April 16 Day 60
We got packed after breakfast and put our bags out of the room. We then headed to the library to get work done that we had tried to do but couldn't done. The librarians were very helpful and patient as a few of the users appeared to be homeless or have other issues. It took 5 hours to get our Indian Visa applications in. They had strange questions and choices (identifying marks? Illiterate as a level of education? Our parents' birthplaces? specify religion?) and I had to resize and reformat pictures to suit their download profiles. We took a lunch break in a really nice local cafe but most of the day was spent doing this.
Richard met us for dinner and a lift to the airport. Meg had forgotten to pick up Vegemite but found it at one of the many shops there.
Our flight was at 11:45 and so we were pretty tired. We sat next to an old New Zealand guy with a strong accent who was going to a wedding in Hong Kong. He brought nothing to do and didn't use his console for the 11 hour flight. He spoke to us a few times but his hearing was bad so conversation was difficult. Maybe he was meditating the whole time.
We had a meal at about 1 am and watched movies and slept. It was a long time to be in a plane. You find one position but wake up half an hour later and have to find another. It's certainly a situation where you envy the people flying first class, all nice and horizontal, but I doubt it would have been worth an extra $5000.
April 17 Day 61
Hong Kong airport is huge and they don't tell you that you need to redo security but everyone does and is forced to deal with grouchy, frustrated agents struggling to deal with all of the languages and situations that go through the country.
We survived it but the water bottle refilling station there needed a filter change, the water smelled of mildew. Their wifi was also slow to the point of uselessness, it wasn't strong enough to deal with gmail.
Another plane, more movies and an easy arrival at Bangkok airport. We both were braced for the stereotype of Bangkok being chaotic and overcrowded but everything went relatively smoothly. We got a train from the airport to downtown and a taxi to our hostel. The only snag was getting a taxi, as the first 5 or 6 we approached refused to use the meter and gave us ridiculous prices. Once we got a good one, it was no problem. Traffic was slow but not crazy. This isn't a difficult city.
It's a hot one though, high 30s with humidity. Our room was nice, large and easy on the pocketbook (just over $20). It was on the 4th floor so we were puffing and sweating once we arrived but the AC did its magic and Meg had a nap while I booked another night and caught up with stuff. The place seemed to be run by a pair of middle school aged kids but they called someone and had me speak to them when it came to booking issues.
Every time we opened the door to our place it was like hitting a wall of jungle air and so we retreated until mid-afternoon. Our host warned us that the streets around us would be closed from about 4 pm until 9 pm for the ceremony of the new king rehearsal day. As we headed out, almost no cars were on our formerly busy street. The sidewalks were lined with people in blue and yellow outfits and a smattering of the military. There were some ceremonial guards in tall wooly caps, initially black but we saw some purple ones later on. The fences in front of temples were decorated with yellow fabric and speakers were set up everywhere playing military marches or barking orders. It made walking easy but certainly had weird vibe.
As we got closer to the temple we were visiting the military presence got more pronounced until the sidewalks were fully crowded with people, all waiting. We began to get nervous crossing wide streets as no one else was and it felt like the king might round the corner at any moment. No one stopped us, so we and a few others tried to enter the temple, worried that it might be closed like the majority of shops along the trafficless streets.
We saw lots of people in the temple from the same groups that were lining the street but were told that the entrance was "the next door" six times until we found it. Entrance included a small bottle of water, which was welcome after a sweltering walk. They had refill stations but they tasted as bad as Hong Kong Airport water. I guess no one takes it upon themselves to change the filters once they buy these things.
Wat Pho is beside the Grand Palace complex but is open to 6:30 pm and so a better choice for late starters. It's smaller than that complex but is still huge and impressive. The large building close to the ticket counter which has the largest reclining Buddha in Bangkok (#4 in the country) with beautiful mother of pearl patterns on the bottom of its feet. The walls, pillars and doors were all covered in ornate decorations or frescoes depicting famous Buddhist tales. After that we headed to the main temple with an elaborate Buddhist altar but the attraction her was a large group of monks chanting and praying in the space, which gave it great presence.
The wat was huge, with symmetrical alcoves leading into the temple stacked with Buddhas and other decorations. There were odd statues around fountains and planters and huge leprechaun-like guards beside a massive entryway. Areas contained nothing but elaborate stupas which were ornate and sparkly in the light. The place was also full of guards and yellow-shirted volunteers hanging around in clusters waiting for their turn to practice greeting the king. The crowds were small here and navigating the grounds was easy.
We walked back to our hostel and saw a few displays of military marching along our street. We stopped at a 7-11 (they are everywhere here) to get water and a thin old man collapsed into me while I was buying water. The staff got him a chair and helped him on his way but he still looked pretty unsteady.
We cooled down in the AC in our room and then headed out to dinner. The street we walked along had large groups of marching soldiers and it was difficult to make our way along the sidewalk. Both of the guidebook places were closed so we picked a restaurant at random and had some pretty good food.
On the walk back things weren't so crowded but the military music continued to play and people were standing around in groups, apparently strategizing on how it all went. Most places were closed but with so many soldiers about we felt pretty safe.
Back in our room we tried to stay awake until 10 pm (3 am to us) but only made it until 9. We had a long, exhausted sleep in AC comfort.
