Summer Vacation Part 3: Bangkok

Before you read: Kris and I spent our summer break in Matsushima, Tokyo, Bangkok, and Koh Chang (an island in Thailand).  We left our camera charger at our hostel in Tokyo, so we have to wait to get it back before uploading those pictures and blogging about Tokyo.  Luckily we had the iPhone with us to be our camera, so we can post pics and blog about Bangkok and Koh Chang.  We'll just have to tackle our adventures in Tokyo at a later time.


After spending fun and exhausting days in Tokyo, Kris and I flew to Bangkok where we spent 1 1/2 days before continuing on to the island of Koh Chang.  Asian airlines know where it's at!  Airlines in America should take a lesson from them!  For our 2-3 hour flights, we were given meals, beverages, snacks, and we had personal movie screens (on 2 of the flights) and could choose from a huge selection of movies and TV.


Going from Japan to Thailand was a bigger culture shock for me than going from America to Japan was.  Japan is the cleanest country I have ever been to - even with the complete lack of public trash cans.  Everything in Japan is orderly -- from  the way people stand in lines to wait for the bus or subway to the way rules (even concerning jaywalking) are followed.  And everything is perfectly punctual.  When a train is scheduled to leave at 4:32, it leaves at 4:32.  In Japan, appearance is everything.


When we got off the skytrain in Bangkok and started to walk to our hotel, I couldn't believe my eyes.  There was trash everywhere; stray dogs walked along the sidewalk as if they owned the town; and during our stay the poverty of Thailand became very apparent.  I don't mean to sound snobby or naive; it's just that the difference between Japan and Thailand is so stark, it caught me off guard.  I forgot that Japan is different from most Asian countries.


What is ironic is that in Tokyo (a very clean  and expensive city), we stayed at the dirtiest, shabbiest hotel (Hostel Komatsu Ueno -- DON'T STAY THERE if you are planning a trip to Tokyo); but in Bangkok (a dirty and inexpensive city), we stayed in the nicest hotel (and it was half the price of our Tokyo Hotel).  If you are planning a trip to Bangkok, the Bangkok Loft Inn is a MUST!

Our $40/night hotel room.  Pretty nice for $40!

After checking into our hotel (and being welcomed with juice and cold towels), we went to MBK, a large indoor shopping mall with inexpensive stores (that you can barter in), movie theater, massage parlors, and a huge food court.  I had read about MBK and was really looking forward to shopping there -- Kris and I had both left half our suitcase empty in anticipation of all we might buy.  But by the time we got there and ate dinner, the vendors were closing down.  While the building was open until 10:00pm, we discovered that people were closing down at 7:45pm.  I was quite disappointed.


The next day, we had a private tour guide take us around the city.  We'd read about Tour With Tong on TripAdvisor, and it was the highest rated tour.  I knew that if I was only going to Bangkok once in my life and would only have 1 day to see the sights, I wanted some help!  And the tour was only $45!  Totally worth it!  We got to see so much of the city and didn't have to worry about finding our way around, reading maps, or people trying to scam us (which is apparently very common around the Grand Palace or with tuk-tuks).

Tuk-Tuks like the green one above are a popular way to get around Bangkok

This free bus serves the low-income in the area, but anyone can ride it.  It has no AC and has a wood floor.  Also, buses here don't seem to stop for more than 2 seconds so you gotta be quick!

We passed this vendor selling dried fish and other dried seafood as we walked through the market.  I'll take friend bananas instead, please.

When exploring Bangkok we saw several temples and Buddhas (so many that they began to run together).  I learned something interesting -- for Thai people, the day of the week that they were born is very significant.  The current Thai king was born on a Monday, so Monday is a day off for many people in observation of the King's day of birth.  Buddhists living in Thai (which are about 95 % of the population) worship a different Buddha statue depending on the day of the week they were born.  For example, if someone was born on a Monday, then they would probably have a statue of a standing Buddha; but people born on Tuesdays would have statues of a reclining Buddha.  And long ago, they kind of treatment that physicians administered for people depended on the day of the week that we were born.  Our guide asked us what day of the week we were born, and when we said that we didn't know, she seemed a little surprised, but then admitted that most westerners she talked to didn't know what day they were born.


First we went to Wat Trimitr 

Wat Trimitr

Might not look that big, but it's 5.5 tons of solid gold!  Talk about bling!

Me in one of the gold-plated windows.  Want one of these for your house?

The next place we saw was Wat Pho, a temple with a large reclining Buddha.  Apparently it is the most well known reclining Buddha.  It is 150 feet long and 50 feet high.  Also at Wat Pho is a traditional Thai massage school, though we didn't get massages there (we saved that for the beach).

