A Day in Bangkok

What originally started out to be a solo tour of Bangkok turned in to a party as four of my colleagues were able to join me!  I'm so glad it worked out as it was so fun exploring the city with them and getting to spend to outside of work together.  At our first stop, I made the decision to just enjoy the sights and not worry so much about learning much.  Not gonna lie, I really couldn't understand our guide as he talked REAL fast and combined with his accent and all the sounds around us, I missed just about everything he said.  Not a ton of commentary put lots of pics to enjoy.

First stop of the day was the Reclining Buddha Temple (Wat Pho).

Before entering any temples, you 
take off your shoes.  At this temple,
they give you bag to carry your shoes.

My friend Julia

For 20 Bhat (approximately $0.75), you get a little cup of coins.  Along the wall of the temple are pots for the monks.  The custom is to walk along the wall and drop in your coins while saying a blessing for the monks.  The pots are collected and the money goes to help the monks assist people in need.

The King of Thailland
Maha Vajiralongkorn 

Our next stop was the Grand Palace. The Palace has been the home of the King of Siam (or Thailand as it became known in 1939) since 1782.  

Inside the Grand Palace is Wat Phra Kaew (Temple of the Emerald Buddha).  It is considered the most sacred Buddist temple in Thailand and because of this, you are not allowed ot take photos inside but are allowed to outside through the doorway.  Unfortnately, these photos do not do any justice to the beautiful Buddha.  If you are ever in a temple, it is important you do not point your feet at Buddha as it is considered disrespectful (sit on your feet or sit crossed-leg).

In the photos above, we are sprinkling ourselves with water using a lotus flower as it is a Buddhist symbol of good fortune.  In the photos below, for a donation of 20 Bhat, you get a lotus flower, candle and incense that you light before Buddha and then lay the flower at Buddha.  Each object has a meaning in Buddhism: the candle represents the light of wisdom and respect; the incense is to show respect and purify the space; and the lotus flower represents represents purity. 

Apparently they call underground
crosswalks Rat Tunnels

We wrapped up our tour of Bangkok with a ride on a long boat through the canals and even got to feed some fish. 

It was time to head back to the hotel as Julia and Lydia had to catch their flight back to China.  We saw this guy on the drive back.

Pamela, Debbie and I relaxed for a few hours and then headed over to Asiatique, one of the night markets in Bangkok for a little shopping and dinner before I was off to the airport.  There's another free water taxi at the city pier that takes you to Asiatique so we got another view of the city from the water.

After being in Thailand for a week, I'm finally getting some Pad Thai!

For dessert, it was all about the mango sticky rice. The fresh squeezed orange 

juice was the perfect compliment to dinner...the cute carrier was my favorite.

A small temple with flowers in the airport

Found some mango sticky rice candy...great 

way to use up my remaining Bhat and 

take home a little local flavor

Passed Ronald on my way to my gate. In Thailand, when you approach someone, the greeting is referred to as the wai. You put your hands together as in a prayer and give a slight bow. What a nice way to wrap up my brief stay in Thailand.