Where in the World are Francis & Greg: Bangkok March 7 & 8

March 7, our return to Bangkok (note we are always a spot behind when we write these... so now we are in Phuket. If you hear of any crazy stuff happening in Bangkok, don't worry about us... we are far away from there)

Bangkok was still hot as hell when we arrived and we took a taxi back to the hotel we had stayed at a few days before. This time our room was on the 3rd floor. All I checked for before we took it was 3 things... a/c, clean and a washroom. What I didn't check for, since it was day time, was the lights! After it got dark there was only 3 small lights with low watts. I swear we had to pick our clothes for the next day if we wanted to even wear something that matched. It was so dimly lit, it was even difficult for Greg to read his book. LOL

After we got things unpacked we headed out to get a tuk tuk to take us the taylor to get the final fittings. The tuk tuk driver was asking too much (note... after you are here for a bit you think $6.00 is too much). Once we said we would just take a taxi (which is normally more expensive) the tuk tuk driver pointed to two guys waiting on the street. He said they are going to a taylor. We went up to them and we found out we are all Canadians and all going to the same taylor. Had a nice chat and shared a taxi.

That evening we met up with a fellow Couchsurfing member (a travel group we belong to. See www.couchsurfing.com for more info). He showed us a major hang out shopping street just around the block from where our hotel is. We are glad he met us or we would have missed one of the wildest places in Bangkok.

The next morning we were up early and took a tuk tuk to the Grand Palace. It use to be where the Thai Royal family lived but now it is pretty much a tourist attaction. However, when foreign leaders who have been invited by the Royal Family come, they do stay in one of the buildings. This place is grand and amazing. We won't tell you about all the buildings but you can see the pictures. We hired a tour guide and she explained a lot about the place and what was used for what and a bunch more stats. Afterwards we needed to have a sit in a cool spot. So why not hire a long-boat and get a tour of one of the many canals. It was great! Got to see more of the city and it was pretty cool because of the water and speed. We even purchased some drinks from a lady in a canoe looking boat on the canal. After the captain dropped us off, we walked around looking for the temple with the reclining Buddha. We had found it but it was closed for lunch (monks eat there). A nice fella waiting at the bus stopped told us all of this. He found out we were Canadians and was so excited. He showed us on our map what else we should do while we were waiting. He even said that he would get the tuk tuk driver to take us to all these places and it should not cost us more than 40 Bhat. That is about $1.50. He waved down a tuk tuk and showed the driver where he was to take us and told him we would pay him 40 Bhat. That was kind of funny... for sure if you are ever in Thailand get a local to do the biding on a tuk tuk. We had a nice tour and then the driver took us to the canal ferry where we took it across the river to the Temple of the Dawn (see pics). This was not like the other temples, very interesting look and great view from near the top. We were able to climb the steep steps on the side of the temple.

After our visit we headed back across the river to see the reclining Buddha. It is HUGE! So huge it was difficult to get a good picture of it. After that we were wiped! With the heat and the sun it was time to head back.

All of this is not far from our hotel, so we had a map, so decided to walk. Well nothing here is that easy. The street names are not always on the map or they maybe spelled differently. See the Thai language doesn't translate well in our letters. So depending on who translates it you will most likely get something different. Well it took us a bit over an hour and a few times asking the locals... and we were back.

The rest of the evening and night we just walked around the local area taking in the culture and the people. We did find time for a nice foot/leg massage. It was just what we needed after all the walking today. Since we had to be up at 4:30 to get ready to get to the next stage of our trip, Phuket, we called it an early night. Phuket as you may remember was pretty much wiped out with the tidal wave around Christmas a few years ago.