VACATIONS FROM HOME: FIRST DAYS IN BANGKOK

MASSIVE “SQUIRRELS”, RECLINING BUDDHAS and FERRYS
Santiphap Park

Here are a few quick notes from our first days in Bangkok, before our tour of the country with Overseas Adventure Travel (OAT) begins.

We arrived in Bangkok early Sunday morning, after twenty-four hours of traveling from the east coast of the US, and a lengthy layover in Doha Qatar. Thankfully we were able to check in early at our hotel. We had paid for an extra night at the Bizotel, the same hotel OAT uses for our time in Bangkok and the friendly staff there were very accommodating.

Bangkok is exactly 12 hours ahead of the east coast of the United States.

With OAT there’s a trip leader and even before our arrival he was communicating with us throughout the trip via ‘What’s App’ and after we napped a short bit at the hotel, we acted on some of his recommendations.

CASH IS KING

Nearly everything purchased so far in Bangkok has been with cash. Banks offer the best exchange rates, but we arrived on a Sunday and were wary about the exorbitant fees ATMs charge for withdrawals, so we exchanged money with the front desk at the Bizotel. That was a mistake, their rate was horrible. When we went to exchange more money on Monday the Western Union gave us over 350 THB more for the same amount we exchanged with the hotel.

DRAGONS AT THE PEACE PARK

Monitor lizard at
Santiphap Park

Santiphap Park is a very short walk from our hotel along the same road. The name translates to Peace Park and visiting this urban oasis was a very good suggestion by our OAT trip leader. It is an 8-acre park with several ponds, a meandering running track, meticulous grounds and an array of beautiful flowers.

Thailand is close to 95% Buddhist, but I guess the country celebrates St. Valentine’s Day as well, as there were several displays of hearts meant for picture posing.

We saw some runners and some families strolling and quite unexpectedly we watched Thailand’s version of park squirrels. Monitor lizards are common in the parks of Bangkok and were walking around on the grass near one pond.

Ominous, with their long tails and slithering tongues, the critters pose no threat to humans unless cornered or threatened, and they will eat fish, frogs, rats and dead animals. The ones we saw were about 3 feet long from nose to tail, but they can get bigger.

We gave them plenty of space.

RUBBING YOU THE RIGHT WAY

Looks legit
Sex tourism is big business in Thailand, but you can go for a regular massage with no happy ending.

As per our trip leader’s recommendation and his assurance that the place was legit, we visited the Palace Massage establishment across the street from our hotel. For 1,100 BHT we each got a one-hour hot oil massage, which is about $32 USD total for the two of us.

REMEMBER, DO NOT DRINK THE TAP WATER

We bought a case of water for the room and one beer. It cost 170 THB at the local 7-Eleven. There are 14,000 such convenience stores in all of Thailand. I cannot stress that you should never ingest tap water. Don’t even use it for brushing your teeth. When you purchase water from a vendor on the street, usually for 10 THB, make sure the seal is intact.

We take a daily probiotic supplement to ensure our gut health. Not sure why there isn’t a better water filtration system; it was the same in Vietnam and Cambodia; but just go with the precaution.

The alternative is not pleasant.

A TALE OF TWO TEMPLES

reclining Buddha at
Wat Pho

Leave it to Janet to find something interesting to do on our lone day off without the tour company. I would have been happy to laze about the hotel and maybe walk around the neighborhood, but she decided we would visit the Wat Pho temple after breakfast. The hotel's concierge arranged a taxi for us and also suggested after our visit to Wat Pho we should visit Wat Arun, across the Chao Phraya River. To reach the second temple we would take a ferry.

WHAT FOR?

Well, what for Wat Pho? Well, because it has the largest reclining Buddha statute in Bangkok and the temple complex houses the largest collection of Buddha images in all of Thailand. Also located on the grounds was a primary school and a traditional Thai massage (ouch) school. Scattered throughout the grounds were statues of those evil masseuse contorting their clients. I had a gotten a That massage in Hanoi and I’m surprised I still have all my limbs…seriously.

Thai massage statues

As we wiggled through the grounds dodging countless foreign and domestic tourists and monks, we were constantly taking off our shoes to enter yet another temple of a particular Buddha in a show of respect.

The main “attraction” at Wat Pho though was indeed the massive reclining Buddha and there was a steady stream of visitors shuffling through the building, photographing the nearly 151-foot-long gold leave covered statue with 16-foot-long feet whose soles were decorated with mother-of-pearl inlays.

feet of the
reclining Buddha

The statue made the 300 Baht CASH ONLY entrance fee worth the price.

OH, ANOTHER TEMPLE?

Directly across the Chao Phraya River from Wat Pho is the massive Wat Arun, one of Thailand’s best-known landmarks. Wat Arun translates to Temple of Dawn. Its central spire, or prang, rises over 250 feet looming majestically over the river, the spires covered in colorful porcelain.

To reach Wat Arun we took a short ferry ride for 5 Baht each, our boat dodging barges, tour and long boats plying the river. Foreigners are charged 200 Baht CASH ONLY entrance fee, but they also give you a bottle of water.

Wat Arun

A very popular pastime at Wat Arun is to rent period costumes and hire a professional photographer to snap your picture in various regal poses. Outside the grounds of Wat Arun are several rental shops. We first saw this activity at the Citadel in Hue Vietnam.

NEGOTIATE

The concierge at the Bizotel arranged for a cab to take us to Wat Pho and told us the price would be 200 Baht and to get back across the river to the hotel would be 300 Baht. He told us not to get in the cab until the price is negotiated. On the return we did just this. The cab driver said 400 Baht, but he agreed to our counter of 300.

BIZOTEL BANGKOK

Busy first day despite the jet lag.

More to come.

Thanks for reading.

Love Janet and greg