October 14 - Thailand: Bangkok

We had a very, very hard night's sleep last night.  The electricity kept turning off in our room (and 3 other rooms on our floor), which would turn off the air conditioner and the room would become stiflingly hot.  This happened at least 4 times, and each time we would call the front desk and they would switch a fuse to fix it.  But by 4:00AM we were so tired of it happening that we asked them to move us to another room.  They moved us to the third floor and - once the A/C kicked in - we finally got back to sleep.

THEN we got a wake-up call at 6:00AM.  I can't remember the last time I heard Jon get that angry.  He practically bit the guy's head off over the phone.  And I don't blame him!

At 9:30 this next morning, we went back to our room and got dressed and headed down to breakfast.  There, they forgot our order and we had to wait a 1/2 hour for our eggs to arrive.  So we asked for a refill on our tea - for which they charged us!  Enough of this.  I'm ready to leave this place and get out of Bangkok.  It's not a bad town, but I'm no longer in the mood for a big city and I want to get out into the country again.

Wat Phra Kaew and The Grand Palace

We caught the Skytrain to the waterfront and took a water taxi to Tha Tien where the Grand Palace is.  Because it didn't open until 1:00, we stopped and had a drink and a bite to eat at a little place on the waterfront.  Then we began to walk the few blocks to the entrance of the palace.  We didn't really know where the entrance was, and we stopped at one entrance with a guard to see if we could get in, but he waved us away.  A tout approached us and told us that - because it was Sunday - there was a special ceremony until 3:30 and we couldn't get in.  He then tried to tell us somewhere else we could go and of course he would take us there.  So Jon looked at me and said, "Well, let's go get a picture of the front gate anyway."  which I knew to mean "This guy's full of $#()*@^ so let's ditch him fast".  So we continued walking and rounded the corner where we saw a few more entrances.  On our way to the main one, we were stopped by a well-dressed man who told us we couldn't get in because of the way were were dressed.  We knew that entrance to the palace required conservative attire, so we'd brought some of my sarongs to cover up our legs.  But this man said my shoes didn't have backs and sarongs weren't allowed.  Then he asked us where we were from and we knew immediately where this conversation was headed.  So Jon used the "Well let's get a picture anyway" line and I promptly followed him.

Inside the palace gates, sure enough, they wouldn't let us through with our current attire.  Now, Jon was in shorts, a t-shirt, and Tevas and I was wearing my new embroidered sleeveless dress with black slip-on shoes (I was dressed quite nicely, actually).  But they didn't like any of what I was wearing and they wouldn't let us get in with sarongs.  So we had to go to the "borrowed clothes" line to get some more "appropriate" attire.

Jon had to put on some long pants that were too short for him, and which he said reminded him of the pants he used to wear as part of his Catholic school uniform.  His t-shirt and Tevas passed the "appropriate" inspection.  I, however, had to put on a purple plaid short-sleeved shirt and had to change my pretty slip-ons in for some heinous black plastic shoes.  Not that I'm vain, but I would like to understand how this ridiculous attire was more "appropriate" than what I had worn into the palace.  There were people in jeans, t-shirts, and tennis shoes who - I think - looked much more casual.  Well, annoying or not, this is what they considered respectful so I was going to wear it.  We walked in and bought our tickets.  

Royal Thai Decorations

The first thing we came to was the Royal Thai Decorations and Coins Pavilion which was air-conditioned so we went in.  Inside were some beautiful displays of crowns, necklaces, broaches, swords, and medals worn by the royal family.  It was a lovely exhibit.  We also saw the different "attires" for the Emerald Buddha which is part of the Wat here in the Palace.  The Buddha has 3 different seasonal outfits - cold season, warm season, and rainy season.  These outfits are changed 3 times a year in a very traditional ceremony overseen by the King.  The rainy season outfit was not in the display because it was currently on the Buddha.

Wat Phra Kaew

We walked into the Palace grounds and stopped right where we were.  It was unbelievable.  Everywhere we looked was gold, colorful mosaics, gorgeous tiled roofs, mirrors, chedis, and statues.  It was incredibly beautiful, and I couldn't get over the colors.

Our first stop was the Wat Phra Kaew - home of the Emerald Buddha.  The temple was an enormous structure built solely to house an image only 75 cm high.  We took off our shoes and walked inside and sat on the carpeted floor.  The place was packed with tourists and Buddhists alike.  The Emerald Buddha was sitting in a glass case on a massive golden shrine about 2 stories high, surrounded by statues, candles, and flowers.  The Buddha was so far away that we could barely see what it looked like.  It was almost lost in the incredible ornamentation of the Wat itself.

The Emerald Buddha is also called Phra Kaew Morakot, and is probably made of jade or jasper quartz.  Legend says that it was discovered in the 15th-century, when it was covered in plaster and placed in a Chiang Rai Wat.  The abbot who discovered it noticed that the plaster on the nose had flaked off, revealing green stone underneath.  The abbot initially thought that the green stone was emerald and that's how the legend of the Emerald Buddha began.  Since that time, the statue has seen its way through numerous monarchies, wars, and countries - at one time it was kept in Laos by a Laos king. 

Also around the wat was a copy of Angkor Wat in Cambodia.  Jon and I have talked long and hard about going to Siem Riep in Cambodia while we're "in the neighborhood" but we just can't afford the trip or the visas right now.  So we got a few pictures of the model just to feel like we've been there.

We walked around the parts of the palace to which we were allowed access, but we only had a few hours to see as much as we could.  

Bangkok Train Station (Hua Lam Phong)

We left at 3:00 and caught a water taxi back to hotel.  There, we had a quick bite to eat, took showers and finished packing.  Our overnight train was scheduled to leave at 7:40, but the story about traffic in Bangkok is that it can take an hour to get anywhere via the roads.  So we caught a taxi at 6:00 to head to the train station.

We got there 15 minutes later. 

And, of course, the train station wasn't air conditioned and we were hot.  There were little A/Cs in the food court, and we made our way to one of the tables in the A/C air flow.  We sat there for an hour and a half, with a trip to Diary Queen for Blizzards to cool us off.  At 7:20, we got our stuff and went onto the train.

Our seats were in 2nd class sleepers, and much of the train was sold out so our seats were upper berth and the seats right next to the door to the car.  This means that we're in the main bathroom-traffic zone.  But the car was air-conditioned and clean, and the people around us was very nice.

The seats folded out into the lower berths, and the upper berths folded down from the walls.  The lower berth had the window and much more room, which explains why they cost $2 more and were all sold out.  But the upper berths were still nice compared to how we traveled in China.  

Around 8:00, one of the train stewards came through the car to set up the berths.  So we settled into our upper berths - Jon on one side of the aisle and I on the other - and pulled our respective curtains closed and tried to go to sleep.  Unfortunately, the florescent lights were never turned off and the curtains didn't really do the job of shutting out the light.  But at least we're saving the cost of a hotel!