Thursday, September 28, 2017 – Bangkok

We’ve got a lot to see this morning, our last day together, and most of it will be on foot.  We’re all on the bus and waiting for Rio – quite a change in our usual procedure!  We runs onto the bus and complains about the traffic; he only lives eight kilometers away but it took forever to get to the Sheraton!

No one should be up for sunrise!

Our hotel has a helipad!!  And we're right on the river.

Off we go to visit the Temple of the Reclining Buddha, or Wat Pho.  Wat means temple and Pho is the short form of the name.  It means Bodhi in English, or the name of the tree under which Buddha became enlightened.  The temple contains 364 Buddhas, each of which is sponsored by a family or individual.  They have paid for the statues’ refurbishing and their ashes are buried there.

The temple is also the home of the first school of Thai massage.  When the students have completed their course and been licensed, the school sends them out to clients all over the city, including hotel rooms.  

The ashes of the first four kings of Thailand are interred here in four stupas.  They all knew each other;  however they didn’t know the fifth king, so he is buried in a different temple.

The Reclining Buddha is 46 meters long and completely covered in 24 karat gold leaf.  His toes and the bottoms of his feet seem to be decorated with mother of pearl. There are also large Chinese statues in various places around the shrine.  They were brought back from China as ballast when the ships returned from delivering Thai silk and rice.

The doctor who started the message school taught a lot of medicine and incorporated yoga stretches, too.

Because of all the congestion we will be walking from the Temple of the Reclining Buddha to the Grand Palace and the Temple of the Emerald Buddha.  Along the way we can’t help but be overwhelmed by the crowds of people, all dressed in black and many wearing the Thai symbol for the number nine, that are queued up to pay their respects to the Late King.  Today and tomorrow are the last days of the year-long mourning period before the king is cremated.  The lines extend for ever.  Many of these people have been here since 3:00 a.m. and will only get to spend a minute or two in the room in which he lies in a closed casket. The lucky ones who are closer are sitting in chairs under a covering.  The others are simply waiting in the hot sun, in their black clothing.  It’s an awe-inspiring display of devotion.  Someone is distributing water glasses and bananas are for sale.

We pass through a passport/ID check before we can enter the grounds of the Grand Palace, even though the current king in not in residence.  There is all the opulence one would expect, with traditional architecture and lost of gilding.  One of the buildings, though, is a mixture of western and Thai styles, since the king was so interested in westernizing the country.  One building is the king’s dressing room.  It is used during ceremonial events in which the king must wear a heavy gold costume and headdress.  He removes it in this room after making his entrance.

There is so much to see and there appear to be thousands of visitors. Rio establishes a meeting place and time as soon as we enter the grounds.  First we all gather for a group photo, which will later be for sale, of course! Then we do our best to stay in a group and keep up with Rio.  Mostly we do pretty well.

It's so hot that Rio takes us inside this exhibit because it is air conditioned!!

Back outside there is another of Rio’s forced marches back to the bus and still more devoted citizens waiting for their turn.  I’ve never seen such a display and apparently it has gone on for the entire year. 

We finally reach our haven on wheels.  Cool air and cool water equal heaven!  And sitting down is pretty great, too!  Off we go to our last official activity together.  After lunch some of the group will go back to the hotel, others will go off on their own for a last afternoon of exploring and adventure.    Lunch is in the Prime Hotel, on the twelfth floor.  After we eat there is a viewpoint from which we can see the Temple of the Gold Buddha.  He is the largest Buddha in the country and weighs five and a half tons.  Rio has arranged for Ginger and me to have a late checkout tomorrow and he is even providing a van to take us to the airport, since we are not traveling back with the group but on to Japan.

One street is devoted to shop after shop of 24 karat gold jewelry.

Temple of the Golden Buddha

Ginger and I have opted to go back to the hotel and have a little down time.  Then we take the Sheraton’s shadow boat to the Central Pier and there take another free shuttle boat to Asiatique, The Riverfront.  We ride over with Doreen, Kyra, Connie and James, just by accident, and it’s fun to have some more time with them.  It’s also easier to find the second boat with all of us looking!  Asiatique is an upscale night market with lots of real stores and restaurants in addition to outdoor stalls.  As we’re cruising we hear, “Ginger!” and there are Doreen and Kyra with their lower legs and feet in tanks full of water and little fish!  They are having so much fun that we decide to join them and let the little critters suck all the dead skin off our feet and lower legs!  When you first put your foot in the tank, the instinct is to pull it right back out!  It’s just a weird, tickly feeling!  You just want to giggle the whole time!  Good fun!! 

Kyra

Dorian fruit - tastes like heaven;  smells like hell!  Not allowed in hotels!

It's a family affair!

 When our time is up we go in search of food and find also cover, because it is threatening to rain.  There’s a place with rotisserie chicken and we share a half a chicken and some protein on a stick.  I think we chose pork and it comes with a sweet cucumber salad and we also have a little dish with peanuts and, maybe, crunchy onion bits?  Anyway, it’s tasty!!

We’re still looking for masks or something along that line and I’m really annoyed with myself for not getting one I saw at a night market in Chiang Rai that was carved by the little salesgirl’s brother.  No masks – but there are hand-carved figures from Lanna that are charming and will do nicely!

Home again; home again!

We find our way back to the pier and James and Connie are coming back, too, so we have help finding the Sheraton’s shadow boat. There is a list of hotels but it doesn’t include ours.  But it comes there anyway!  Hurray!

One last good-bye before the rest of the group leaves at three o’clock in the morning!  We get to sleep in!!  A good way to end the tour and even better to know that we have more fun ahead!!

(We're in Japan with Andy, Tae, and the kids - so I might stay four days behind!  Sorry!)