The River Ferry was really nice and only 15 Bht a person ($.50). It dropped us off near Wat Pho, more commonly known for it's Reclining Buddha statue. Let me tell you, this was no ordinary statue. The Buddha takes up an entire building and is enormous. Here we are next to the feet:
Kasen kept saying, "Why the Buddha lying down?" The
statue itself was beautiful with carving on the feet in inlaid mother of
pearl. The Thais definitely know how to do opulence.
We got to the Wat at about 9am, which seemed to be good timing since the grounds were fairly empty. When we went to the National Palace later (to see the Emerald Buddha), the crush of people was unbelievable. After checking out the Reclining Buddha, Kasen decided she needed a snack. Sadly, I had forgotten to pack one and I spent the rest of our time at Wat Pho looking for food (and finding none). Luckily, Karl got to see some more of the grounds and had the camera:
From Wat Pho, we walked along the National Palace to the front entrance. John & Kat decided to explore the market nearby, while we saw the Emerald Buddha. We had found some chips for Kasen by that point and she promptly fell asleep in the carrier (best $55 ever spent). The carrier really was the best thing we brought for her. She walked quite a bit (even through the fabric market), but when she was feeling tired or overwhelmed, it was perfect. We saw only 2 strollers the whole time we were out and there is no way we could have gotten a stroller through this:
The National Palace was where the crowds were the worst. Everywhere you looked was people. We did see the Emerald Buddha, but you can't take any pictures inside the building with the Buddha. It was actually kind of a small statue on the top of a huge perch of gold, but even the walls of its building were amazing. Every surface was decorating with murals or gold. Here are some pictures we took around the grounds. Kasen slept through most of it.
After the National Palace, we met up with John and Kat and had some lunch in a market near the river. Good food, cold beer and Kasen even got a strawberry smoothie. The women working the shop LOVED her. One woman even picked her up for a hug when we left. Quite a few Thais have commented on her tattoos (I forgot to remove the Jake & The Pirate tattoos we applied in Seattle). We have to keep assuring people they aren't real. Lots of people were interested in Kasen while we were out. She seemed to take it all in
stride. Lots of waving and saying "Hello". I had heard to expect lots
of touching, but most people seemed to just want to wave at her. Kat
did say a few people pinched her legs as we walked through the market,
but who can resist cute toddler legs?
From the river we worked our way back to the hotel, hitting the flower market and fabric market in Chinatown. The flower market was amazing. Marigold ropes were common and lots of very geometric floral displays.
We were exhausted by the time we got back to the hotel around 4pm. We went to our hotel's happy hour at 6pm and Kasen promptly fell asleep in my lap. This meant Karl had to stay back at the room, while Kat, John and I had a lovely dinner near the hotel at Sortrel (http://www.sortrel.co.th/sathorn_home.html). The restaurant was pretty crowded and we sat outside. Besides the very loud musicians next to our table, it was great. I was in bed by 9pm, but Karl and John explored the Patpong night market (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patpong).
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