Thailand: Bangkok Day 2

Day 2, I had a quick breakfast where I planned out my day.  First stop the Golden Mount also referred to as Wat Saket. The lonely planet guide book highly recommended it. So I grabbed a tuk-tuk to take me there. The temple had first been attempted to be constructed in the late 1700's, but do to the soft swampy soil of Bangkok it sunk into the ground, after a second attempt, it too sunk into the ground leaving a slight hill of the rubble and brick from the temple. Quickly this hill became over grown with weeds and jungle, because it's the tropics and in he 1800's king  Rama IV attempted a third try to create temple, which stayed above ground. Until the 1940s where it began to sink again and a large elaborate outside structure was created to keep the temple above ground.

Prayers are written on these golden leaves, usually intended for someone other than yourself. 

Small areas of worship and grave sites line the bottom of the hill

These bells line the pathway, each is inscribed with a prayer, as people pass they ring the bell as a way of communicating to Buddha  

View of the city below

At the top of the mount there is the golden Stuppa 

After this I headed to Wat Pho which houses the giant reclined buddha. This temple is considered the birth place of the traditional thai massage, and there is a large school complex on the Wat grounds dedicated to teaching Thai Massage. The golden Buddha measure 160 ft in length and takes up pretty much the entire temple.

From there I walked a block to the Grand Palace, it was hot, ridiculously hot. So by the time I got to the   entrance of the Grand Palace I was pretty sweaty, on top of that I had to then proceed to cover my shoulders and arms out of respect. So i begrudgingly pulled on my cover up, and hoped to not die of heat exhaustion. After purchasing my ticket, I made my way to the woman's washroom where in an effort to get cool I splashed some water on my face. Eventually I came to the conclusion of fuck it and put my whole head under the tap and wet my hair. I instantly felt better. As I put up my now dripping hair there was a Thai woman who was looking at me in shock and disgust. "Don't judge me." Whether or not she understood the words, I think she got my point. When I walked out of the washroom I felt so much better as hordes of people walked past me dripping in sweat. I had no regrets. 

So I made my way on the tour of the Grand Palace. The king no longer resides here, but rather in the Summer Palace to the south, however whenever he need to be in Bangkok on official business he stays here. The place was a buzz of activity while works tried to get everything in top shape for the coming New Year celebration and the King's arrival that weekend. 

This was our tour guide. Many of the places were closed off to the public because of the upcoming royal visit

The guardians are demons that are meant to scare away bad spirits. 

Home to the Emerald Buddha. The Buddha statue is actual made from jade, and is not allowed to be photographed. It had different costumes that are made from pure gold, one for each of the 3 seasons, which is changed by the royal family at the start of each season. 

All the walls are painted with murals depicting the stories of Buddha

The Royal Living Quarters. Obviously we did not go in.

This is the royal ball room. The architectural design here is meant to blend European design with that of traditional Thai. 

 Then after a very long and hot day I made my way back to my hotel via Tuk-Tuk. I went and got a Thai foot massage, where I'm pretty sure I feel asleep, so you know it was good. After I grabbed my things from the hotel and made my way to get to the bus station where I had time to grab some dinner before my overnight bus to Chiang Mai.

The overnight bus had reclining seats with lots of leg room. The seats were sized for western size people, the problem is that I'm actually asian sized, so my feet dangled, and the seat was too long for my high length, but not quite big enough to put my feet up on the seat. It was overall a very long and uncomfortable experience. I take issue with all my friends who said the bus was the best way to get to Chiang Mai. You lied.