Buddhas Buddhas Everywhere

I arose fresh and early this morning for my first full day on the other side of the world, despite hanging out at a bar on Khao San Road much later than planned last night chatting it up with a German girl, French girl, and a Canadian guy listing to a Thai band cover the likes of Neil Young, Simon and Garfunkel, the Eagles, and James Taylor. Here is my new french friend, Hannah, who is leaving tomorrow to after two months scuba diving in Bali.

I ate breakfast at the hotel, and hailed a tuk-tuk, a three wheeled open air taxi like contraption, and drove a short distance to the Grand Palace, which is this huge complex with a ton of temples, statues, and monuments erected by famous kings over the past thousands of years. I got a ticket, this personal audio guide device, and spent an hour touring the grounds and taking photos with tons of other snap-happy sightseers.

The big attraction at the Grand Palace is the Emerald Buddha, a very small (60 cm) Emerald statue of the Buddha which is absolutely sacred. Wars have literally been fought over this thing over the past 700 years. You enter the temple where it is housed after first removing your shoes, promising not to take any photos and you sit down inside making sure not to point your toes at the Buddha - doing so is the utmost sign of disrespect. I sat amongst a large group of Thai teenagers who were all there waing and bowing at the statue. Needless to say, I also bowed. There also are a ton of other structures inside the palace, and many many ornate statues in the shapes of demons, ghouls, and these strange hybrid half-human half-animal things. There is this one monument which a bunch of demons are positioned to look like they are holding it up. So, all the Asian tourists take turns also pretending to hold up the building. This seemed like a prime photo opt, so I also joined the fun.

After my time at the Palace, I walked over to the Wat Pho, home of the reclining Buddha. This whole area in Bangkok is like the National Mall where all the biggest and most popular monuments are located within walking distance. Anyway, at the Pho, there is this gigantic reclining Buddha, which is apparently somehow a symbol related to entering Nirvana, that is at least 3 million times larger than the more prestigious Emerald Buddha. You are allowed to photograph this Buddha.

Also at Wat Pho, there is the most prestigious massage school in Bangkok where they teach the traditional Thai massage techniques. You can even get massages from the students in training, so I opted for the 30 minute session. This massage was definitely more professional than the one yesterday (to answer your questions in the comment section), and it hurt!

After my massage, I was approached by a storming stampede of school children, who together, with there teacher, were looking for a foreigner to help teach them English. They had a bunch of questions (What is your name? Do you like Thailand? Where are you from?, etc), that they asked me. Then I asked them to teach me some Thai. I still can't pronounce or remember any of the things they taught me, but they all wanted to shake my hand. Here is a picture of a group of them running towards me.

Anyway, these whole festivities lasted from around 9 am to noon. I decided that the ride over was so short, I can easily find my way back to Khao San Road while walking. Well, my sense of direction failed me, and I ended up having to hail another tuk tuk after wandering about for 30 minutes or so in the complete wrong direction. Not a big lose, they only cost about 40 baht ($1.50). This afternoon has been chill, I hang out by the roof-top pool, finished "Water for Elephants", and took a nap. Tonight, I am going to venture out to experience nightlife outside Khao San Road - though the travel-friendly atmosphere here is certainly welcoming and feels secure.

Jeremy is all smiles in the land of smiles.