Bangkok Day 3 Monday

Day two in Bangkok dawned a little cloudy, or was it smoggy... either way we were excited to hit the town once again! This time we were determined to not take a tuk tuk anywhere, having realized it was cheaper to use a regular old taxi. (Not only cheaper, but air conditioning and no wind in your hair was an ever better bonus!) As mentioned our hotel was also right next to one of the many canals in Bangkok. These canals are used as transportation methods and have a network of "river taxis" cruising down them. The taxis are long thin boats with simple bench seats. They are super cheap, costing only 9 baht for most rides (pennies) and go long distances. Their design is also really simple, they VERY quickly pull up to the dock, if you want on or off you simply climb in or not, and you have to be fast, or you won't make it where you want to go, they do not wait! There is a driver in the back and two workers who take the ticket money. These workers climb on and hold onto the sides of the boats! They aren't strapped in or anything! But they do wear safety helmets. There was a taxi stop right outside our hotel so we quickly emerged, dodged the tuk tuk drivers and after watching some people get on and off so we could get the hang of it, and climbed on!

Water taxi landing

On the water taxi, the blue tarp can be pulled up to keep water from splashing on you. The roof can also squish down when it has to go under a bridge. Climb on in! 

Our destination was the beautiful Golden Mount. The Golden Mount is a Buddhist temple and monastery. Just off the canal we found ourselves walking into what seemed like a jungle land, containing a hidden temple inside! With no other cultural marker to compare it to, I kept exclaiming that I felt like I was at Disneyland! It seemed like I was entering the Indiana Jones ride, or the Swiss Family Robinson house. Hidden behind the hanging vines and lush green trees were stairs. Up the stairway was adorned with statues of elephants, streams and ponds. As it was a temple it was just as manicured as Disneyland. Out on the first landing were a number of large bells you could ring (plus a cafe where I got an awesome coconut popsicle, hey it was hot!)  As we kept walking we met more stairs and went up, up, up. Finally we reached the top where the main temple icons are kept. Inside there was a beautiful gold leaf statue that a number of people were praying to and leaving flowers for. Up further still we went, to reach the peak of the Golden Mount itself. The name "golden mount" is very appropriate because the very top of the temple is adorned with a giant golden cap, or peak, or I guess, mount. Again many people were praying and leaving written prayers on the mount. The view from the top was also amazing, we again could see all of Bangkok. The place was truly impressive and because it was a little off the beaten path there were very few tourists, which also made it enjoyable. The detail on traditional Thai buildings and Buddhist temples we had so far seen were impressive, so much gold inlaid with bright blues and deep reds.

Jungle! In the middle of city.

Ok maybe a little touristy after all...

Bells are for ringing!

Gold leaf, blowing in the wind

The top! 

It's huge!

Welcome to Bangkok! 

We had reached the end of the canal so our only option to get the our next destination, the Grand Palace, was to walk or take a taxi/tuk tuk. We decided to be bold and walk. We wanted to see more of Bangkok by foot and take our time. We were already sweating up a storm so why not?! As we walked the streets we saw lots of interesting looking shops. The main blvd we were on was interesting too because there were huge signs and posters with images of the king and his family everywhere. Some posters were old, showing the king as a boy, while some more recent showing him as an old man, and everything else inbetween. I guess the king is a big part of life there? Or at least that's how the government wants it to be. Everywhere we went shops and streets had little adornments of the king.

Can you see the Golden Mount in the background?

On our walk, Democracy monument in the middle of a round-about

The ever present King

To continue the story we have a lovely guest post by Jason:

Hello all, Jason here filling in for Madeline because she said that this part of the trip was a little to traumatizing for her to write, but I feel that it was a very important lesson. Let me set the scene; Bangkok  approximately 11am. The sun was shinning heating up the city. Madeline and I felt that we were really getting to understand the city, busy with lots of people around, some that are friendly and some that will try and steer you in the wrong direction. We were confident that we would not be lead astray after the previous day driving around seeing small temples in the Tut Tut. Madeline and I were walking and found the royal palace however we did not know where the entrance was, but we knew that we were close walking around the outside which we now know was the back of the palace. 

