Thai Me Up

Can I tell you about...Bangkok? The second part of our vacation we decided to spend in Bangkok. More temples, fewer ruins, and maybe a bit of shopping thrown in because the shopping is that good. We stayed at the chic Metropolitan Hotel in the heart of the financial center. They have a fabulous spa which I took advantage of daily. After seeing endless numbers of decapitated statues and plundered locales it was refreshing to see glistening Buddhas and well-maintained temples. It was the busiest time of the year to be in Bangkok so the traffic was quite unbearable and the crowds were almost unmanageable. But you know, we were there.




We went to see the Grand Palace, Wat Phra Kaew (temple of the Emerald Buddha), Wat Pho ( temple of the Reclining Buddha), Wat Arun ( Temple of Dawn), took a boat cruise along the khlongs (canals) , and visited the ancient city of Ayutthaya ( the old capital) where they have the 3rd largest reclining Buddha draped in an enormous yellow robe. Buddhas, I learned, have different positions for every day of the week and the reclining position is for Tuesday. It's also the day that he achieved Nirvana I was told.



For New Year's eve we took a river cruise on the Chao Phraya River which was great. I hate crowds so having a leisurely dinner and watching the fireworks with the Grand Palace in view was quite magical and it turns out...a life saving moment. That night, 6 bombs exploded in different parts of the city. We didn't know it at the time and we were wondering why the streets were so empty after New Years on our way back to the hotel. To this day, they still haven't caught the people behind the bombs. Is nowhere safe?


As much as we liked being in Bangkok, no vacation is complete, in my opinion, without a few days on the beach. We took the early flight to Koh Samui. But that will be my next blog entry!