We got packed after breakfast and put our bags out of the room. We then headed to the library to get work done that we had tried to do but couldn't done. The librarians were very helpful and patient as a few of the users appeared to be homeless or have other issues. It took 5 hours to get our Indian Visa applications in. They had strange questions and choices (identifying marks? Illiterate as a level of education? Our parents' birthplaces? specify religion?) and I had to resize and reformat pictures to suit their download profiles. We took a lunch break in a really nice local cafe but most of the day was spent doing this.
Richard met us for dinner and a lift to the airport. Meg had forgotten to pick up Vegemite but found it at one of the many shops there.
Our flight was at 11:45 and so we were pretty tired. We sat next to an old New Zealand guy with a strong accent who was going to a wedding in Hong Kong. He brought nothing to do and didn't use his console for the 11 hour flight. He spoke to us a few times but his hearing was bad so conversation was difficult. Maybe he was meditating the whole time.
We had a meal at about 1 am and watched movies and slept. It was a long time to be in a plane. You find one position but wake up half an hour later and have to find another. It's certainly a situation where you envy the people flying first class, all nice and horizontal, but I doubt it would have been worth an extra $5000.
April 17 Day 61
Hong Kong airport is huge and they don't tell you that you need to redo security but everyone does and is forced to deal with grouchy, frustrated agents struggling to deal with all of the languages and situations that go through the country.
We survived it but the water bottle refilling station there needed a filter change, the water smelled of mildew. Their wifi was also slow to the point of uselessness, it wasn't strong enough to deal with gmail.
Another plane, more movies and an easy arrival at Bangkok airport. We both were braced for the stereotype of Bangkok being chaotic and overcrowded but everything went relatively smoothly. We got a train from the airport to downtown and a taxi to our hostel. The only snag was getting a taxi, as the first 5 or 6 we approached refused to use the meter and gave us ridiculous prices. Once we got a good one, it was no problem. Traffic was slow but not crazy. This isn't a difficult city.
It's a hot one though, high 30s with humidity. Our room was nice, large and easy on the pocketbook (just over $20). It was on the 4th floor so we were puffing and sweating once we arrived but the AC did its magic and Meg had a nap while I booked another night and caught up with stuff. The place seemed to be run by a pair of middle school aged kids but they called someone and had me speak to them when it came to booking issues.
Every time we opened the door to our place it was like hitting a wall of jungle air and so we retreated until mid-afternoon. Our host warned us that the streets around us would be closed from about 4 pm until 9 pm for the ceremony of the new king rehearsal day. As we headed out, almost no cars were on our formerly busy street. The sidewalks were lined with people in blue and yellow outfits and a smattering of the military. There were some ceremonial guards in tall wooly caps, initially black but we saw some purple ones later on. The fences in front of temples were decorated with yellow fabric and speakers were set up everywhere playing military marches or barking orders. It made walking easy but certainly had weird vibe.
As we got closer to the temple we were visiting the military presence got more pronounced until the sidewalks were fully crowded with people, all waiting. We began to get nervous crossing wide streets as no one else was and it felt like the king might round the corner at any moment. No one stopped us, so we and a few others tried to enter the temple, worried that it might be closed like the majority of shops along the trafficless streets.
We saw lots of people in the temple from the same groups that were lining the street but were told that the entrance was "the next door" six times until we found it. Entrance included a small bottle of water, which was welcome after a sweltering walk. They had refill stations but they tasted as bad as Hong Kong Airport water. I guess no one takes it upon themselves to change the filters once they buy these things.
Wat Pho is beside the Grand Palace complex but is open to 6:30 pm and so a better choice for late starters. It's smaller than that complex but is still huge and impressive. The large building close to the ticket counter which has the largest reclining Buddha in Bangkok (#4 in the country) with beautiful mother of pearl patterns on the bottom of its feet. The walls, pillars and doors were all covered in ornate decorations or frescoes depicting famous Buddhist tales. After that we headed to the main temple with an elaborate Buddhist altar but the attraction her was a large group of monks chanting and praying in the space, which gave it great presence.
The wat was huge, with symmetrical alcoves leading into the temple stacked with Buddhas and other decorations. There were odd statues around fountains and planters and huge leprechaun-like guards beside a massive entryway. Areas contained nothing but elaborate stupas which were ornate and sparkly in the light. The place was also full of guards and yellow-shirted volunteers hanging around in clusters waiting for their turn to practice greeting the king. The crowds were small here and navigating the grounds was easy.
We walked back to our hostel and saw a few displays of military marching along our street. We stopped at a 7-11 (they are everywhere here) to get water and a thin old man collapsed into me while I was buying water. The staff got him a chair and helped him on his way but he still looked pretty unsteady.
We cooled down in the AC in our room and then headed out to dinner. The street we walked along had large groups of marching soldiers and it was difficult to make our way along the sidewalk. Both of the guidebook places were closed so we picked a restaurant at random and had some pretty good food.
On the walk back things weren't so crowded but the military music continued to play and people were standing around in groups, apparently strategizing on how it all went. Most places were closed but with so many soldiers about we felt pretty safe.
Back in our room we tried to stay awake until 10 pm (3 am to us) but only made it until 9. We had a long, exhausted sleep in AC comfort.
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| Wat Pho's reclining Buddha's elaborate feet. |
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| A Buddhist leprechaun ? |
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| Stupas! |
I love buddha's toes
ReplyDeleteIt's cool when an unexpected detail is so elaborate.
ReplyDelete