Day Two in Krueng Tep (Bangkok)

Skytrain above the downtown traffic

Jack and I started our second day a little more refreshed than the first. After talking with Eric yesterday, we had big plans to take the ferry along the river and check out the Grand Palace. Our hostel is right off the BTS line, a Skytrain that runs all around town. Bangkok has THE most amazing public transportation and it is incredibly affordable. In addition to the Skytrain, there is an elaborate subway system and plenty of busses.

We took the Skytrain to the central stop of the Chao Praya Express. This is a system of ferries that runs along the Chao Praya river making various stops depending on the line. Eric recommended we avoid the tourist line and take the orange line instead. Good call!

  

We ended up missing our stop by a long shot, which turned out to be not so bad. I fed some fish with some children and enjoyed a Coke from a local vendor.

Wrong stop, mai ben rai!

After our little detour, we made it to our stop by the Grand Palace. We had to walk through a little market (the outskirts of the Amulet Market, I would guess), which is always a fun way to check out the local fare. Just outside of the palace, people sell all sorts of food, drinks, and souvenirs. I spotted a girl drinking from a fresh coconut and wanted to try it. I see them do it on Survivor all the time and I always wondered what it tastes like. For less than a dollar, you pick a coconut and they chop it open right there and stick a straw in it for you. It was pretty good but too sweet for me.

We went over to the entrance and all these Thai people were telling us that the Palace was closed until 2:30 because of some royal ceremony. We even saw signs posted confirming this. These same people offered to take us to several other places and return us to the Palace later for a very low price. Ok, we knew something was up. We turned them all down, but we did believe that the Palace was closed (turned out not to be true). We went to a neighboring Wat Pho instead. I’m so glad we did—it was incredibly beautiful!

Every little detail of every building is taken care of and made beautiful.

 

Lots of statues all around the grounds

Guards everywhere

    

And one of the best things: there are cats all over!

We gave this friendly guy a cool bath!

Plenty of nooks and crannies for
a cool place to lie down.

  

   

After wandering around for a little while, we decided we’d get some lunch and come back after (we still hadn’t seen the reclining Buddha , and Eric suggested we check out the monk chanting at 5). Desperate for air conditioning, we headed to a restaurant we passed near the dock, Tai-Yo.

No veg meals so we shared cashew chicken and red curry chicken...and smoothies!!!

We still had some extra time after lunch so we roamed through the Amulet Market.

Tons of shops just like this!

Sure, you can get those here.

  

Cute friendly stray

 

 Back at Wat Pho, we went straight for the reclining Buddha this time.

Hand-painted murals line every wall

           

Even the bottoms of Buddha's feet are beautiful!

Wow, we were blown away by the size of this one! Then we headed to a different temple on the grounds to see the monks chanting.

 

It was so amazing. Very cool to see!

We had one last thing on the day’s list before heading home—watching the sun set across the Chao Praya. Eric told us about this 4^th floor restaurant called The Deck, so we checked it out. This was a great place to get some refreshments and see Wat Arun from across the river.

Unfortunately, we couldn’t stay until the sun completely set because we had to catch our last boat back to the Skytrain. It was still quite an adventure and fun to see the city lighting up as the light faded.

 

  

On the way home we discovered a night market right near our hostel. Unfortunately, we were too tired by then to check it out. It looked really fun—maybe next time!