Public transportation in Bangkok is slightly lacking, even to the very popular sites. Getting to many of the palaces and temples required taking the MRT (subway) to the BTS (elevated train) to one, if not two, ferries. All of these are unrelated transportation, so a frequent user card for one will not work for the others. The pictures of the ferry and dock used as primary means of transportation speak for themselves. One must be quick on one’s feet when using the ferry; the small ferry slams into the dock, and you need to hurry up and get off or on (sometimes taking a very large leap between the ferry and the dock) before it pulls out again. Ryan notes that the throttle is binary, either go or stop, no slow down.
Ferry
And this is the dock
First stop was the Grand Palace, originally built by King Rama I in the late 1700s, consisting of residences, government buildings, halls, and temples. Additional western style structures resembling specific French and British buildings were added in the early 1900s. We had a very entertaining tour guide who kept talking about needing a girlfriend, but was also full of a lot of interesting information about Thai history and culture. The mural around the palace depicts the Ramakien, the epic story of Thailand, where the humans and the monkeys joined forces to defeat the demons. There are a lot of demon and monkey status throughout the grounds. The Grand Palace also houses the Temple of the Emerald Buddha. The Emerald Buddha (really made of jade, not emerald) is much smaller than we had thought, standing at only 45 centimeters tall. We made a quick pitstop at the restroom before heading out.
Wat Pho was the next stop on the list, containing the largest reclining Buddha in the world, 46 meters long and 15 meters high.
We finished our temple tour the following day, visiting Wat Arun (Temple of Dawn), the most well-known temple in Bangkok, and the Golden Mount. Wat Arun consists of a main tower surrounded by four smaller prangs and is entirely covered in detailed stone, tile, and broken Chinese porcelain pieces. Climbing up to the top provided a great view across the river to the main areas of Bangkok.
I really like the “don’t squat on the toilet” sticker. This has reportedly been a problem with Asian students at the ETH Zurich University. Some of them apparently are used to squatting, which doesn’t really make sense with a ‘Western’ toilet, hence messy toilets… YUCK! … the sticker would have helped; awkward matter to give personal advice on or confront someone about…
You would not believe how many places we have seen these signs! There were signs in the Cairns, Australia airport showing no to squatting, yes to sitting, and yes to throwing the toilet paper in the toilet.