Day 7: Taking it easy in the Thai capitol

My stomach was better in the morning, but not back to normal. Nicole and I decided to take it slow and make use of the laundry option to wash our clothes at the hotel. We agreed that we were glad we had already hit some of the main sights in the city on our first day there. We talked about trying to see a floating market but realized that even early afternoon would have been too late in the day for them. Most are located outside the city anyhow.

We transfered hotels, but had some difficulty finding a taxi that wanted to take us near that part of the city due to the protesters who want to shut down the government. They believe that the current prime minister is just part of a corrupt cycle of family connections and not a representation of true democracy, so they want to install their own people. They are in the minority for supporting this change, however, as there is much support still throughout Northern Thailand. Walking through the streets where the protesters were, we were able to see and buy patriotic items from street vendors while watching a speaker talk on a big screen. We just hoped nothing turned violent while we were there.

Our next hotel, The Viengtai, was just one street over from popular Khao San Rd. - a moderately sized hotel with a basic, but charming feel. We decided to grab lunch across the street (an appropriately bland one for myself) and head over to Wat Arun, located to the southwest of the Grand Palace.

You have to take a ferry across Mae Nam Chao Phraya river, which costs 10 baht, or about 3 cents and it takes just a few minutes. Wat Arun is a spectacular temple, Khmer style, with incredibly steep stairs leading up to the second and third tiers - even steeper than those we encountered at Bayon and Angkor Thom. Visitors gripped tightly to the railing on the way to view the sunset and the surface of the temple, glittering with broken ceramic, colored tiles, and gold. Truly a breathtaking panorama of Bangkok from here, and even prettier when the sun went down and orange colored lights turned on to wash the whole temple in a golden hue.

We made our way back and tried searching for a place called Ranee's, which was supposed to be a good restaurant. Walking down the backroad, we were approached by a European-looking dude, who softly said, "Hello guys... are you looking for... anything?" We said we were not. We joked later about saying, "We're not looking, we've already found Jesus. Have you found Him?" and launching into a tirade that would have caused his smirk to fade pretty quickly. We found the restaurant, ordered an Italian noodle fusion dish, a fish burger and a large Chang beer. It was a tranquil end to what was a somewhat mellow day. But we could feel our anticipation rising for the next morning when we would fly south to the gulf side islands!

- C