At about 8 a.m. a nice lady comes to ask us if we're booked on a Tour and we show her the Voucher which she gives back and tells us it's her colleague and goes off to find her people. Then a funny little guy who reminds me of Hiro from the TV show 'Heroes' turns up and introduces himself to us as our Guide and says his name is 'Tom Mi' or Tommy I guess. He suggests Becky get a proper cardigan to cover her shoulders as the shawl we brought does not cover enough skin to go inside some of the Temples, although mine is ok, so she goes back to the room to get something else to wear. As he sits to run through a few details, we notice that it's raining outside - now that's not fair - we came here for sun! He tells us it won't last long, Becky returns, and after five minutes, we give it a go. Stepping out of the Hotel and the air-conditioning, we realise it's nothing like rain that we're used to - the temperature when we arrived last night was 30 degrees so it's probably 36 degrees now but will go up to 38 later according to Tommy and the rain is barely rain in this heat so we use Tommy's umbrella to stop us getting too wet. Being in the Hotel in the cool air-conditioned environment, makes you forget how hot it is outside.
By the time we round the corner of the street and head up to the Skytrain Station, the rain has stopped and Tommy has his umbrella back because he uses it for the Sun - who'd have thought umbrellas had a different use? He shows us very briefly how to get tickets for the Skytrain and we go through to the platform which is pretty crowded. There are marks on the edge showing where the train stops and where to queue, and a gap is left for passengers alighting so the people waiting can get on from queuing either side of that gap, and surprisingly they all queue patiently and orderly - I thought only the British could do that!
When the train arrives, and they run very frequently at this time of the morning, it is crowded but we all manage to ease ourselves in and stay put for the next three stops where we have to change at Siam Station. At this point I'm wondering if this bit is still called Siam then it must be where the King and I was set, one of my favourite films from when I was young, with Yul Brynner, and can almost picture it going on around me! Time to wake up and we follow Tommy off the train and to the next Platform onto the other line and are met with queues of about 30 people deep on each queuing line - the platform is jam packed and Tommy joins a queue so we follow him. The train arrives and fills up and the queue moves along and down to about 10 deep and a few minutes later the next train arrives which we manage to cram onto. Soon the train starts to empty so that we can sit and before long we get off for our stop. We have no idea where we are at this point but Tommy leads us down from the Skytrain Station and into a covered area where we are about to catch a Water Taxi up the river.
There is a big queue and whilst waiting a boat comes in rather quickly, suddenly slowing, and a boy at the rear of the boat with a whistle tweeting various toots steps onto the pontoon and wraps the rope around the bollard which brought the boat to a sharp stop for passengers to get off and new passengers to get on before accelerating away. This boat is apparently going in the opposite direction and before long our boat arrives with the same speed, wash and whistling and it fills up with the people in the queue, including us, and we manage to get a seat at the very front in a good position to see all the sights as well as all the debris in the water as we travel up the river. As the boat goes up the river, it stops at the stations with the same sudden movements and I realise that the whistles actually mean something: one long toot, two short; three short toots; one long toot going from high to low - these all seem to mean something but I have no idea what, good job the driver and the boy at the back know! I watch the driver watching the boy at the rear as he pulls the boat into the pontoons and how he reverses and then accelerates away when the rope comes off the bollard and am amazed that the rear of the boat isn't ripped away when it is suddenly tied up whilst the boat is still moving forwards!
Our stop looms and Tommy guides us to the rear of the boat ready to disembark, the whistles ring out and the boat moves in to the pontoon where it is tied up (and fortunately doesn't rip apart) and amongst great movement of the swell and pontoon together, we manage to get off and walk away without falling flat on our faces! Tommy leads us along the road and round the corner and we arrive at a Temple called Wat Pho (Wat means Temple) where we soon find ourselves with shoes removed and shoulders covered and in to see the Reclining Buddha, which didn't sound too impressive but when we see it, is amazing as it is HUGE. Apparently it's 46 metres long and 15 metres high and it's huge feet are covered with a picture story made from inlaid Mother of Pearl.
The surrounding temples and buildings are all very impressive with influences from China and India and probably many other countries but all are beautiful. There are some with ceramic flowers with a Chinese influence and others with jewels and gold and look quite Indian and everywhere there are more Buddhas. Tommy informs us that all us these are kept in good condition with regular renovating. There are triangular pyramid type buildings that Tommy says contain the remains of King Lama I and King Lama II etc, and that they each built many of the temples that we are visiting. It's not until Becky tells me later that I realise its King Rama not King Lama, it's just that Tommy can't say his 'r's' - it's an Asian thing.
When we leave this temple, we go to the Golden Palace next door, which isn't an Indian Takeaway, it is actually the Golden Palace with many buildings, some temples, all housing different Buddhas - I don't know why they need so many, but the first temple we enter has many people sat listening to a Buddhist Monk delivering a sermon to some of his pupils, apparently this doesn't happen every day, we're just lucky to witness it and we can take pictures too! Tommy explains that the feet are deemed as the lowest of the low (well, technically they are!) and cannot point at the Buddha so that's why we all have to kneel with our feet away from him!