As we were walking I thought to cross the street however it was extremely difficult as there were no protected crosswalks, so Madeline and I trudged forward. The street we were walking on was very busy with cars whizzing by and horns constantly honking. At one point a large truck went by and honked at another car causing about 50 pigeons to fly into the air. Again it was a great morning the sun was shinning and the birds were in the air, however those birds would be our downfall. We continued walking and had to walk through all of the pigeons that we had just seen fly into the air, but as we walked through the birds Madeline and I were each accosted by about 6 Thais. Madeline and I tried to keep walking but we were not able with so many people around us. They were shouting at us "take, take". In their hands were small bags of corn kernels, one bag would fill up the palm of your hand. Both of us kept saying no, but they would not leave us alone. At one point I had a bag of corn on my shoulder bag which I grabbed and tried to give back but they refused to take it back shouting, "throw for good luck". I said no over and over, and then one of the street urchins took my hand and put my palm up which I naturally made into a little cup, and poured a bag into my hand.  They kept shouting "throw throw!", so in order to get them to go away I did, as did Madeline. More and more bags were dumped into our hands and thrown. Finally they relented and I was able to take a few steps, but then they started shouting "you pay! You pay!". I reached into my pocket for some change and was yelled that it was 150 Baht, 5 dollars. I was shocked but thought I better not make a scene and just give them the 5 bucks, but I didn't have any small bills only 1000 Baht. One of the thugs grabbed the 1000 saying, "I have change" giving me back 400 Baht. I quickly shouted, "More change!" and was told, "150 a bag you throw 4 bags" where upon 4 empty bags were held in front of my face. I looked up and saw Madeline looking at me saying "Let's go now", so we left. After the incident we were both very upset, each of us out 20 dollars. However looking back we realize that it was only 20 dollars a piece and things could have been worse, but our pride was struck and struck hard. In the words of Madeline "WE WERE SWINDLED!!!" 

Thank you, Jason.

With our spirits understandably low we finally crossed the street to enter the Palace. A tuk tuk driver approached us, wearing a suit and holding an umbrella, he said "oh the temple is closed for lunch, I work inside, I know, I take you to lucky Buddha instead!" We just said no and walked away. Angry at him. And guess what, two minutes later we were inside the temple, it was definitely not closed. Somehow we had entered the exit and "snuck in" for free. We weren't in the palace but instead in the temple of the reclining Buddha called Wat Pho. The architecture was beautiful, detailed and awesome. The structures were huge and impressive. It was hard not to smile and have a good time here, even after the swindle. Inside the temple was, in fact, a reclining Buddha, I read he had just reached the state of nirvana. On the soles of his feet were a beautiful in laid mother of pearl designs and stories.

Beautiful gold

Beautiful mosaic, there were tons of these, at least 10.

My new pose

Reclining Buddha, his head

He's reclined, very hard to photograph. Notice his feet.

After exiting the temple we took a taxi back to the hotel so we could get in some r&r at the pool, finally! There we relaxed in the warm sun, swimming around and sipping Thai beer, for a few hours. It was lovely. You just feel chic when you're on the 11th floor! After that we headed to Siam Center once again to get dinner. We had quickly become obsessed with this awesome shopping and dining center. We decided on tacos and had a delicious and huge Mexican meal. I was so happy I almost cried. (Just kidding.) 

Siam Center

"I'm so happy"

The plan for after dinner was to ride the Sky Train to the area of Bangkok known as Soi Cowboy. The Sky Train was crowded and impossible to look out of, but it only took us a few stops to get to the Soi Cowboy area. Basically we were entering one of the many den's of sin peppering Bangkok. This area is supposed to be a little tamer than others and many tourists walk through just to see it. Hidden in a back alley behind impressive looking office buildings is a sea of neon lights, girls and debauchery. With signs advertising "girls, girls, girls" everywhere the street was home to around 20 different bars/clubs. Outside of each club stood about 20 girls, in tiny skirts, skin tight, low cut shirts, lingerie, boots, fishnets, heels. They were beautiful with long shining hair. Taking it all in was hard to do, you don't know where to look or how to feel. On the one hand its a fun tourist attraction, until you really start to think about the girls and the people who frequent the street. We stopped for a beer at one place, sitting on the outdoor patio. We people watched. There were lots of old, white men. They would walk by with a young, beautiful Thai girl on their arm. Or they sat with them drinking and smoking. The girls would pull at guys as they walked by, trying to get them to come inside. The whole area is a den of prostitution, behind the flimsy curtains and neon lights. Bangkok is know for its not-so underground sex trade and the longer we sat in Soi Cowboy, the more creeped out we became. And not because the girls were rude or we felt unsafe, you just start to feel bad. We couldn't leave without peeking inside our chosen establishment, where bumping music was blasting from. Inside there were girls dancing on polls with mirrors surrounding them, but the place was actually rather small. We saw some more old men, enjoying their new "company" on some leather couches. It was time to go. Definitely a unique experience but one hard to really make sense of. And with that we hailed a taxi and headed home. 

Soi Cowboy, does he look scared?

Soi Cowboy