BANGKOK

I’m not sure how I feel about Bangkok.

It is a city with an incredibly clean and easy-to-navigate transportation system. It is a city where its religious temples and royal palaces are juxtaposed by its massive luxury malls. And it is a city where the oppressive heat forces you to find slivers of shade or air conditioned areas wherever possible.

On our first full day, we took a subway (air con!) and then a boat (cool breezes!) to visit the Grand Palace of Thailand. This massive complex houses several buildings, each one more impressive than the next, covered in more ornate, more golden, more shiny mirrored tile mosaics. The most famous building within the complex is probably the Temple of the Emerald Buddha, which Reese writes about in the following post. 

That afternoon, we also visited Wat Pho, commonly known as the Temple of the Reclining Buddha. It is the largest temple in Thailand, as it houses a statue that is 46 meters long and 15 meters tall. After we saw it on our family-favorite TV show called “Somebody Feed Phil,” we were very happy to see it in person!

But then we felt really HOT. And tired. And maybe a few of us were feeling particularly grumpy. Harper and I were coming down with a cold, feeling sleepy, scratchy and sniffly. For the next 24 hours, we spent our time napping, shopping in an air conditioned mall, swimming in the hotel pool, and then rallying at a local bar at 6AM in the morning to watch the Rihanna concert.

On our last day in Bangkok, we squeaked out one more visit to a temple called Wat Arun. We marveled at the intricate mosaics once more, and then sailed across the river for a lovely view of the temple complex, while sipping fancy fruity drinks in the shade.

I wanted to love Bangkok. But because it was so hot and we weren’t all feeling our best, we didn’t have the best experience here. Maybe it’s worth giving it another shot one day down the road…