Sign outside the temple.  To enter temples you had to take off your shoes.  We'd heard of people who had their shoes stolen, so we carried ours with us in our backpack.  We weren't taking any chances on the "Non-Thai Pickpocket Gangs".

Me in front of the reclining Buddha

The back of the feet were detailed with mother of pearl depicting the 108 auspicious signs of Buddhism.

These 2 guys were taking pictures of themselves from every angle in front of EVERYTHING.  So we took a picture of them.

...and we took a picture imitating them.  (There they are behind me!)

People could put 108 coins in these 108 bowls -- one for each wish they have.

The large temple was surrounded by 394 bronze buddha statues.

This is a painting of some spirits believed to watch over children.  Kris really liked the flying samurai elephant spirit.

The grounds of Wat Pho had several of these tall, elaborate stuppas.

Thinking this statue looks a little phallic?  That's because it is.  Yep, it's a statue dedicated to the penis. 

To get to Wat Arun, our tour guide took us through a small market area where we stopped at a vendor to eat some fried banana.  For 10 baht (33 cents) we got a nice big bag worth -- and it was delicious!  We took a boat to get to Wat Arun -- but it was a very short ride, as Wat Arun was right across the river.  It cost us 3 baht each to take to boat (9 cents!).  We found it quite amusing to be paying less than a dime for something!

Wat Arun, as seen from the boat

Wat Arun (also known as the Temple of Dawn, named after the Indian god of dawn) has a huge prang (tower) that is 282 feet tall and covered in porcelain mosaic tiles.  Our tour guide sat and waited for us as we climbed the prang.  Going up was easy, but coming down the steep, narrow stairs was a bit scary!

Us in front of Wat Arun

Kris on the prang (or tower) of Wat Arun

Chinese statues surrounding the Ordination Hall

Front entrance of the Ordination Hall at Wat Arun.  It is guarded by 2 demons (because they lost a fight with one of the gods so now they have to guard the temple).

Us standing beside the lucky buddha.  Is lucky a euphemism for fat???

View from the top of the prang.  It was cool to see a mix of ancient and modern in the skyline.

After finishing up at Wat Arun, we headed to the Grand Palace and the Royal Temple of the Emerald Buddha.  All around the Grand Palace were scheme artists.  Some dressed in suits and looking official, they told unsuspecting tourists that the Grand Palace was closed and offered to wave down a tuk-tuk to take them to another tourist site.  It sounds innocent, but the tuk-tuk driver and fake-tourist-guide work together and the tuk-tuk stops at several gem shops where tourists are convinced to by worthless fake gems.  The fake palace guide, tuk-tuk driver, and gem shop owners share the profit.  I wanted to yell out to all these tourists talking to these schemers, "That's all a lie!  Walk away!  The temple is open."  But it's Bangkok and yelling out loud as an American and causing a scene is probably a terrible idea.  Poor folks should have done their internet research.  Luckily we had a real guide with us so we didn't have to worry about being hassled.


The Grand Palace was built by King Rama I and was the royal families' residence for many years.  It has been renovated and added to by Kings and royalty through the years.  The royal family no longer lives there now, though.  Also, we couldn't take any photos of the Emerald Buddha, as cameras weren't allowed inside that part of the temple.

Behind us are a monkey and demon statue, guarding the entrance to the temple area.  The demons have to guard it because, according to a Buddhist story, one of Buddhist gods and flying monkeys defeated them in a battle. 

Me with some of the many demon statues surrounding the stuppas (small towers).  Like the hot skirt I borrowed from our  tour guide? Women had to wear skirts or pants at the Grand Palace.

View of temple area from Palace grounds

Us in front of one of the grand buildings on the Palace grounds

Following the tour of the Grand Palace, we went to a delicious Thai restaurant for lunch.  The total for all 3 of our meals and drinks was less than $7 (USD)!  Coming from Tokyo, one of the most expensive cities in the world, this was a sticker shock to us!  I had cashew chicken with rice and it was AMAZING!


We finished our tour with the temple of the standing buddha.  We had to walk through a back alley in the rain, and we saw several shacks in poor shape where some people live and work.  This was such a surprise to me because, living in Sendai, I'm not used to seeing this kind of need.  It's easy to forget about those in need when you are not faced with it on a daily basis.  I'm glad I was reminded to pray for those in need and reach out to others and not just live oblivious in my own little bubble.


That night we went to a mall that Thais frequent, but only bought dinner there.  Then we relaxed back at the hotel, called some family, and got ready for the next part of our journey that would begin the next day when we boarded the mini-bus for the island of Koh Chang.