WhereRtheWilliams?: One Night in Bangkok

Capital city of Thailand; locally known as "Krung Thep". A shopper's paradise with market stalls around every corner and enormous shopping centres that have become a tourist destination! Yes, it's Bangkok!
And we've just spent ...
"One night in Bangkok and the tough guys stumble
Can't be too careful with your company;
I can feel the devil walking next to me."

Rambutri Village Inn is just how we like our larger guesthouses - quiet, with lovely staff and surprisingly comfortable beds. It's close to, but tucked away from the craziness that is, the Khaosan Road Tourist precinct, and is well worth the 950THB (approx $29) per room per night.

So last evening we checked in, walked to a gorgeous restaurant close by (nice setting and the staff are really sweet), checked out some market stalls, had a massage, tasted a fried scorpion and went to bed quite exhausted. Fitted in quite a bit considering we'd been awake (with small dozes on the planes) since 3:30am that morning!!)

Today we are templed out somewhat. After a late breakfast we started a bit of a walking tour (Ben in charge of a map and strict instructions on me on what I wanted to see). So we headed towards the Grand Palace precinct which includes Wat Phra Kaew (Temple of the Emerald Buddha), which contains the famous and greatly revered Emerald Buddha that dates back to the 14th century. This dimunitive figure (actually made of Jade) sits high up in the temple in one of his 3 robes (he has one for each season - hot, cool and rainy)!

The Grand Palace, built in 1782 has been the home of the Thai King for 150 years. The present monarch, King Bhumibol Adulyadej (Rama IX), apparently resides elsewhere, but the Grand Palace is still used for official events.

The beautiful architecture and intricate detail of the buildings in this complex was breathtaking. The beautiful mosaiced buildings, the blindingly golden stupas, the stunning inlaid tiling, the sculpted gardens, the ancient war weapons and the museum of decorative adornments and jewellery kept us riveted until it all got a bit much for the little ones. We split up then and Ben and I took the 4 big boys to Wat Pho.

A tuk tuk driver insisted that he could fit in all 6 of us!! And for 100THB (a rip off but not really since we didn't have to pay for 2 vehicles!) he transported us all squished up! We were the local entertainment to many people we passed and we were photographed and videoed by tourists as we travelled! :)

Wat Pho was an eye opener in itself. I had hears about the enormous reclining Buddha but to actually see it was something else. Here are some facts: The Buddha measures 46 metres long and is covered in gold leaf. The Buddha's feet are 3 metres long and exquisitely decorated in mother-of-pearl illustrations of auspicious 'laksanas' (characteristics) of the Buddha. The highest part of the Buddha we are guessing is about 20m high.

Finally we headed back to the hotel - in 2 tuk tuks this time!! :) Had a long foot massage (totally needed that one!!) and may even hit one of the night markets tonight. Yep we are truly suckers for punishments!

More from Chiang Mai I guess. We head there on the night train on Sunday (arrive on Monday morning).