Luci and I had an enjoyable day walking around Bangkok. We took a river boat to two wats, Wat Pho with the reclining Buddha and Wat Arum (unfortunately under reconstruction). While there were many tourists, neither temple felt very crowded. The reclining Buddha is a staggeringly large golden statue of the Buddha reclining on his side. The walls of the buildings are covered in paintings and, as you walk around. You hear the clink of coins as the devoted (and the tourists) deposit dmall coins in metal bowls "making merit". After touring the grounds Luci and I went to the massage school where, for $10 we were man-handled by some students for 1/2 hour. It was actually really great, a cross between massage and chiropracty.
The Temple of Dawn is under serious reconstruction which really took away from the magic of the war. We still walked around the buildings and entered what we could.
As our travels progressed we snacked along the way. Chicken and pork skewed with sticky rice, sugared donuts and fresh mango and orange juices from street side carts kept us energized on our walk.
We decided to hang out with the backpacker set at Khao San. We wandered around and shopped although bargains were harder to find than in Cambodia.
As the rain started to fall, we made our way back to our hotel. Now we are set to eat dinner at a tucked away restaurant near our hotel... Thanks Trip Advisor!
Tomorrow morning off to Hanoi at 6:40 and then the night train to Sapa and a trek among the Red Dao minority.
As always, thanks for reading.