Epic day 2, Bangkok

Morning time day 2. Trying to gather my thoughts for you all. Woke up so incredibly early I was there the moment the restaurant (where we got our morning "free" b-fast for staying on frat lane) opened.  The early morning wake up I now believe was my first experience with jet-lag mixed with a little bit of excitement. 

A whole LOT of food in a bag. whoa. (and YUM! remember last post? Food in a bag and on a stick=YUM!) this picture was taken on our way to the grand palace.  It was Sunday and holiday for Thai folks. We found out that on the weekends the temples and the palace aren't open to visitors and are only open to Thai people, which i really really respect.  We got told by SO many people, mostly tuk-tuk/taxi hustlers, where we should be going, when everything is open, how we should dress, and how they could give us the best deal if we decided to go with them instead of walking our way and finding our own way around Bangkok. The "advice" and constant approach of the tuk-tuk guys where a little helpful but mostly really overwhelming.

 Not pictured is what I'm referring to is "the grand hustle" of the day. As we were walking to the palace, we walked by a bunch of women with bags of dried corn, and as you know, I'm a sucker. I don't avoid eyes contact (because you don't see things when you don't look) these woman saw Shai and I and thrust corn into our hands to feed the pigeons. Bags and bags of corn and 30 seconds later as I attempted to keep walking, they demanded payment for the corn they put in my hands.  I dug in my pockets for some change and when I offered a couple of bahts they got angry and started repeating "paper, paper", and pulled out a bunch of paper baht to show me what they meant. I then put my coins in the hand of the woman that put the corn in mine and walked away.  When Shai caught up with me later (in another 30 seconds), we exchanged stories, identical. Amazing. The ladies did however get 20 baht out of Shai.

When we found out we weren't going to be able to see the palace and Wat Pho we realized we were going to have to walk past the bird ladies again. With a little bit of anxiety and a strategy of hiding out hands in our armpits and/or pockets we walked back by.  It was the bird ladies who ignored us.  They successfully already did their hustle on us. It was amazing.

The Standing Buddha, what we went and saw and found out was open after the bird ladies hustle.

cuteness

one of the worshiping rooms where people go to meditate and listen to monks

Shai holding the Standing Buddha

Gold leaf

Baht coins

In this moment I was having a little bit of a moment. Feeling a little overwhelmed and freaking out a little bit about finances, but generally so grateful and happy to be able to be there and be able to be there with Shai.

Pretty birds in cages.  Wish I knew what they were for you dad.  I tried asking but the language barrier isn't helpful.  I'll try to do a little bit of research.  They're beautiful.  they have a tuft on the top of their heads like a Blue Jay, white and yellow under neath the cap, and a bright orange under the tail.

Lunch at the Standing Buddha.  Wonderfully thick noodles and pork.

5 stars

After the Standing Buddha we decided to walk back to K.S.R. This is a little alley we passed.  Do you see why I stopped and took a picture yet?

Yep, that's right.  Isn't he adorable.  He really did want to come over and say hi, but we just had a little moment from afar.

Passing over the river

A whole family of cRats! These ones really loved a little love. Not pictured, four other crats.

This was both my and Shai's favorite food on a stick. Pork with noodles in it. The flavor was amazing. Street meat you can't beat.

A little self explanatory right?

 So we ended walking for hours. I'm not exaggerating. Hours.  There's a few more pictures and we ended up going to the amulet market, where there was streets  and streets of things to buy.  There aren't any pictures of any of that.  I think I was starting to feel done with walking, walking in the heat, and as I mentioned earlier I think I was a little jet-lagged.

When we got back to the hotel it was about 5.  We both passed out.  Shai got up around 8 and tried to go read downstairs.  I couldn't move, and kept sleeping.  Shai came back about 45 minutes later and we resigned to sleep and slept until we both woke up at 3 in the morning and couldn't sleep any more.  We talked and read and did other things. I gave him a hair cut around 4, and when the circuit music quit thumping around 530, we wondered out to see if we could get a snack. We walked the full length of Khao San Road and around.  The drunk ass tourists and frat boys were finally retreating and people were awake and buying their lunch and waiting for the bus for their Monday.  It was my favorite time walking down that obnoxious road, and refreshing.  I think we got back to our hotel around 645 and I woke up promptly for b-fast at 730.

My snack

We decided to try to have a leisurely morning after b-fast.  Packed our bags and stored our stuff for our last day.  We had train tickets for Chang Mai at 10pm.  Pictures soon of our last day.

Love!!