August 19-25
I was very excited for our week in Bangkok. Not pure excitement about the city, but more excited about the fact that we had a full week with almost no plans. We had reservations with a bed and breakfast that was right on the Chao Phraya River and overlooked Wat Arun. So we had beautiful views at breakfast and on the roof at night.
Our hotel was right next to the Royal Palace, so Michael made it a part of his running loop.
Our hotel was also close to Wat Pho.
Wat Pho is the Temple of the Reclining Buddha. This Buddha is 46 meters long and 15 meters high and illustrates the passing of the Buddha into nirvana. The feet and the eyes are engraved with mother-of-pearl detail.
It’s really big.
And the bottoms of the Buddha’s feet are intricately decorated.
Wat Pho is also famous as Thailand’s first university and is the birthplace and training center of traditional Thai massage. We didn’t get massages at Wat Pho, but we did get a few massages (each) throughout the week. Thai massages hurt. But for only 10 or 12 bucks, you deal with the pain and enjoy the benefits of someone just destroying your back.
Tuk tuks!
One of the reasons that we spent an entire week in Bangkok was so Michael could have some custom suits made. He had them made at a place called Raja’s. We’re going to have to go back to work eventually – we might as well look good doing it.
Someone should tell them that the jacket is missing arms…
We loved this experience. Raja’s is run by three generations of a Sikh family and has become pretty well known. They have made suits for a lot of politicians and generals from around the world including Bill Clinton and John Kerry. After fitting Bill Clinton, Bobby (2nd gen) was invited to his inauguration. So that’s cool.
I also had some work dresses made – that experience was less cool. The dresses ended up meh – I’ll just stick with buying off the shelf going forward.
Another treat, since we had so much free time was going to see a movie. We saw the new Mission Impossible movie. It was fun to catch a movie, but the most interesting thing happened right at the beginning of the movie. After the previews, before the film started, everyone in the theater had to stand while a song was played to honor the king.
One of the items “to see” in Bangkok is Wat Sutat or the Giant/Great Swing. I have mixed reviews online of what its nickname is. The thing to view is this large Chinese frame. An annual ceremony took place where guys would try to swing high enough to get a sack of gold tied to a pole about 75 feet in the air. I’m having a hard time envisioning this, but I think the men swung from the red thing and there was a different pole that they were trying to loop the sack of gold on. Who knows. The point is that a ton of men died doing this, so the ceremony was banned in the 1930s. The swing was built in 1782, so I guess there was 150ish years of dudes dying before they realized it was a stupid idea.
We took a ferry across the river to check out Wat Arun – the temple that we can see from our B&B. Wat Arun, which translates to Temple of Dawn, is a Buddhist temple named after the Hindu god Aruna, who is often personified as the radiations of the rising sun.
The problem with Wat Arun? The main building had a strict dress code… and I didn’t pass the test. So this was my view:
After the temple we popped over to see the famous Catholic Church, Santa Cruz Church. Apparently there was a large Portuguese community in Bangkok. In 1516, Portugal signed a treaty with Thailand to supply ammunitions. The treaty gave them the rights to reside, trade and practice their religion in Thailand. This church was built in the 1700s on land gifted by King Taksin in appreciation for the loyalty of the Portuguese.
Unsurprisingly, we had some great food while in Bangkok.
P,aor – where we ate tom yum goong:
Krua Apsorn – we ate crab Thai curry and a super spicy pork dish, among other things Michael ordered for us. My spice training has definitely paid off! I won’t say that this dish was my favorite, but I could definitely handle the heat.
But the best food we had, in my opinion, was some noodles that we found at a food stall next to this random bar. I could eat this every day. Crispy pork on top. Mmmmmmmmmm
Also we had some great Thailand craft beer and Jenga!
We loved Bangkok and were pumped to have lots of time to scout it out and relax. We’ll be back in a few weeks for another three days with Ken and J9!
