We spent most of the day soaking up some Thai culture – and when I say “soaking,” I mean it because things got pretty sweaty. Our top items on the morning’s agenda were visiting the city’s two largest Buddhist temples (called “wats”) along with the Grand Palace. In respect of Thai culture, visitors must follow a pretty strictly-enforced dress code when visiting such places. Basically your legs and your upper arms must be covered. It’s probably a good idea because the monks at these temples be might forced to rethink their vows if they saw some of the outfits ladies were wearing down on KSR yesterday.
Anyways, to honor the dress code, I wore a pair of jeans – the only pants I had to bring. It was either that or be forced to don a pair of the unflattering fisherman pants the temples keep on hand for visitors unaware of the rules. Ashlee had a pair of shorts that convert to pants with a zipper attachment, so she was set.
Our first stop of the morning was Wat Po, a temple about a 30-minute walk from our hotel. We knew we were getting close because with each block we covered there were fewer food carts and more Buddhist merchandise stores selling everything from small Buddha statues to large framed pictures of the king to these little standalone temples that I kept thinking look like birdhouses. A couple stores were even selling monk’s robes. I thought about buying a set for Halloween next year, but Ashlee didn’t think that would give me very good karma.
Wat Po (it’s official name is Wat Phra Chettuphon Wimon Mangkhalaram Ratchaworamahawihan) is also known as the Temple of the Reclining Buddha because, surprise surprise, it has the largest reclining Buddha statue in Thailand. The grounds of the temple were really quiet and peaceful. Along with the 85F weather and sunshine, we were also blessed with a nice breeze. It was really pleasant sitting in a shady spot and watching the wind move through all of the leafy plants and trees. Our time in Olgii has really made us miss such greenery. My favorite part of the temple was all the stone warriors standing guard at the entrances. Some of them were armed with wicked-looking swords and others were hybrid creatures like dragons crossed with chickens.
After Wat Po we walked across the street to the Grand Palace, the official residence of the Thai monarchy, and the Temple of the Emerald Buddha. I think I’ll just let the photos speak for themselves. No disrespect to Thailand, but honestly a lot of what I read and heard just sort of went right through my head.
I do vividly remember lunch, though – we went to an American style café called Rick’s Coffee where we had Mexican food! Or at least a close approximation to Mexican food. Ashlee got a chicken taco and I got a chicken quesadilla. They even came with little sides of salsa and guacamole! We were in heaven. We also got a green salad topped with bleu cheese and a house balsamic vinagriette dressing. I rounded the meal out with an iced latte that really hit the spot. After finishing our meal Ashlee just shook her head and said, “We’re really going to cry when it comes time to go back to Mongolia, huh?”
As we were leaving the café, I saw something that made me do a double-take. Just across from our table there was a painting featuring the standard image of Chinggis Khaan. “What the heck is he doing here?” I thought. I guess it was just Mongolia’s way of telling us that we can run, but we can’t hide.
After lunch we headed across town to Dusit Park where we visited the Vimanmek Mansion, a former royal palace. A bit intimidated by the distance – and little weighed down by our lunch – we decided it was a good time for our first tuk-tuk ride. We had no trouble hailing one, but even though we had the name of our destination – a huge tourist site – written in Thai, the driver didn’t understand where we wanted to go. He must have been new because even after we showed him a map, he had to stop and ask for directions. He made up for it though with his mad driving skills. It was like Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride. I think he enjoyed my reactions (wide eyes and white knuckles) to some of his crazier maneuvers and it they only served to egg him on. Thankfully we reached our destination in one piece.
After walking through the park grounds we made our way to the royal mansion, the largest golden teakwood mansion in the world!, which is now just a museum. We got there just in time to join a free English-speaking tour. This was another place that had a strict dress code – the place handed out lots of awful-looking Hawaiian shirts to ill-equipped guests – and we all had to leave our shoes outside the building. The house was built and furnished in 1900 after the then-king visited Europe and found himself impressed with their royal palaces. It was filled with all kinds of artifacts, furnishings, and other treasures that he picked up on his trip. Hands-down the best part of our visit was our tour guide, a cute young woman with a thick accent but the widest smile ever. Since we were perhaps the only native English-speakers on the tour, I think we were the only ones to really understand her. Ashlee wanted to adopt her – even though she must have been thirty.
We finished up our tour, got the world’s best fruit ice cream bar from the gift shop, and decided to tuk-tuk it back to our hotel to rest a bit and take a dip in the pool before dinner. I guess that about brings you up to speed on our day. Now, I’m off to see about that drink. I think I’ll go for a bloody mary…
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