Bangkok: Wat Pho
Oh my goodness, it is HOT! We had a plan for the day—-Reclining Budda, Emerald Budda, Palace and then market before coming back to the hotel and hitting sunset happy hour at the rooftop bar (26th floor). Sounds great right? The plan was to walk the city as much as possible and when it got to be too hot or too far we’d hop on public transportation. Honestly my thought was we could make it down to the area where most of the attractions were, about 6 miles, and then explore the 3 destinations we had selected. After that I thought we’d take a break in some AC, hop on public transportation to the market and then get a Grab (like uber) home since we would probably have things to carry from the market.
Great plan right? Let’s just say it went nothing like that.
We made it about 5 miles, stopping about every mile or two in one of the many air conditioned malls to catch our breath. Between the heat (95+), humidity and the smog it is hard to get a full breath! And Mel took a header which was scary (she is OK) but we stopped off at a Starbucks for some AC and a rest for her leg/ankle. Walked some more and then we were done. Well I was done really. Bill got us a Grab and we sat in the AC car the rest of the way to Wat Pho.
Went in (800 Baht—$26.50) for the four of us and it really was incredible. Glad we went, truly an amazing sight. But, it was also crowded (I think the Eiffel Tower was less crowded) and did I mention hot?? With each step we were wilting more and more. I bought a postcard of the Emerald Budda because that was as close as we were going to get. Made the call to head back to the hotel via Grab. Took FOREVER or what felt like forever. Both kids were done. Bill made a snarky comment about cutting my agenda for the day short but as soon as his tush hit the air conditioned seat of our 12 person van with mirrored ceiling he was singing a different tune (one they may have involved snoring).
We went back to the hotel and rolled right up to the pool which we promptly made ourselves comfortable in the water lounge chairs.
Honestly I give my parents so much credit. My mom sent me some old pictures of when we came here as kids. I remember going to the tailor with her to get suits made. i still remember a beautiful navy suede suit she had made. I remember everyone wanting to touch Kevin’s head for good luck and him catching on early bargaining hair locks for electronics. I remember some sight-seeing and had really hoped to re-create a picture at the palace but it was not happening. I have no idea how my parents did it with us—that agenda would have been a breeze for them to pull off with us. And, it would have been educational the whole way. I am so hot I can’t even think of anything but the distance to the next pool. I think I have been in the pool everyday since we left Tokyo.
I had arranged a tour for the next morning on the very good advice of a friend. However, we decided to postpone it—Bill and the kids went exploring on their own and I went (happily) back to the pool. We are headed back to Bangkok later this month for another stay so we’ll attempt more sightseeing them. I would like to go back to the floating market (went as a kid) and I think my kids would really like it.
