Temples and Lumphini Park

The last week has sort of flew by with jet lag, heat, and misc. adjustments but we are now finally starting to feel in tune with our senses here. The dizzy spells are gone, our tummies are adjusting, and the heat doesn't seem to be getting to us the same as it used to. We no longer even acknowledge tuk-tuk drivers but still have the tendency to fall for masked scams from nice people who prance up to us on the street. Unfortunately we can't rid ourselves of our tendency to look like tourists with our stylish side bags and maps pouring out of every pocket...

Like for instance today on our way to a Hindu Temple, a really nice older lady came up to us and said "you speak English?!" and we replied "yeah!" because no one has asked us that yet. She offered to take our photo which was nice but proceeded on with the same old schpeel that we have been getting from numerous other nicely dressed folks on the street since we got here. She told me I had beautiful blue eyes and told Joe that he was so lucky to have me, which was nice, but that's when I began to tune her out. It's not that it gets us angry it can just get us off track for a while because there is always a 'holiday' or something we haven't been told about. As we have come to notice Thais are very persistent and will do or say anything to make a sale. This tactic is not a common part of the culture I was raised on so it's really interesting to see and hear the different techniques. It does outline their hard work ethic though. We have become such Bangkok Buffs that we now make fun of other tourists that are getting sold to.

We have been mainly walking and taking the Sky Train pretty much everywhere we go now. We seem to still be making our regular coffee stops as we would back home, pathetic... I know but I got a iced mocha for 20 baht yesterday which was substantially cheaper than at Starbucks today for 370 baht for two which were both comparable in flavor. A few recaps of what we have been doing should make this post enjoyable. I will include a few photos, do not mind the poor quality of Blog Spot uploads, if I would have known this I would have just stuck to Facebook albums, oh well we are making do!

After comparing 'Old Bangkok' to 'New Bangkok' we realized that the 'Old Bangkok' was a more accurate ethnic snap shot of the working class Thai lifestyle and we began to appreciate it more. All the same vendors line the streets each morning selling food and trinkets with their stray animals pets roaming close by. The food at the stands consists of lots of spicy chicken on sticks and various Thai dishes with fresh vegetables and noodles. We have seen adequate amounts different curries and fruits and have tried fresh papaya and mango along with several fresh oranges, apples, and dragon fruit. The Nonthanburi morning market was our favorite place for encountering street sold food and we arrived around 7 am to get there before everything closed. This market was captivating mainly because of the scorpions, snakes, frogs, turtles, and pig heads for sale.

We have visited quite a few stops along the Choa Phrya Express Boat and each one seems to be a portal to major fishing villages which is why people sell lots of seafood very close by and right out in the open hence them being freshly caught and ready to be eaten. At one stop on the river there were two vendors selling bags of old bread to feed the fish and pigeons. The fish would just flock to the bread in the water, strange...I didn't know fish liked bread, but it was disgusting how crammed they were in the river. I have never seen so many fat fish flapping around for bread in my life. The bread feeding days for pigeons are over, they were a minor attraction at this stop and it was 20 baht well spent for cheap entertainment.

Lumphini Park was a great change of pace from the rustle and bustle that any city seems to have. It was peaceful with large lizards floating about in the water and slithering up the grass for a snack of mud and flies.  We spent a great deal of time here taking random photos and Joe even found a friend. It was a 'mutual respect' friend; no talking needed to understand that these two just understood each other.

Joe's friend was doing cool tricks on his bike, not the best snap shot but our videos did him justice.

This one is not even close to the biggest one we saw. One was even stuck in a water drain, too much scraps from people in the park must have fattened him up. 

I was intrigued by this large leaf, so used to maple and oak leaves.

The rest of our photos in the park were of this nature, including one montage of each of us sitting in different chairs trying to reenact Where's Waldo. Not the best photographers in the world.

Just a few express boat stops away from our hotel we attempted a Lonely Planet Buddhist Temple walking tour on yet another 90 degree day which started and ended at this same place, The Grand Palace. It ended up being quite short due to the heat but full of serenity and beauty mainly because of the charming bells ringing constantly around the Temple of the Buddah and also because the Grand Palace is one of the largest temples in Bangkok holding so much history within it. Every square inch of this place was embedded in gold and color and the workmanship of every piece was quite astonishing.

We also visited a Hindu Temple which was a lot smaller, but still very peaceful inside with interesting ceremonial music playing while the Hindus worshiped.