Having the lights on all night does not make for the most restful sleep, but we only woke up at 10am so it couldn’t have been that bad. We set out to do some sightseeing around Bangkok.
If there is one thing that annoys me more than anything else, it is being taken for a fool. The one thing that really put me off in India was that everyone was trying to take advantage of you at every corner. We encountered the same thing in India and I expect Cambodia and Vietnam would be similar (remains to be seen). That is why I loved Malaysia so much. The people treated you fairly and with respect and welcomed you to their country. What we encountered in Thailand was very different.
When we tried to get a water taxi up the river – no more than 3 minutes each way – the price was suddenly inflated 50 times what it should be. Trying to get a cab near a tourist attraction meant every driver suddenly requested a fixed amount (5x higher) instead of using their meter. I get the economics of tourism, but this just left a bad taste in the mouth. Rant over!
So instead we did a lot of walking today, which turned out to be one of the best things we could have done as we saw and experienced so much more on foot.
Our first stop was Wat Pho – one of the biggest Buddhist temple complexes. It is also home to the biggest Reclining Buddha at 33m.
The spires of Wat Pho temple
We strolled around and bumped into more statues than you care to imagine. It was really enjoyable although incredibly hot. Have I mentioned the heat in Thailand yet?
The Reclining Buddha is too big to take a photo in its entirety, so a head shot will have to do
What to do when it is hot… ice-cream! Adrie found a spot that came highly recommended, but unfortunately it was on the other side of town. After refusing to play along with the taxi scams, we ended up walking through Chinatown and numerous other local markets and quirky streets. It was very interesting to see every spice and fish and flower and tea you could dream of for sale on the side streets of Bangkok.
I wish I could add smell to photos… it was, shall we say, interesting.
Trekking across town for ice-cream might seem silly, but this was so worthwhile. Caramel Popcorn and Seriously Rocky Road were merely two of the six flavours we tried.
Some of the best ice-cream we have had so far! The Rocky Road won!!
With our feet tired and sore from all the walking, we treated them to a wonderful foot massage at one of Bangkok’s more reputable establishments before dinner.
Dinner was delicious and the cocktails were divine, although it didn’t get off to an auspicious start. Our menu exclaimed proudly that it was the start of ant egg season and the top recommendation was an ant egg omelette. I had to try this! Not wanting the omelette, I requested to just taste some ant eggs. As they went pop in my mouth, let’s just say I was happy I wasn’t around for the rest of ant egg season!
We have yet another early morning ahead of us, but we are both super excited about Cambodia and particularly seeing Angkor Wat. For now, it was goodbye Thailand.