Activity level: 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️
Modes of transportation: 👟🛶🛺
We decided to check out of our hotel this day because it was a little pricy, so we packed up our stuff and headed out. Eric found a great deal at a very nice place nearby (The Vince Hotel), which was only a short walk away.
They didn’t have our room ready yet, so we dropped off our bags and headed out to see the Grand Palace: the old king residences and national treasure of Thailand. First, we had to find an ATM—and luckily our debit card worked again. We jumped right into a tuk-tuk, a sort of three-wheeled motorbike with passenger space in the back. They’re a classic part of Bangkok, and they litter the roads.
Immediately, our driver took a hard U-turn and we had to hold on for dear life (did I mention there are no seatbelts?). It was a little unnerving speeding across the city, but we made it to the Grand Palace with everything intact.
We should have done our research more, but there are no shorts allowed in the palace or any “wats” (Buddhist temples). Sarah was looking stylish in her new Thai pants, but Eric had to buy some “pants of shame” as Sarah calls them from the vendors on the street (he haggled them down to 150 baht—definitely still an overpay, but what can you do).
We decided to hire a guide to try to get the most out of the experience, and we’re so glad we did. It’s fairly common to hire a guide outside the gates, so we chose a very nice older Thai lady who seemed knowledgeable (it was also about 3x cheaper—1000 baht—than going through any websites). She also informed us that she was working to make money to feed her 15 cats, so Sarah was sold.
Immediately, we were glad we hired her. She showed us the tamarind trees planted in the entryway by the first king in the current royalty and picked some fresh leaves for us, informing us that these were used for traditional pad Thai. They tasted very lemony, and are used to impart fragrance and acidity without citrus.
She explained to us the history of the kings and which ones were generally regarded as the best. She also taught us some of the parables and stories from Buddhism that were painted all along the walls of the square (144 paintings!). It was enlightening! (Pun intended)
The architecture inside was beautiful and extraordinarily ornate, with thousands of little details, all hand-made. We also found it interesting that much of the architecture wasn’t Thai: there was much Chinese and Indian influence, among others. The cultures view themselves as sort of kindred nations that have only really split in the modern era.
Before we got to the Grand Palace, we visited Wat Phra Kaew. We took off our shoes (as you have to in all the temples) and got to see the pretty amazing sculpture of Buddha made from pure emerald. It was amazingly huge (24 inches tall, 12 or so inches wide), and our tour guide gave us all the facts about Buddhism, including all the main characters. We found it fascinating! Eric did feel sort of bad that she was talking in the temple, since there were about a hundred “no talking” signs, but she seemed like she knew what she was doing.
We spent about an hour and a half outside the temple and in the surrounding gardens, and by the time we made it to the grand palace, our tour was almost over. People (at least tourists) weren’t allowed to go inside, so it was a quick walk past the beautiful exterior before heading to the exit. The main current palace was built actually with European and Thai style, since Rama 5 (now on 10) was a big fan of London. In fact, there were a few older palaces that had the flair of the king who built them on the grounds that are interesting. They pretty much stopped after the 19th century, though, since the latest one was built in 1880.
After the tour, our guide helped us book a boat tour to check out the canals of Bangkok, with a drop off near two of the most famous temples. We were absolutely starving, though, since we hadn’t eaten all day (it was about 4:00 PM). So we bought some croissants at the bakery and a large amount of mango before heading to our boat (they don’t eat while walking here, so our guide insisted we wait to eat until we were on the boat).
The boat tour was a little dicey at first: in the main river, it was choppy; and our boat was very narrow. We made it into a canal pretty soon, and enjoyed the calm ride through the waterways, past some beautiful temples and interesting houses.
On the ride, our captain slowed down to let a vendor try to sell us wares. Eric expertly haggled down some beers (not really—the guy laughed when he tried), and we bought two “Changs” for 160 baht just for the novelty of it.
We also rode past Wat Arun, the beautiful “temple of the dawn” that’s on the 10 baht coin; and it was beautiful. We didn’t have time to get out, though, so we just enjoyed it from the water.
After the ride, we got let off near Wat Pho, the reclining Buddha (and we paid 30 baht to get off the boat to a “private” dock. Scam!). Eric’s pants ripped pretty badly getting off the boat in the rough waters, but he was wearing shorts underneath (and we still needed the pants) fortunately.
We stopped to get some pandan doughnuts since we can’t pass up street fried dough before heading into the temple. Sarah almost balked at the price for the temple (200 baht—a fortune) but Eric promised it would be worth it.
This was one of the most impressive temples. It has a reclining Buddha, which is a 151-foot statue of Buddha in gold laying on its side. The feet are also beautifully adorned with mother of pearl-crafted scenes. It’s a cool sight to see.
It started to rain, so we hailed a taxi (with seat belts this time) and took it to the democracy monument for dinner. There’s a very cheap, but fancy restaurant there called Methavalai Sordaeng, that also has a Michelin star. We weren’t sure they were going to let us in with our attire (and without reservations), but they seated us immediately.
The food was simple but great! We got a sampler appetizer with spring rolls, fried shrimp roti, chicken, and some sort of fried seafood ball we couldn’t identify. All good! Then, we got som tam (the papaya salad again) and some roasted duck in red curry sauce—both excellent.
We finished the main course with some pad Thai, which isn’t Eric’s favorite, but was delicious. Even though we both felt too full, we also got a sort of shaved ice melon dessert that a bunch of people in the restaurant had gotten. All in all, it was a really great meal, and it came in around 2000 baht (about 60 bucks). Not bad for a Michelin star experience!
Done with the day of walking tours, we headed back to the hotel to rest up for yet another travel day (is it just me, or do we write that a lot?).
But first, we had to do a little laundry, so Eric made the trip to a local 24-hour laundromat while Sarah worked on the blog. Eric says it was awesome: the detergent filled automatically, and the wash and dry cycle together only took an hour with fairly low heat on the clothes. We need to find a washer dryer like that!
Anyway, we had our clean clothes and we packed them up so we could be out quicker in the morning. Off to sleep!
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