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| Buddhist Monks at the Wat |
The city has over 400 Buddhist temples, which house Buddha is various positions. We've seen the two most famous statues of him- the Reclining Buddha and the Solid Gold Buddha (he sits cross-legged).
The Wat (Temple) Tour
We signed up for, and paid for this tour at the airport tourism desk. It was a good price-$17.50 CDN for a our private tour in a car with a driver and a guide. The guide, Lek, knew his history and he was interesting.
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| Solid Gold Buddha |
The first stop was at Wat Trimit, the Temple of the solid gold Buddha. This guy weighs 5 1/2 tons of gold. In order to protect him during WWI he was covered in concrete. He was moved after WWII and during the move the concrete cracked, revealing the gold underneath. When all the concrete was removed the Thai people realized they had a real prize so they installed him at this temple.
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| Rows of Buddha statues |
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| Worshippers rub small squares of gold leaf on these Buddhas for good fortune |
Next we saw Wat Po, the Temple of the Reclining Buddha. He is huge. As we looked at him we became aware of an unusual, constant pinging noise. We couldn't figure out what it was. It sounded like metallic rain. We continued walking around Buddha and saw people dropping single coins into a long row of bowls-the source of the pinging sound. It was at this temple where a western woman (white) had her wallet picked from her purse right in front of us. She realized what happened just after the woman did it and confronted the thief, who just walked away.
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| Reclining Buddha |
Then, the hidden agenda surfaced. The reason that we got such a great deal on this tour was because now we were taken to the jewelry factory. This factory tour was just like every other factory tour we have ever been on in Europe. It starts with a very brief explanation of how the product is made, and then we are ushered in to the showroom, where an army of sales agents is oh, so eager to assist us in saving money. Fortunately, we are very good at smiling and saying, "No thank you."
We were out of that shop in record time, only to find ourselves being spirited to the Thai Tailor Shop next. Here, smiling Thai men would make custom made suits, shirts or slacks out of whatever fabric we wanted. Three silk shirts, custom made would be $25 CDN each. Seems like a good price but we have heard that the quality is often poor. You still get what you pay for. We nodded, said no and left.
We were back in the car but not yet driven back to our hotel-we found ourselves at a tour company. Here, they were very happy to help us find more things to do in Thailand. After assuring the representative that we didn't need hotel, airline, train or tour information (and booking) we were finally finished and in the backseat of the car.
We asked the driver to take us to the Weekend Market instead of the hotel and he did so.
The tour itself was good, and the price was reasonable. We were lucky we know how to say no.
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| A shoe stall at the market. Shoes cost 100 baht-$3.40 CDN |
We spent some time weaving our way through the stalls of goods and the throngs (hordes) of people. This market is vast and popular; way more locals than tourists here. It was past lunch and were were way beyond peckish. We had to eat, so we sourced out where the locals were eating. This is an outdoor market and the food area was clean-it was just not what you expect in North America. It is similar to a mall food court. Around the perimeter were very basic cooking stalls, with the specific food the stall prepared. In the middle of the area were plastic tables and chairs. We looked at each stall's picture menu and pointed to what we wanted. Two meals cost us $3.20. We suffered no ill effects from eating street food.
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| Al-dripping with sweat and eating his Thai meal |
This day was the hottest day we have ever experienced. We were walking sweat drips and we needed to jump into the pool back at the hotel. Since this market was quite a distance from the hotel we knew that a cab ride would take more than a hour (the cab would get stuck in traffic.) We found our way to the Skytrain, Bangkok's equivalent of a subway but this is above the road. For under $3 we got back to the hotel in less than 30 minutes. What a deal.
We are really having a good time here. Bangkok is an incredibly busy city, yet it is super clean. The people are friendly. As long as tourists know that the people here are out to make some money and all you have to do is be polite when you say, "No thanks" they leave you alone.
Good narrative there, guys, I think that you should rethink the silk stuff and go back and get Al a set of silk shirts and pj's. Wait! Is this stuff being made in "sweatshops"? Buyer beware!
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