Buddha Love...

Day 1 in the big city.....The Khaosan Road didn't sound like it slept all night (and I'm staying 2 roads away from it!) Tonight will be even bigger I'm thinking since its ST. PATRICK'S DAY!!!! There are a couple of Irish pubs on the strip which I am sure will keep the party pumping all night and morning long.

I woke up with a 'game plan' in mind after consulting the travel agent at the hostel last night before heading to bed. She suggested a big loop covering the palace, museum, wats, use of the ferry, metro, skytrain, Chinatown and outer suburbs. Well, I got to the Palace, Museum and Wat Po but it was about 4pm by then so tomorrow's agenda is the rest.....

I started with walking to the National Museum. My Lonely Planet book said that English tours were at 9:30am on Wednesdays and Thursdays...perfect! The gentlemen giving the tour was a Buddha expert and I learned so much in 2 and a half hours....it was awesome...He had lived in Thailand for 5 years and was an American by birth. I can now look at a Buddha statue and really LOOK at it with insight into its hand positions, dress, statue and more. It was a great tour.

One thing today that I did not expect was IT WAS SOOOO COLD! It was also raining but fortunately lightened up in the afternoon. After the museum, I grabbed some nice soup to warm up a bit and walked further to the Grand Palace....WOW! The colors, architecture, detailed walls, gardens, everything was so impressive and my photos on the blog don't do it justice...but I tried! The Emerald Buddha is the highlight at the Grand Palace and the shrine is just exquisite.

We have to take our shoes off at many of the altars and so I feel like I have done so about 500 times. The Wat Po holds the largest reclining Buddha statue which is pretty impressive but the Wat itself was again immaculate in detailed architecture.

My plan after that was to take a ferry then metro to Chinatown to explore and then see the outer suburbs and shopping malls...but I never made it because by the time I finished Wat Po it was already 5pm.

I was tossing up whether to go to the floating markets about 2 hours away on a tour but with the weather uncertain of being clear and the fact that I only covered half of what I thought today....I have decided its ok to miss the floating markets. I will jump on an overnight bus to Chiang Mai at 6pm tomorrow evening.

So for tonight....its checking out the Khaosan Road again of course, and putting the feet up after that. Too bad I don't have cable tv in my hostel or room..its American Idol night tonight! Do I look Thai? I had 2 people ask me that today.... :)