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Pat and the wall
(click to see pics)
I think Taipei has muted Bangkok for us a bit, because when you come down to it, it’s to us just another city in Asia, just not quite as dense, a bit dirtier, with murals of the king everywhere and Buddhist temples in a different style. We set off at about 8:30 on our walking tour and it was already hot and humid (90 degrees and 80% humidity). We figured out how to catch the water taxi – they only stop at each pier for about 15 seconds in a flurry of exhaust as the deckhands jump off and tie the boat. Our first stop was the Golden Palace – Cynthia was unhappy it cost more than $10 each to get in. We went first to the temple area (Wot Phra Kaew) which was quite gilded, saw the emerald Buddha (actually jade), we then walked around the place grounds and stopped in a small air conditioned museum to see the kings crown and coin collection.
We left the palace and went to Wat Suthat, were we started to realize we’ve really gotten the feel for Buddist temples. Next up was Sir Gurusingh Sabha in the little India. We had to take our shoes off and wear head coverings, but there wasn’t really much to see there except a bunch of guys in Turbans and a climb to the sixth story where you had a pretty good view of the city.
Since we know we’ll be having Thai food all week, we intentionally stopped at an Indain restraunt, Royal India, for lunch. The food was good but the air conditioning was even better. Next, we walked through densely packed open air markets in Little India Chinatown, which was similar to the Taipei night markets but with more stores selling fabrics and beads. Cynthia found an embroidered table cloth that she liked, so we picked it up as a souvenier (rare for us).
The rest of the day called for more Wots, but the heat was really starting to wear on us (and thus we were wearing on each other), so we headed back to the hotel. We’d been drinking a lot of water all day but I was quite dizzy after we got back to the room, I’m not sure if it was dehydration, overhydration, the heat, the food or some combination of all of it. I ended up laying low for about 3 hours, Cynthia hung out by the pool, and by the time we met our small tour group at 6 for an orientation I was feeling much better. Dinner was Chinese style duck noodle soup, and we walked back through Chinatown, all lit up with lanterns for the New Year holiday. After the group finished beers from 7-eleven, we called it a night.
Today we’re off on a domestic flight to Krabi and thus the beach odyssey we’re here for.
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