THAILAND IS ONE GIANT SAUNA

Bangkok day 2


Today I was ready to see all the temples I had heard so much about, I knew they were within walking distance from the hostel so I set off on foot. I went down to the 7/11 first to get some orange juice, I figured I'd find some food on the way. It was like a sauna outside, humidity was apparently 100% I started walking for about 25 minutes, when I was beginning to realize I wasn't going in the right direction which meant another 25 minutes walk back in the heat. I had to stop a lot to drink some water and regroup, the heat was draining all my energy.

As I was getting on the right path to get to the temples, I was being followed by a Thai man who kept asking me questions. Of course he tried to scam me, but in my nearly faint and fragile state I wasn't having any off it. I told him that I knew he was trying to scam me and that I knew everything was open and that I didn't need his help. After getting a few more directions from a local I finally found the Grand Palace. By the time I made it there I was to the point of exhaustion, but then I saw an eatery I recognized called "Au bon pain". I headed in there and got some water, a soda and a croissant for a ridiculous price, but it was worth it for the air conditioning. After resting up for about an hour, I headed to the Grand Palace, I was told that I needed to go and pay a deposit to get a shirt and a skirt because you were not allowed in with a tank top and shorts. I paid my deposit and then I ran into this Australian girl who was having trouble tying up her skirt. She had just gotten to Thailand that day, and we decided to stick together. We "ohhhh and ahhh" over how beautiful everything was at the grand palace, Karen stated to get really tired which was understandable after having such a long flight. I convinced her to come visit one more temple with me, which was near by. Near by was more like a 15 minute walk to Wat Pho. This was the temple that had the huge reclining golden Buddha.

After Wat Pho, we headed to Khao San Road so we could get some food to eat. I ended up getting some Padthai on the go while Karen settled on an Indian restaurant near by. After Karen and I split up, because she had to take a boat across the river back to her hostel.

I wandered around the KSR area for a while, I even went to a department store so I could get a new blow dryer. When I got back to the hostel, it was time to get ready to meet up with the English girls as we were meeting with the American guy who had checked out earlier that day to go to a cheaper hostel. We showered, ate and got dressed, but by that point we were running late. When we got to KSR we thought there was no way we would find him, but sure enough there he was already with booze. We went to a bar and had some drinks there, then we moved onto a dance club. After a while at the dance club me and the girls decided to call it a night and we made plans to meet up with the American guy the next day.

As we walked back to our hostel, the protests were in full swing, there were big screens and crowds of people in red t-shirts. They had created a tent city, they were living there and on the street, they even had portable toilets. It was definitely daunting walking through all that, but things were still relatively peaceful.