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I finally got to sleep last night around 3 AM. When I woke up at 11 AM, I was
fairly rested. For today, I don't have anything planned, so I'm in no hurry to
do anything. I'm feeling pretty good, considering I was flying for 24 hours! I
have bottle water (free) in my room each morning, which is nice.
My necessity to see things got the best of me. I headed down to the travel
agent at the front desk and booked a tour for the afternoon. My trip this
afternoon is to the Grand Palace. It leaves around 1 PM, so I have about an hour
to kill. I walked around Sukhumvit Road. It's like most Asian cities I've been
to. Everybody is packed close together and there are tons of street vendors
trying to make a living. I bought a can of soda from the Subway.
My van arrive at 1 PM. I'm on the tour with about 6 others. They are from
Germany, India, and France. Traffic was pretty bad, which didn't surprise me.
Lots of slow going. I'm impressed how all the drivers make it down the street
without killing each other. Very, very tight.
The tour guide is very informative. The one person from France apparently
didn't read any of the guide books before coming to Thailand. At the temples,
you must cover your shoulders, no shorts, and appropriate footwear is required.
We had to stop and get here some appropriate sandals (what ever that means). She
took her jacket off and the guide told her she need to cover her shoulders.
The Grand Palace & Wat Phra Kaew was amazing. I hope these pictures do it justice. Thai
architecture is very interesting. Lots of color. Ceramics, glass, and gold leaf
accentuate the decorations. We saw the Emerald Buddha, which was pretty cool.
Before going into the temple, we had to take off our shoes. Also, when you sit
down, you have to make sure that you're feet don't point towards the Buddha.
From the Lonely Planet Guide Book to Thailand
"Also called the temple of the Emerald Buddha, Wat Phra Kaew is an
architectural wonders of gleaming, gilded stupas seemingly buoyed above the
ground, polished orange and green rough tiles piercing the human sky, mosaic
encrusted tellers and rich marble pediments. The highly stylized ornamentation
is a shrine to the much revered Emerald Buddha. Such a sacred site is bestowed
with a fittingly official name - Wat Phra Si Ratana Satsadaram. It adjoins the
former residents of the monarch, the grand palace."
After walking through the complex, we headed to the next stop on our tour. It
was a very nice gem store sponsored by the Thai Government. Lisa, if I wasn't
worried about spending $1,500, you would have had a new ruby ring. All very
nice, but very expensive.
I'm now having a Thai dinner at the hotel. New eating rule: if you don't know the
vegetable, don't eat it. I eat something that was extremely tough, stringy, and
bitter. I guess I needed a little fiber. The dinner was Thai prawns, vegetables,
and rice. Pretty good. Only 200 Baht. With two Heinekens, dinner was very cheap.
It's about 6 PM. I'm going to head to the Internet cafe. I really need to
find a wireless one. I'm going to bed early. My trip to Attuyaha leaves at 6:30
AM. Yikes.
Wat Phra Kaew
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