. It was the most painful and relaxing experience we have ever had. Steve commented after we left that there were several times that he was just about ready to yell uncle, when they somehow knew and moved on to a different area. I felt the same way. When our massages were over, they closed our curtains and allowed us to get dressed. 

When we came out from our little rooms they had some delicious hot tea waiting for us to enjoy. We had two one hour massages which were 200 baht each, or about $5.75 per person. We left a great tip, and still felt that it was quite a bargain. It was an incredible experience that we can't wait to do again. As we left we stopped on the front porch and replaced our indoor shoes with our street shoes which were waiting for us on the shoe rack.

One of the things that intreagues us about Thailand is how you can just leave things sitting out (like our shoes on a very busy street), and when you come back for them they are waiting for you, untouched.  

After our massages, we stumbled back to hotel because we were so relaxed. We took a little more time to looked around the hotel.

On the parking garage level of the hotel there was a beautiful koi pond.

The  snack bar on the main floor

A beautiful staircase provides access to the first three floors in addition to the elevators

When we were at the mall two days ago, we noticed two rather popular restaurants that sold noodle bowls for 12 baht, or about 34 cents each.  They looked really good, and it looked like fun, so today for lunch, it was back to the mall for noodle bowls. 

Some people order many bowls all at one time, but we chose to order one each at a time because we didn't know how much we would need, and we didn't know which ones we would like the best.  We ended up eating 7 bowls in total.  Steve had four and I had three.  

The bowls aren't big, so you can get a nice variety

All done! And you can see the little coconut milk custard bowl in the foreground.  They stack two custard bowls top to bottom, and that counts as one dessert.

When you are through eating, they just count your bowls and charge you for how many you ate.  There are also very small bowls sitting on your table when you sit down.  They contain a coconut milk custard.  You just take as many as you want, and they will keep bringing more.  They are 10 baht for two, or about 14 cents each.  We split one of the double bowls for dessert.  They were very tasty.  

The young couple next to us ate a total of 17 bowls.  Which we thought was a crazy amount because we were full with our seven bowls, but then we figured out that the price of all theirs bowls came to a total of $5.82 at today's baht to $$ conversion rate.  Our entire lunch was less then $3!  Not a bad deal for a fun lunch.

When we paid our bill, we realized that they charged us for both our water and our ice, which we thought was interesting, but you can't drink the water in Thailand, so it is all bottled, and they have to make their ice out of bottled water, so it all makes sense.

As we came out of the mall we realized that the traffic had really picked up while we were in eating.  We were glad that we were walking and not dealing with the traffic.  

These cars weren't moving at all

So many people ride motorcycles in Thailand, they are everywhere!  Steve looked at the odometer on one of these bikes that showed 89,000 kilometers.  Amazing!

Then we grabbed another coffee at 7-11 on our way back to the hotel. For an iced mocha it is 30 baht which is about 85 cents, and we think they are better than Starbucks. 7-11 uses a true automated expresso machine to make the coffee!

As we headed out with our coffees, we noticed a bunch of school kids in Boy Scout and Girl Scout uniforms being worn by the kids walking around the neighborhood.  Thursday must be their meeting day. 

We walked back through the park on our way back to the hotel.  It is such a peaceful walk!

A Buddhist shrine in the park

The fountains were running this time as we walked through

They take such great care of this park.  There are always people cleaning.

You can see the exercise equipment on the other side of the pond

You can see how close our hotel is to the park

A Monitor lizard by the pond

When we got back to the hotel we were able to exchange some of our large baht bills for smaller bills, which was very handy.  The bank gave us such large bills that very few places can provide change for them.

We were sitting in our room, preparing for dinner when we looked out the window and noticed a huge line of police cars going down the highway with one large black vehicle in the middle. We think it may have been some sort of Thai dignitary going by.  We have seen something similar several times since we have been here.  It doesn't seem to be anything out of the ordinary.

You can see all of the police cars in the furthest right lane

We decided that it would be nice to have a sit down meal tonight, somewhere other than the food court for dinner, so we decided to try a place that we had seen on our daily walks. 

B Resto offers both a Thai and a Western Menu

It is called B Resto.  They serve both Thai and western food.  We ordered two Thai dishes, one was asparagus with crispy pork and the other was garlic, chili and basil chicken.  There were two types of chilis in the second dish.  You couldn't tell them apart by looking at them, but one was mild and one was REALLY spicy.  We liked them, but they were so spicy that we were afraid that they might upset our stomaches, so we finally gave up and started picking out the chilis.  This wasn't our favorite food of the trip.  It was pretty westernized and quite expensive by comparison to other local restaurants but it was a nice atmosphere.  

Walking home, we were amazed at how this city really comes to life at night.  The malls and streets are jammed with people and the park even gets much busier too. 

We sat in our hotel room and enjoyed a beautiful Bangkok sunset before we called it a night.