12 Months in Hanoi: Bangkok! (aka, Week 2 in Pics, cont'd.)

So I had to come to Bangkok to work with the team here and Monday and Tuesday ... what a hardship (hoping you can hear the sarcasm dripping from my tone) ...

This town is awesome. It's super overwhelming (huge city), noisy, HOT and crowded - but turn a corner and you're looking at this amazing temple that was constructed 100's of years ago. Very cool melding of old and new.

Pool day!

I arrived Saturday and spent a lovely afternoon lounging by the pool - the weather here is GLORIOUS compared to Hanoi - and doing some shopping. Turns out you can buy pretty much anything here ... my find of the day was Goldfish crackers. Do I eat Goldfish in the US? Nope. Do I miss them at all? Absolutely not. But did they remind me of home and entice me to buy them with their cool fish picture on the front and memories of the "gotta go fishin'" song in the commercial? YES.

And for that reason, I enjoyed Goldfish as my afternoon snack.

On Saturday afternoon, I also explored day trip options for Sunday with a very helpful travel agent based in my hotel. Since I lounged the day away on Saturday, I wanted to be sure I got out and saw some of the cultural sights of Bangkok. And did I ever ...

Bussin'

For about $60 USD, I took a day trip to Ayutthaya, capital city of Thailand for 417 years before Bangkok. I was picked up by bus at 6:45 a.m. (ouch) to begin the 1 hour drive outside of the city. Our first stop was Bang Pa-In Palace, the summer resort for Thai royalty ... I prefer to call it Yul Brenner's house - for anyone who grew up watching The King and I - this reference makes sense ... and for those of you that didn't ... you must go out and rent the Rodgers & Hammerstein masterpiece immediately if not sooner. It's fantabulous.

I digress.

The Bang Pa-In Palace was built by King Rama IV, the king portrayed by Yul Brenner in the aforementioned masterpiece (seriously, go out and rent it. Now.). It's a beautiful location - lots of lakes and ponds - beautifully manicured grounds - cool combination of colonial and Asian architecture ... not too shabby for a summer residence.

Thanks! Happy to be here!

See - I was really there!!
Watchtower and building that was a gift from the Chinese.

Um - this is the GUEST house. Riiiigggghhhhtttttt. Gives you a feel for the massive-ness of this "summer home."

Residential hall and pavilion nestled on a lake filled with koi fish and soft-shelled turtles.

We jumped right back on the bus and headed to Wat Maha That ... a temple (Wat) from the 14th century ... as in 1350's ... as in ... that's freaking OLD.

Buddha statue IN a tree. Pretty badass.

PS - there has GOT to be some way to rotate pictures within a blog, but damned if I can find it (have been struggling for hours now to fix this picture). For now, please just rotate your heads to see the cool-ness that was this Buddha.

Another Buddha

Amazingly old temples - it was unbelievable.

See what I mean? Cool right?

So then we jumped on the bus again to go and see ANOTHER temple ... this one was Wat Na Phra Mane - and forgive me, again, for having to rotate your heads again to see these pics - I'm going to write Google a letter about my discontent with their blogging/photo editing capabilities.

An art student playing a xylophone-like instrument as we walked into the temple. Added to the ambiance.

Buddha in the smaller temple - notice the monk in the right hand corner.

Big Buddha in the bigger temple ...

... his monk had a larger seating area.

THEN ... we jumped on the bus again to go and see ANOTHER temple - Wat Lokayasutharam - the home of the reclining Buddha.

See - I really WAS there - me and the Reclining Buddha!

Another of the Reclining Buddha

And so ended the educational part of the journey. From there, we were whisked away by boat back to Bangkok - some pics:

Temple along the river ...

... and another one ...

... and another one ... LOTS of temples in Thailand

Naval center - reminded me of the monument along the sea wall at the Naval Academy

Back into Bangkok!

All in all, it was a GREAT day. Met some really cool people (2 from Czech Republic that live in NYC and Italy, 1 from Ireland that's living in New Zealand) ... saw some really cool things ... and got a nice little suntan(burn) ... pretty productive Sunday!

Here are some other pics I've taken around town - Bangkok how I see it! ;)

7-11 in the ancient Thai capital. Makes sense.

A sentiment echoed around the country. I should have been counting the number of pictures/memorials/signs/BILLBOARDS (yes, billboards)/etc. they had in honor of the king. In fact, I'm looking at a poster of the king and his wife on the back of the monthly calendar as we speak. The King is everywhere - kinda cool, kinda creepy.

Tuk tuk!

Have to rotate your head again ... :(

Not as refreshing as I thought ... the milk was warm (but tasty), and the coconut itself (the part you eat) was grainy. BUT - it was very refreshing after traipsing through Wats in 85+ degree heat!

Baby monks!

An especially creepy poster of the King overlooking the main road on the way back to my hotel.

Dude's selling eels. On the side of the road. Eels.

Ridiculously large shopping mall ... I was able to find things here that I couldn't find in Hanoi ... i.e. bathmats, a shower curtain, candles, and king sheets. Super exciting purchases, huh?