Thailand Trip Post 8

January 5, 2015

              We woke up late-ish again and breakfasted on rice soup and fruit. We checked-out, but got to leave our bags in a locked room at the guesthouse. We would pick them up when we came back to catch our scheduled ride to the airport at 11pm. Our flight home left at 2 am, so we still had the whole day to explore.

              We finally checked out some Bangkok temples. Wat Pho had a pretty big complex that we wandered around and got lost in once. Then we figured out the ferry system and went across the river to Wat Arun. Wat Arun has a really old chedi (Buddhist stupa). You can climb up it for a small fee. So, we paid 50 baht to risk our lives scaling the steep steps/ladder to the top. Pretty awesome view though.

Wat Pho

These were scattered around the complex of Wat Pho and caused us to get quite turned around.

We learned through observation that Bangkok temples tend to have very decorative roofs and insides, just like the ones we saw in Chiang Mai, but the rest of their outside walls are starkly white.

We made friends with some temple cats.

The Wat Arun chedi

SUPER steep stairs!

I made it though!

     We also saw the Hall of the Reclining Buddha. He's a pretty huge deal.

       

I wasn't kidding about him being huge.

     
         We had planned on visiting a park full of copies of famous and old structures from around Thailand, but our guidebook informed us that it was closed on Mondays. Instead, we took an express ferry down to Chinatown. The friendly British man with the bus map yesterday had told us there was good food and cheap stuff to be had there. There was LOTS of cheap stuff. Narrow streets full of stalls and shops full of randomness. We ate noodles and roasted duck and I had chrysanthemum juice, because why not? It was very flowery and sweet. Unfortunately, we saw several bugs crawling around, so we booked it out of the restaurant and made our way back to the ferry landing.

              We saw advertisements for a River Walk, but when we got off at the stop, we found the place was brand spanking new, and most of the shop fronts were empty. We hung out in a café for a while and walked up and down the river before getting back on the ferry.

Here's a pic of our ride over to Wat Arun.

Here I am hanging out at the River Walk.

              We wandered up and down Khaosan road until dinner time. After dinner at the Elephant Bar and Café again, we found a massage place. This guy worked magic on my shoulders and neck, which always give me problems, but were extra tight from all the walking and carrying of things. Then we collected our bags, did a final check of everything, and waited for our ride to arrive.

Goodbye Khaosan! (No we did not, at any point, set foot in McDonald's.)

              The bus to the airport arrived on time, and after stuffing in more people and bags than legal or safe, we headed off into the night. We had no problems at the airport, even though everything seemed to be on a different level. Up for baggage drop off, down for security, up again for pre-gate waiting (which had no seats), and a final downstairs trip for the actual gate. The place was clearly built to be modern and cool, with all the chrome and glass and sleek lines and bright lights, but it`s not very well laid-out or relaxing. By the time we got to our actual gate it was 1 am, we had been walking outside all day, and we were exhausted and grumpy. Thankfully, the airport didn`t seem to care about our grumbles.

Here's a look at the inside of the airport.

 

Our sad, dead phones are charging away.

              We both conked out for the first part of our flight and woke up in Fukuoka. I didn`t ever think I`d be relieved to be in a place where I understood only half the signs and language around me. But it is amazingly comforting to be able to read at least half a sign, when you spent the last week not being able to read any signs at all. A brunch refreshed us and then we took turns charging our phones while we waited for our flight to be called and the last leg of our trip to begin.

              My trip to Thailand was awesome and I definitely wouldn`t mind visiting again, especially Chiang Mai. I highly recommend it!