Bangkok: Part 2

Flight 8 of 17
Tuesday, April 3 - Thursday, April 5

Back in Bangkok, we had a couple more days to explore the town.  On Wednesday, we started out the day at 9am with another private tour -  this one was the “Canal Tour” of Bangkok.  The driver and our tour guide (Som) picked us up at our hotel and took us first to the Bangkok canals, part of the Chao Phraya River.  We boarded our private longboat (this was extra loooooooong, much longer than the Krabi longboats).  For over an hour, we explored Bangkok via boat, which included seeing Thai homes, shops, and a small version of the Floating Market, where we purchased a Happy Laughing Buddha figurine!  We also stopped to feed the fish, who eagerly ate the two loafs of we gave them.  The last stop on the boat ride was the Temple of Dawn, also called Wat Pho, a Khmer style temple.  We climbed to the very top, which gave us a beautiful view of the river.  We then crossed the river and hopped back in the car, driving by the Giant Swing and several temples, as well as government buildings.  After visiting a few shops, we had the driver take us to the suit shop to pick up the Emperor’s New Groove (aka Ryan’s new suit), then headed back to the hotel.  We made our way to the same massage place from a week before, where they remembered us!  Ryan had a foot massage, while Kristen got a pedicure.  We also found a place to get Thai pancakes, although they weren’t as delicious as the ones in Krabi…but still…they were delicious!

Buying our "Laughing Buddha" from a floating store

We spent the evening in the Siam area, and even happened by a Thai boxing match.  We wandered into the MBK Mall, which was enormous, but not what you’d expect from a mall (imagine an indoor street market with lots of little vendors instead of stores).  We found a place to eat while Ryan finished the last few chapters of Hunger Games.  We perused the many vendors of the night market, selling anything and everything, and eventually made our way to the Siam Paragon complex for a night at the movies!  For 100 baht ($3.25) each, we got 2 tickets, a large popcorn, and 2 huge soft drinks, not to mention the theater was quite nice!  After the previews, we had to stand for the Thai National Anthem which included a photo montage of the king’s life and ends with the words “Long Live the King.”  

     

Getting good luck from Buddha at the Temple of the Dawn!

Oh, and if you’re wondering what movie we saw…I’m sure you can guess correctly…Hunger Games!

Katniss speaks Thai!

Thursday morning meant the end of our time in Bangkok, and we headed once again to the airport, this time on our way to Hong Kong.