My 1st Afternoon in Bangkok

In the afternoon I met On's son's friend Cherry. She met me at 12:30-ish and took me around Bangkok. The first stop we made was across the street from the Grand Palace at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. She first bought me and herself sun hats because of the heat. Then we walked into the temple next to the Ministry and proceeded to make offerings at the temple. At the temple there was a fortune telling game. The way it is played is there is a cup with tons of skinny wooden sticks in it. Each stick has a number on the side. The person playing the game shakes the cup until one stick falls out. You read the number on the stick and then choose the corresponding piece of paper on the table behind you. The piece of paper has your fortune written on it. My fortune was that I would have a good trip but have trouble with a two-tone skinned man. Cherry's fortune was that if she did good things, good things would happen, but if she did bad things, bad things would happen.

Afterwards we both went to the Grand Palace across the street. The guard almost let us in the Thai citizen entrance because they did not know I was a tourist. Unfortunately neither Cherry or I were dressed correctly, and had to go in the foreigner's entrance, which costs 350 Baht for me but it is free for Cherry.

Me in Front of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs

House along the river

We did not go to Palace though because it was too crowded and instead she negotiated a trip on the river. We rented a long tailed boat called a hang yao, and traveled for an hour in the canal system of Bangkok. It opened my eyes to whole other part of the city. The houses along the river were sometimes slums and sometimes mansions. We also passed probably 20 temples along the river, which meant we should both get good luck, because the Thai believe if you see nine or more temples in one day you will get good luck!

More buildings along the river

Me on the long-tailed river boat

Me on the long-tailed river boat again.

View from the river boat of the Grand Palace

Me in a park along the river, in the far background The Temple of the Dawn.

Me in front of statue in Wat Pho Temple

Making a wish in front of Buddha at the temple

Gold Buddha Statue

Hitting the gong for good luck in the temple

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Giant Reclining Buddha's feet

Me standing in front of the Reclining Buddha

Me in front of Wat Pho Temple

Me in front of one of the towers in Wat Pho temple

Me standing on the steps on in front of the tower in Wat Pho

Me in front of a statues in Wat Pho garden

Temple holding the Reclining Buddha

Tall Golden Buddha

Me in front of the new modern bridge in Bangkok

On, Me and Cherry at the restaurant where we ate dinner

Cherry and I at the restaurant

Eating a giant Mantis prawn

Pipe, Cherry and I at dinner eating dessert

The Temple of the Dawn from the river

View of the river

The new bridge

After the river trip we went to the Wat Pho (The Temple of the Reclining Buddha). The Buddha is impressive, stretching out on its side. We spent over an hour wandering around the temple.  For dinner On took me to a seafood restaurant right on the river. We were right next to a new bridge in the city that is gorgeous and very modern. After trying new dishes, I ordered the tame dish of shrimp fried rice. The other dishes were Mantis prawns, seafood assortment platter that had squid. I actually really enjoyed the squid and after getting over the fact that I had to rip off the head and then de-shell the Mantis prawns, both were very tasty! Funnily the restaurant had both gelato and cake for dessert. Their cake selection was surprisingly broad, they had two types cheesecake, chocolate cake, tiramisu, chocolate lava cake, panna cotta and black forest cake.