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| Our hotel's rooftop pool |
There are skyscrapers and tar paper shacks, lovely parks and rat infested alleys, unbelievable traffic congestion and one of the cleanest subways I’ve every seen.
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| Monks get priority seating |
We saw Buddhist temples (called wats) everywhere but we chose to spend time at just two.
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| Wat Arun |
Wat Pho is adjacent to the Royal Palace and houses a famed reclining Buddha. They have a staff of hundreds to manage the thousands of visitors who come every day.
Nobody has ever heard of Wat Khlong Toei Nok. It is a ramshackle, broken down affair and appeared to be the home of a solitary monk who spent nearly an hour with us wandering the temple grounds. Our guide proudly pointed out a classic Mercedes sedan from the 50’s, hundreds of well tended bonsai trees, banged up old Buddhas, shiny new ones and an assortment of odds and ends reminiscent of an episode of American Pickers.
Leaving the temple, we were greeted by some locals who invited us into a tiny cafe they had discovered. “Come here for good coffee!” We enjoyed another hour at this tiny cafe and chatted a bit in broken English until they piled into their car and drove off.
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| Feeding koi |
We spent another morning exploring Lumphini Park, a lovely escape from the noisy city streets, it held a special treat. The ponds and canals are home to dozens of Water Monitors. Known locally as Bangkok Dragons, these lizards get up to six feet long and are great swimmers. I guess they’ll eat just about anything but don’t seem to even notice the humans.
We mostly just wandered the streets, especially enjoying Chinatown and the Talat Noi neighborhood.
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| Car parts shop |
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| WWII vintage Willys Jeep |
Will we ever return? Doubtful. Are we glad we experienced this legendary city and some of it's residents? You bet!
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