Chapter 6: Bangkok, Thailand

Bangkok, Thailand
Population: 9.1 million
Hostel: Soi 1 Guesthouse ($12) This place had a great location but it was my least favorite.
Bangkok is the largest city in Thailand. The best part of Bangkok was the Grand Palace.

The Grand Palace is a complex of buildings in Bangkok. It has served as the official residence of the Kings of Thailand from the 18th century onwards. However the present King, King Bhumibol Adulyadej resides at the Chitralada Palace.

mini model of Angkor Wat, located in Cambodia.

This will be fun, guess where this tourist is from! Where (and why) would they sell turquoise jumpsuits?!

Guards surround the grounds of the Grand Palace.

Military men marching through the Palace grounds.

I love this photo. They use bamboo for everything. Bamboo drinks, bamboo dishes, bamboo furniture, bamboo ladders...

The Reclining Buddha, also know as Wat Pho, is located next to the Grand Palace. This temple is known as the birthplace of traditional Thai massage.
Wat Pho is one of the largest and oldest wats (temples) in Bangkok (80,000 square metres) and is home to more than 1000 Buddha images. The Reclining Buddha is one of the largest single Buddha images, measuring 46 metres long and 15 metres high. It's decorated with gold plating on the body and mother of pearl on his eyes and soles of his feet.

The Reclining Buddha grounds were just as breathtaking as the Grand Palace.

Bangkok is a big, DIRTY city so we took day trips hours outside the city limits.
One day we went to the saddest petting zoo, of sorts. We spotted some Thai boy scouts there. I hope they make this park their Eagle project..

There was a croc show that put us to sleep.

And there was an elephant show that was AWESOME!

We paid money to snap some photos with tigers.

Then we went on a 'safari'. Our driver rolled down the windows and before we knew it....

...we were surrounded by giraffes looking for lunch.

Only in Asia...

Another day we took a 50cent train to the Ayutthaya ruins a few hours north of Bangkok.

Our ghetto train. Who needs AC when you can roll all the windows down?

When I find my Ayutthaya maps, I'm going to come back through and label all of these ruins. It'll happen but I doubt any of you REALLY care about the names...

Reclining Buddha #2.

Reclining Buddha #3.

Our group rented a tuk tuk driver to take us around to all of the main ruins. He was fabulous and REALLY cheap. I think I spent a total of $5 that day.

Our last day in Bangkok, we went to the Chatuchak Weekend Market. It was HUGE and there was a lot of great things to eat and buy. I wish that I had bought at least 2 more swimsuits, they were all darling and really cheap. We met up with a mutual friend of mine, Elissa. She's working in Bangkok and she was nice to show us around.

Hey Tanier-remember when it got so hot that I threw my shirt in the garbage?
Good thing I'm not a white ninja! That coconut ice cream was AMAZING!

Lady that served us our lunch. health code violation?! meh..

Tuk Tuk's

The metro stops in Bangkok had funny names. We loved the name of our stop: flowin' chit.

75cent Pad Thai that was to die for. Have I mentioned that I LOVED Thailand?

Bangkok Hole

Bangkok Phone

Our last night in Bangkok we stayed at this cheap, awesome hotel near the airport.

Wearing our fisherman pants. One size fits all.

Peace Out Thailand.

Hanna and Buck were headed back to the USA.
Tanier and I continued our journey. Next stop: Hong Kong.