Saturday July 15, 2006: Welcome to Bangkok!

Liz and I woke up, showered, and met Todd for breakfast in the hotel at 9:30am. We had an omelet, fruit, toast, and some odd sausage and squishy egg thing - I'll have to ask what it is. We have breakfast tickets for the whole month, so hopefully I'll find out what exactly I'm eating. We checked out the pool, and it's surrounded by plants and water baths and looks SO relaxing! We also realized we have the most amazing view of a beautiful park across the street, called Lumphini Park. We're on the 21st floor, and the park resembles The Boston Common and Central Park in that it's in the middle of the city, and it's SO green!! I can't wait to walk through it.

After breakfast we walked to the SkyTrain (train above the road) and rode it to the Chao Phraya River, the main river that runs north to south on the west side of Bangkok. We declined our first offer of a boat tour, but took the second offer at a much cheaper price. The only problem with this tour was a non-English speaking driver. Oh well!

All the same, the boat tour was amazing. It was exactly what I was hoping to see on this trip. People live in houses right above the river, hang their clothes to dry outside, and live simple, impoverished lives. Little boys swam in the river, old men sat on cement stairways- just living.

The river is brown and absolutely disgusting, however. Twelve inch catfish swarm and fight for bread that's thrown in to feed them. A six foot snake appeared in the river and little boys threw bread at that too. The snake was a good 18" in circumference, and the head and tail were underwater. Who knows how long it really was?!

We passed by many temples along the river, and many beat-up bungalows and homes with holes in the walls, floors, and roofs. the houses had no window panes, just wood panels to cover the window space in inclement weather.

We next took a Tuk-Tuk, a three wheeled scooter to the Golden Mount(ain). Large wrapping staircases lead up to the pinnacle at which a temple lies. Once inside, after removing our shoes, we saw a gold Buddha (gold leaved) and many small Buddhas around the "shrine". Upstairs, on the roofdeck, was a large cone structure of gold leaf and numerous jewels. The roofdeck also gave a great panoramic view of the city of Bangkok. The city is huge!

Next, our Tuk-Tuk driver forced us to go to TAT, or Tourism Authority of Thailand because the government gives them a gas coupon for sending tourists there- at least that's how we understood it. If we decide to go on any mini-trips, we'll likely book with them since they are government run businesses. We then stopped at the Lucky Buddha - lucky because it's sustained over 300 years. You cannot wear shoes in the temple, but ironically, you can take pictures and talk on cell phones. In front of the Lucky Buddha were many more gold leaved Buddhas, along with candles and incense. Only monks were allowed on the platform closest to the large Lucky Buddha, but we took a picture in front where others are allowed.

Finally, our Tuk-Tuk brought us back to the Grand Palace, King Rama the first's palace. We saw many of his temples, and buildings, a library where only the King is allowed, the outside of the ballroom where the King hosted parties with royalty, and where the elephants were kept during such events. Each structure was most elegant with excessive jewel-work, much gold and all colors of the rainbow. (Dare I say gaudy?) You see smaller scale things like this at amusement parks in Disney World, but the difference is these buildings were actually used by the King, and only now are they available to the tourists. You cannot enter the buildings because the present King still uses them. These gorgeous and delicate looking structures put our cement high rises, and "prettiest" city halls to SHAME!

Monks wore orange or brown robes and bald-shaved heads. Young boys who want to be monks, sat and prayed. Any male who lives as a monk for >5 days, is allowed into "heaven". Women are not allowed to touch monks as it is considered very disrespectful. The King must be a monk, in order to be King, so the current King served his 5 days and fulfilled the requirements. The current King is the longest reigning King in history, celebrating 60 years this year. He also turns 80 this year! The Thai people are EXTREMELY loyal and devoted to their King. They wear "We love the King" wristbands that look identical to our LIVESTRONG yellow bracelets. There are pictures of the King everywhere! Street signs, in hotels, on advertisements, in peoples' homes, on the side of 30+ story buildings, EVERYWHERE! Thais also wear yellow polo shirts every Monday (of this year) because the King was born on a Monday, and yellow is the color for that day. Everyday has a color, for example, August 12th is the Queen's birthday, and she was born on a Friday, so everyone will wear blue on that Friday. We see so much yellow everyday of the week, it's nauseating. But, I'm sure I'll buy a yellow shirt before I leave. :)

