Bangkok in a Day

Today was a whirlwind tour of Bangkok. But first it started with a challenge - sleep! In spite of a very long day yesterday and going to bed late last night, neither of us could sleep past 4:30am this morning. But once we put ourselves together, and I dabbed a little makeup on my puffy eyes, we went down for breakfast on the riverside terrace, which made everything better! The buffet breakfast at our hotel is outstanding - fresh smoothies, fresh mango, (fresh everything).. passion fruit, lychees, mango, watermelon, yogurt with mango and coriander, coconut quinoa cereal with pomegranate seeds, croissants, cheese... feeling very happy and nourished we were ready to begin our day.

We had a tour guide for the day to make things easy - knowing where to go, how to navigate the riverboats, skytrain, negotiating the price of tuk tuk rides, etc. Malee was so pleasant, and it was nice to have someone to follow around and answer our questions.

Our hotel has a very convenient shuttle boat, which is where our journey to our first destination began. Riding along the Chao Phraya River gives you a nice view of the city, but the garbage in the water was atrocious... water bottles (so many!), shoes, plastic bags, natural debris... you name it. We soon discovered there are boats constantly going up and down the river retrieving garbage with their spinning conveyor belts and yet you wouldn't know it. Our guide told us a lot of this waste comes from other waterways including the ocean. It was a little disheartening to see this reality.

Our first stop was the Grand Palace where we saw grand ornate beauty dripping with gold and beautiful colours, the mysterious emerald Buddha housed within (the most respected Buddha image in Thailand), and a lot of tourists! Malee did a wonderful job telling us the history and traditions associated with the temple and surrounding palace and acting as our personal photographer. It is a strict rule that women may not enter the grounds of a temple in Thailand without modestly covering their knees and shoulders, hence we felt a little overdressed for the weather. It's difficult to describe today without describing the extreme heat! Today was 36C (felt like 42C).

Our next stop was Wat Pho, home of the reclining Buddha and the renowned Thai massage school. The very giant Buddha looked so comfortable I thought I'd take a little recline next to it.

We walked around the grounds of Wat Pho, where there were fewer crowds than our last stop. We were able to enjoy more calm and serenity and notice the small details. We took lots of photos of the temple, beautiful trees and flowers, Buddhas, yogi statues and young Thai girls dancing,

Then we hit the street and with Malee's swift negotiation skills we were in a tuk tuk on our way to our next destination. Our impressions of Bangkok so far, while it includes debris in the water, noticeable pollution and a lot of congestion, is the streets and public transportation systems are very clean, and most notably the people are very pleasant. They speak with such a softness and always exchange kind gestures and offer courtesy.

Our next stop was the Jim Thompson House, the former home of an American who built the Thai silk industry after WWII. What makes his story and this property particularly intriguing is his disappearance while taking a walk during a vacation in Malaysia in 1967 at the age of 61, never to be seen again. He had no children, and after eight years his nephew donated his property to the government who turned it into a museum showcasing his collection of Asian art and artifacts, as well as his economic and cultural influence on the silk industry. We took a formal guided tour (even though we were resistant) and were glad we did as we enjoyed learning the history and seeing the beautiful architecture of his home.

Then we said goodbye to Malee and ventured off on our own to a mall featuring traditional street food and vendors carrying mostly elephant pants and other traditional textile products. Jennifer had a hankering for pad thai, so we had it fresh out of the pan on the street (me with a cold local beer).

While browsing around the many vendors outside and inside the MBK mall we couldn't help but notice we had turned into zombies from sleep deprivation and a lot of walking in extreme heat. We managed to find our way back to our hotel via skytrain and boat, where we had one hour for an HTP (some of you know what that means) and to get cleaned up and dressed for dinner. Tonight we had a reservation at nahm, which has a michelin star and is ranked the 49th best restaurant in the world. We were in for a treat! The food was outstanding, every dish bursting with artfully balanced flavour and spice.

After savouring a world class culinary experience, we thought we would balance it out by stopping at a 7/11 at the train station for a bag of "Cooling" melon bingsu flavor potato chips. Our tummies are too full and content to eat them tonight and we're out of steam so that will be an adventure for tomorrow.

Stay tuned!

Laura & Jennifer ❤❤