Big Bangkok Walk About

Feeling more secure in our ability to get about the city, we decided to see the Reclining Buddha at Wat Pho. Wat Pho is across town from our hotel, and felt we could just repeat yesterday's adventure.

Leave hotel, walk to Lumpini Park, flag down tuk tuk, pay 100 baht and be on our way.  Wrong!

We were out an hour earlier than yesterday.  This was rush hour.  The road was filled with motorbikes and cars but no tuk tuks.

Lumpini Park

We opted to visit Lumpini Park. Delightful. No drug addicts, but plenty of people walking on paved roads, doing morning exercises, etc. The park was near the main road (Rama IV Road) but the “street roar” was not heard. It was a pleasant, peaceful walk.

We exited the park and realized getting a tuk tuk would be tricky. We eventually found a tuk tuk driver who handed us off to another tuk tuk driver… 300 baht later we are at Wat Pho (officially known as Wat Phra Chetuphon).

The tuk tuk was a bit pricey, but we were in a jam and had to buy our way out.

The Wat Pho temple complex was quite large and filled with tourists.  We paid the 100 baht each entrance fee and headed to the reclining Buddha.  This Reclining Buddha was quite large. . . 46 meters. The Buddha was in a single building that allowed us to walk past the front and back of the Buddha. As in all temples, shoes must be removed to enter.

We then wandered the temple complex. There was a school and it appeared that on that day there were either lessons or competitions for young school children to practice their cants before an image of a Buddha. We have much to learn.

Once we were back on the street we considered going to the Grand Place to see the Emerald Buddha. As we stood on a street corner holding our map, a local "most helpful" Thai came up and indicated the temple complex was not yet open. It was closed until 1 pm to allow local Thai access to pray without tourists’ prying eyes.

He laid out another route for us… the Black Buddha, Export 2017 and standing Buddha before going to tour the Grand Palace. He flagged down a tuk tuk, negotiated a 120 baht fare and off we went.

Note: We later learned while surfing the Internet that the "Grand Palace is closed" is considered a scam. Rather then touring the Palace you end up in a gem shop.  Hmmmmm.  Whatever, we had a delightful day based on the itinerary provided.

Our tuk tuk driver  was an older gentlemen who was genteel and helpful; he tried to teach us a few Thai words, such as “please” and “thank you."

We followed the itinerary provided by our "most helpful" Thai for the day.  

Black Buddha & Lucky Buddha

The Black Buddha is actually golden (located below the other Buddhas).  This Buddha is said to bring good health. Thai people place a small piece of gold foil on the Buddha in the area where they were seeking better health.  Over time black became the new gold.  

We then visited the temple next door with a Buddha that, according to a local Thai lawyer who opened a conversation with us, brought happiness. He indicated that he visited this Buddha every Thursday since was born on a Thursday.

The Thai lawyer also spoke of the Export 2017. This shop is not typically opened to the retail trade, but for one week, to assist sales, the shop was open to retail business, giving a 30% discount, and no tax would be collected.  He also indicated that Valentine’s Day was coming.

Export 2017

Off to the Export 2017 shop.  Helen purchased a lovely silver and ruby ring for about $171.  As we waited for the ring to be re-sized, the tuk tuk driver took us to a Tourist Bureau Office (T.B.O.) insisting that booking travel in Chiang Mai would be less expensive here.  We listened to the sales pitch, but declined the offer.

Standing Buddha

After getting the ring, the tuk tuk driver took us to the Standing Buddha (Wat Intharawihan).

We thought if you'd seen one Buddha you'd seen them all.  Wrong.  This standing Buddha was “Yuge!”

Afterwards the tuk tuk driver took us to the entrance area for the Grand Palace. We paid him not 120 ($3.43) but 300 baht ($8.57) We learned later 300 baht is a good rate for an all day tuk tuk.  Our driver had been most kind to us and we wanted to express our gratitude.

Grand Palace

It was quite a long walk to the entrance area to the Grand Palace.  Once we arrived, the crowds, the 500 baht entrance fee and our fatigue resulted in us saying we’d had enough for this day. We’ll save the Emerald Buddha for another visit.

We returned to the street and bargained for a tuk tuk to take us to the BTS Skytrain National Stadium entrance. We bargained from 400 baht to 120 baht for the ride and agreed to go to the MRT (Metropolitan Rapid Transit) Hua Lamphong station.  Trains are trains.

We figured out how to ride the MRT train system which is different from the Skytrain. Both are clean, efficient and safe.

After a 10 minute walk we were back at our hotel.