Bangkok sightseeing

Just in case you were all worried that all Daphne and I did in Bankgok was eat and get massages let me reassure you, we did sightsee.

We woke up early and after stuffing our faces at the breakfast buffet we headed out for a day of sightseeing that we had fully planned. Of course, like most well laid plans ours were thwarted.

Let’s start with the cab drivers in Bangkok who were probably my least favorite thing there. Every time we got into one they immediately tried to swindle us to pay a higher flat rate as opposed to the cheap meter and every time I had to fight back until the meter was turned on. Saavy travelers that we are, they always turn it on in the end but the unnecessary back and forth gets very old. Well this fine morning we should have known something was up when we got into the cab from the hotel and the driver was super pleasant. He turned the meter right on and seemed happy to take us all the way to the Golden Buddha. Then a block away he starts suggesting that he could take us on a half day sightseeing trip outside of the city. We of course said no (deep breathes MJ!). Then he suggested taking us to a ferry terminal instead of right to the center where the temples and palace are due to heavy traffic. We agreed. We had wanted to take the ferry originally but laziness stopped us so we took this as a sign. Except the cabbie took us to the wrong ferry terminal and immediately took off. This left us with a 20 minute walk to get to the right ferry terminal to wait for the right ferry ride to take us to the start of our sighseeing …to get the full picture it was at least 98 degrees out and we had alot of sightseeing so we were conserving energy. Anyways, we eventually did get on the right ferry soon enough (luckily the Theodoraki girls know how to navigate) and the ferry was actually easy and quick.

Our first stop was the Big Buddha and Temples at Wat Pho. I had been here 7 years ago with Randy but I had forgotten how beautiful this temple and the giant reclining Buddha are.

When in the temples you have to cover your arms and legs. We brough pants and a scarf becuase it was waaaay too hot to wear these all day. Our next stop was the Grand Palace and we were told our scarves were not sufficient. Our options were to rent lime green mumus that many, many other people had sweat in or pay 10 bucks at the gift shop for matching T-shirts. We of course opted to match.

Next time we’ll plan ahead and wear this.

Even though it was VERY hot, we managed to walk all around the palace grounds and take in all the beautiful buildings, temples and statues.

We were never so happy to sit in this shady cafe and have a water on our way out!

You may be thinking, wow! You two saw A LOT! I’m sure after all that you went home. Nope, we saw in the guidebook that right next to the Palace is an area called Banglamphu. The description was leafy lanes, antique shophouses, buzzing wet markets quaint postcard picture of the city that used to be. Leafy lanes, antiquo shops, we were sold. Well, we arrived and the first thing we saw was this. Clearly in the wrong part of Banglamphu.