Bangkok, Thailand

Bangkok is really a city of juxtapositions, and we sort of have a love-hate relationship with it because of this. On the one hand, it is a huge, dirty, smelly city full of masses of humanity while on the other hand it contains beautiful glittering temple complexes which contain the holiest relics in all of Thailand, with each one more glitzy than the next and offering an oasis of calm in an otherwise extraordinarily hectic place.

We took a bus from Siem Reap, Cambodia to Bangkok. The entire trip took 8-9 hours. We traveled for 3-4 hours through the rice patties and small villages of Cambodia to reach the border city of Poipet. We were dropped off there, and walked across the border and through Thai immigration. We caught back up with a new bus on the other side. Just crossing the border we noticed an immediate change between the two countries. The Thailand side of the border was busier, dirtier, and more hectic than 200 meters the other direction in Cambodia. The way we were treated too was different- there was a lot more hassle getting the next bus in Thailand, and the driver much more unfriendly than the super polite and helpful people we encountered in Cambodia. Nonetheless, we spent another 5 hours on a jam-packed mini-bus and were dropped at a central road post nearby our hotel. It was incredibly busy and hectic- full of cars, people, vendors, tuk-tuks, all jumbled together on the sidewalks and the streets. Although we knew we were within a few blocks of our hotel, we were very disoriented and did not know in which direction to head. Just as our disorientation and frustration at the situation were about to bubble over, a very nice Thai man asked us where we were going and pointed us in the right direction. We arrived at our hotel which is truly an oasis of calm, along a quiet canal. We were given juice drinks and shown to our room. The helpful man and the hotel completely changed our impression of the city, which was rapidly spiraling downhill. That night, we walked to a restaurant nearby and had our first taste of delicious, authentic Thai food. The restaurant was right next to the Democracy Monument- a huge imposing monument in the center of a traffic circle, which commemorates a 1932 coup.

The next day, we had a fabulous breakfast at our hotel, and then ventured out into the city again to go to the Grand Palace, which houses the Emerald Buddha- the holiest site in all of Thailand. We again got a little confused getting there with all the touts trying to convince us that the Palace was closed and that we should go somewhere else and do some shopping (luckily our guidebooks warned us in advance about this because they were very convincing), however we made it! The Grand Palace is a huge complex along the river which was built in the late 1700s after Thai independence from Burma. There are huge buildings with impossibly tall spires, all completely gilded in gold and sparkling jewels. Pictures do not do these buildings justice. We rushed to reach the building which houses the Emerald Buddha as it was set to close for a religious ceremony in an hour, and we had to fight through throngs of tourist groups and pilgrims to reach the site. This place was by far the most crowded place we have ever been. After elbowing some people out of the way, we reached the site, took off our shoes, and ventured inside to behold the Emerald Buddha. The entire inside of the building was covered in gold and jewels, just as the outside was. There was a pyramid of gold and jewels at the center of the room and perched at the very top was what we assume was the Emerald Buddha. It was very small. Although I guess for being made of solid emerald it is pretty impressive. It is supposed to have been discovered when lightening cracked open its prior enclosure in the early 15th century. We sat on the floor and made wishes to the Buddha along with everyone else.

We then escaped the Grand Palace and the crowds to go to Wat Pho, the oldest temple in Bangkok. It houses the massive Reclining Buddha. Again, Wat Pho saved our impression of Bangkok and was an idyllic oasis of calm and not that many people, which is surprising because the Reclining Buddha is so cool!!! In contrast the the Emerald Buddha, the Reclining Buddha is 45 meters long and completely guilded in gold (said to be worth more than $10 million USD just in the gold alone). The Buddha's huge feet are covered in mother of pearl inlay, and he even has unique toe-prints made of mother of pearl. The entire room is basically taken up by the Buddha, and by a row of 108 metal bowls. You buy a tin container of 108 coins, and then you walk down the row of bowls and deposit a coin per bowl, and make a wish/prayer with every coin. The coins falling into the bowls make a beautiful plink-plink sound that serves as the backdrop for taking in the Reclinic Buddha. To top it off, on exiting the Buddha's chamber, they gave us free bottled water (you have no idea how exciting this is- it is hot here!). Wat Pho was basically the first university of traditional medicine in Thailand, and is a famous training site for Thai massage. The massage school is on the campus, so we went and had Thai massage at the school.

Afterwards we made our way back to our hotel to relax at the pool (after stopping at a department store to buy Joe a swimsuit), and then we had dinner at a restaurant overlooking the river where we watched the express boats and dinner cruises traversing the river. We once again had delicious Thai food- yum!

In all, so far we have enjoyed our time here, with the good making up for the bad. It was very interesting coming here from Cambodia, a country with a shared history and which is so geographically close yet so different in every way. Although we might prefer many aspects of Cambodia to what we have experienced in Bangkok, in Thailand we have seen some amazing things, eaten some amazing food, and relaxed at an amazing hotel and we would not trade those experiences for anything.