The whole time we were on this tour of the palace, we had a tour guide named KJ. She approached us as we entered the palace. For whatever reason, she thought Todd and I were dating! Todd is my boss, btw! The whole 2 hour tour, she kept referring to each of us as 'sweety' or 'honey'. "Aren't you going to pay for your sweety?", she'd ask Todd. It was hilarious! KJ was very entertaining throughout the tour. She made us count "1-2-3-sexy" for all our "postcard" pictures inside the palace. She was often inappropriate with remarks about Todd only lasting 15 minutes, but if he had the fruit of this very specific flower, he'd last 2 hours. SO embarrassing for ALL involved, but Todd was a very good sport and took it all in stride. She made sure to point out all the statues without bottoms on, as "sexy statues". She randomly read our palms telling Todd he's very concerned with buying land and property, he's a family man, and I'm his "last station", meaning ?? According to KJ's palm reading skills, I'm a sweety and a mother-in-one, and very focused on family, "a good deal". And Liz thinks too much and is a worry-wart causing her to get an upset stomach. Mind you, KJ is Thai, and we had to do quite a bit of deciphering along the way. KJ also knew a lot about U.S. pop-culture and used many references to keep us laughing. For example, the half woman half chicken was "not KFC", the monkey type jesters were "X-men", Todd was a "7-11", and if Todd ran in the next US election, he could stay in the palace like Bill Clinton did, "and Monica (Liz) could come too". Apparently Tiger Woods had also been to the palace at some point. KJ showed us this gigantic mural depicting ancient Thai history. The detail was amazing! On the way out, KJ referenced Superman and Superwoman, showing us paintings on the buildings suggesting Todd was Superman (though she claimed he looked like Tom Cruise, Michael J. Fox, and Tom Hanks all in one) and showing a 1/2 woman (with legs), as well as 1/2 mermaid (with one mermaid tail) painting as being Superwoman because of her dual capabilities. She then asked Todd if she looked like me, "like your sweety?". I could have taken it as a compliment, but "Superwoman" had no shirt on... How embarrassing?!!! We were all laughing and trying to make an otherwise ridiculously uncomfortable situation really fun and entertaining.

Lastly, we viewed the Reclining Buddha, which is gold leaved and lying on it's side. It's absolutely enormous! It's quite a site inside this temple that's barely big enough to house it. Again, no shoes. the bottoms of the Reclining Buddha's feet are made from Mother of Pearl and have extremely intricate details.

We all decided we had had enough of KJ, as she was a bit much, and took a taxi to the Flower Market. Here, we found blocks and blocks of outdoor markets with beautiful, vibrant, exotic flowers. It's amazing to see the gross number of flowers as well as the many different species that grow in and around Thailand. Liz and I have a favorite flower, it's this orange-red color that resembles a flamingo head. It's very durable and almost waxy. We WILL be getting some for our apartment!

We finally went back to the hotel, freshened up, and reconvened for dinner at Lemongrass, a delicious Thai restaurant. We dined outside, on NIH's dime, and it was remarkable. Liz, Todd, and I had excellent food, excellent conversation, and really enjoyed reflecting on our days' events together (sounds cheesy, I know.). We talked for quite some time, but decided to check out the Night Bazaar close to our apartment. We were told by one talkative local, that the market was for the "high so" or high society, and things were more expensive there. We did a lot of browsing, but made no purchases -- we will though! We then headed to a massive ferris-wheel and took a ride for 100 Baht, only $2.50. There was a pretty decent view of the city, but more remarkable was the (almost) aerial view of the Night Bazaar! It was HUGE! Block after block of stuff for sale. We also caught a little of a free concert with a Thai cover performance of Shakira.

What a day!