Buddhas and Sharks
Trip Start
Jan 21, 2010
1
9
55
Trip End
Apr 15, 2010
Bangkok, Thailand
Monday, January 25, 2010
As she was so exhausted I let her sleep till 9.15.
We left at 10am to got to Wat Pho which includes the temple of the reclining Buddha,a remarkable place I wanted Immy to see. At the gates I asked for a guide as I knew Immy would ask questions I had no hope of answering.We were told to wait.Ten minutes later,an old boy of about 100 shuffled towards us and proudly showed us his tourguide badge.I have no idea what his name was,he had black teeth and his English was pretty unintelligible.Fortunately I had been before so could answer most of Immy's questions.
It was very hot but Immy was fascinated by the place,especially the Reclining Buddha,although she seemed to like all the Buddhas.
There was a lot of "shoes on,shoes off" going on as we entered different temples.I just tried not to think of all the sweaty feet that had gone before us.The old guide moved at a snail's pace and at one point I thought he was going to have a stroke putting his shoes back on.
We bought the old boy a drink,gave him a fag and he perked up and off we went again.
After we had seen all we wanted to we headed off-away from the hoards of tourists.I decided we would drive past the Grand Palace rather than go in as it is Huuuuuuuuuge and would have finished us both off.i remember it nearly killing me last time I was in Thailand and I didn't think there would be much of interest to Immy-had there been "real" princesses inside she told me she would want to go in.
My all time favourite place in Bangkok is called the Erawan Shrine and I just had to take Immy there.
So imagine a holy shrine somewhere like where the Edgeware road meets Oxford stree,add a skytrain overhead and a second layer of traffic plus a shopping centre the size of Westfield and you've pretty much got the picture.
It is a shrine to Brahma,the four-faced Buddha and is visited by hundreds,if not thousands of people a day.They all come to pray and bring offerings to Brahma.These could be flower garlands,food,drink or even caged birds to be released.They light their incense sticks,kneel down and pray for a bit and then off they go.it's quite strange seeing people in suits and "business attire" doing this.The main reason I took immy there was to show her the Thai dancers.When someone has had good fortune (or maybe needs some-not too sure)they make a cash donation and the dancers dance for them whilst the individual kneels and prays in front of them.
As I thought,Immy found this fascinating and stood and watched them for over 20 minutes.They really are beautiful and a wonderful thing to watch.I found the noise of all the traffic and trains a bit overwhelming-it wasn't as busy last time I was there.
Poor Immy was desperate to make an offering to Brahma and light some incense sticks,it took a lot of explaining why she couldn't and that it wouldn't be appropriate. We spent about an hour there drinking in the atmosphere and watching the comings and goings before we headed off for lunch.
We went to the Erawan Centre for lunch and unfortunately only Thai food was on offer.I enjoyed mine but poor Immy definitely doesn't like Thai food!
Maintaining our breakneck speed we then headed off to the Siam Paragon-a huuuge shopping centre just up the road from Erawan.They have Asia's largest aquarium in the basement and that was where we were headed.
We spent a long time there as there was so much to see and do.We did a behind the scenes tour,a trip in a glass bottomed boat over the shark tank,Immy fed some fish with a prawn on a stick,we had another fish massage and had fun with the penguins.
After all of that,we went to see a 4D film,so called 4D as in addition to the 3D visuals,the chairs moved,we were sprayed with water and things tickled the backs of our legs.Quite strange but an experience none the less.
We took the Skytrain back to one of the piers close to our hotel and then we took the riverbus back to our hotel.All in all-pretty knackering!
That evening Khung visited us as she wanted to get more photos of Immy-I suggested we take her to dinner as she had been so good to us during our tour with her.She was as mad as ever but endearlingly lovely with it. There was a major snarl-up with the traffic-complete gridlock in fact so we took to the river to escape it.We jumped (ok-we got) on the riverbus and pootled a little way down the river.
So,where to eat?? We followed Khung and trusted her.....we ended up in the dodgiest looking place,rough as you like,bare,obviously very "local" with all the staff crowding round Immy.I think shock took over here and I didn't take any photos.We all placed our order and made sure Immy's included an onlette on top of whatever else just so she could eat something.The food arrived and I have to say it was absolutely delicious-one of the best meals I have had in Thailand and for the 3 of us it cost about £7-amazing.Am also happy to report that neither of us were ill.
Back to the hotel to skype and message friends with Immy falling straight to sleep.
Boy had we done a lot......
