Family Reunion in Bangkok

Wat Arun

I returned to Bangkok to meet up with the family for our Christmas vacation.  After seven months I was really excited to see them!

I had a day by myself before they arrived so I figured I’d try out the muay thai class that I had tried to go to last time... but missed after getting stuck in traffic.  I discovered the canals and commuted to class via boat which was interesting, and a great way to get off the roads.  We all piled onto long benches and a ticket taker walked around the outside of the boat collecting money while holding onto a rope so she didn't fall off. They have to wear helmets because of all the low bridges.  Class was fun, just me and a bunch of Thai girls.  The trainer grunted when I came in and I was a little offended, but I can understand why he may not be excited about having a foreigner, during one round I thought he said ‘side kick’ but he said ‘sideways’, and I kicked him, oops!

We had a productive visit in Bangkok, I finally got to see the Grand Palace and a floating market.  I took mom and dad to Wat Arun at sunset and woke them up early the next to see the monks receiving alms nearby.

The Grand Palace was beautiful, and huge!  They have palace guards that, like any good palace guard, stand completely still and won’t move or talk.  Thai and foreign tourists alike were posing with them.

Sunset from Wat Arun

We woke up early our second day and walked around our guest house to see the monks receiving alms.  There were a lot more monks, but it didn’t seem as special as it did when I first saw them in Chiang Mai.  Dad had to see an eye doctor, so we headed across the river to Siriraj hospital.  We took a boat again, they’re so convenient!  When we returned to the dock we saw a sign for a floating market tour which sounded perfect so we took a long tail boat up the canal to Talin Chan.  It was a lot of fun and very colorful, we saw monitor lizards on the canal that looked like alligators.  The market is smaller, but also less crazy than Damuen Saduak.  We met one woman on the canal selling tourist items and drinks.  The market itself was mostly people in boats, along a permanent dock restaurant.  There was a connected market on land as well.  The prices, at least for fruit, were really good.

Talin Chan

Wat Pho

Tay got in really late on Saturday night but we wanted her to get to see some of Bangkok so we went to Wat Pho to see the reclining Buddha and walked through one of  the more interesting markets along the canal, although it wasn’t as busy as usual, maybe because it was Sunday or because everyone was out at the demonstration.  

Bangkok has been even more crazy than normal because of the protesters.   We went to see the weekend market yesterday afternoon and got caught in it all.  We took the sky train part of the way, hoping to avoid traffic, and ended up spending forever just trying to get into the station and buy a ticket.  As we were on the train, we looked down at the streets and it was incredible how many people there were!  It was even busier at the other end, so we took a canal boat.  Even the canals were packed, the line for the boat was huge, and then when we got on the boat was really crowded.  I counted over a hundred people, and that was just in the front half of the boat.  I was standing on top of someone and Dad and Tay were perched on the sides.  We still were a bit of a distance from the hotel so we fought through the crowds and walked through back alleys, we arrived only 45 minutes late, which by Thai standards isn’t really that late, we did miss our tour orientation meeting though.