Next we go to see the Emerald Buddha, which is the most revered by the Thais, and we are not allowed to take Photos, a chap at the front makes sure of that (not) but he does point to a few people blatantly taking photos and wave his hands at them! The Emerald Buddha is not actually made of emeralds but of Jade, making it green and he is clothed according to the season so at the moment is wearing a nice gold cloak as it is winter but will shortly be changed into a nice little number for the spring and then later in the year he changes his outfit for the rainy season! Only e King is allowed to touch him and change his clothes, sounds like a fun game! From here we go into other temples where we are not allowed to take photos and see other Buddhas that we can photo so it all seems a bit hit and miss but we do get a nice picture of us outside the temple, taken by Tommy!
The buildings are amazing, so much gold everywhere if they ever have an economic crises, they can just use all these buildings! The buildings are guarded by huge demons three times the size of us mere humans and quite what these statues will do I don't know but they're impressive as are the half human, half bird statues made of gold. These palaces are definitely more like the Siam of the King and I that I was imagining earlier.
We leave here and by this time we are starting to feel quite hungry so Tommy stops a tuk-tuk and we climb in to go find some lunch then have a look at the backpackers area. It is not the most comfortable of rides, being open to the heat and fumes of the traffic surrounding us - it is basically a small motorbike with a frame built around it and a bench seat set behind the driver which comfortably takes two passengers, three is a bit of a squash! There is a cover/roof which I managed to bang my head on as we clambered out in a very unladylike fashion.
We walk to a small untidy looking Noodle Bar that Tommy knows and we leave him to order for us. Neither of us know quite what to expect but we get a bowl of noodles with beef and vegetables and, slightly more worryingly, two round objects which I assume are meatballs (I fear the emphasis is on 'balls') and I don't really want to ask too many questions so we get stuck in with the chopsticks and don't do too badly - the condiments on the table consist of a bowl of dried chillies, a vinegar mix of goodness knows what and sugar - not what we're used to! After lunch Tommy lets us know that if we want to see any shows whilst in Bangkok, he can get tickets, and seems quite keen to tell us about the Ladyboys show (I think it likely that this is Tommy's other job)!
After our lunch we walk through the Backpackers Area which is probably a lot livelier at night but just as interesting during the day. When we come out the other end of this area, Tommy tells us to wait while he gets a taxi, if the taxi knows we are with him, he will have to pay more so we wait to one side and he soon calls us over to clamber into the back of a taxi. We get into one of those long queues of traffic after driving along a couple of roads and chopping between lanes, when we are at a standstill, the engine suddenly cuts out and the worried female driver talks to Tommy in Thai, presumably discussing the problem! She keeps trying to restart it and eventually it does, fortunately before the traffic starts moving again. The driver tries to change lanes, moving to the left but there isn't room and nothing's moving. The engine cuts out again and won't restart this time for some time. Eventually it restarts, then stops again. Seems like our lucky streak has hit us again! Tommy buys a bag of fried bananas from vendors walking down between the lines of traffic, presumably to keep us happy, and the driver gets out and goes to the boot to get a bottle of water which she then takes to the front of the car and lifts the bonnet and with a rag and not enough hands, she eventually manages to get some water into whatever it was that was overheating. As she's doing this, the traffic lights at some junction ahead change and the traffic starts to move and all vehicles go around us. The driver gets back in and restarts the car which fortunately gets going this time and we manage to get through the lights but Tommy obviously decides it's time to get out so we get dropped before the next junction and have to walk across a very busy crossroad to a bus stop where, luckily for us, a tuk-tuk stops to drop a lady off and Tommy is able to negotiate a lift to the nearest Skytrain station.
At the station, Tommy buys our tickets and we board the train when it arrives and he tells us that he is leaving us at Siam station to go back to his office and we need to stay on until Nana station, where we had got on in the morning, so I think we can manage! As we walk back to the Hotel, for the first time we notice that there is a McDonald's on the corner of the road which we hadn't seen until now so I suggest to Becky that we have a decent coffee which turns out to be a good plan. Suitably refreshed, we then head towards the Hotel and stop to admire some sparkly handbags opposite in what appears to be a shopping mall so we enter and have a look around. It seems fairly new with most shops open and a few closed but it's quite nice to browse and there's a supermarket at one end so we go in to buy some water and also get a bottle of red wine for later, and then return to the Hotel for a cool down and decide to spend a couple of hours by the pool. Unfortunately the sun has passed over and is now behind the hotel and whilst it is still very warm, the sun shines on just one spot which is taken up by sunbathers who have had that spot for most of the day by the look of it. Still, it's nice to rest by the pool and cool, slightly.
When we return to our room to change out of our swimming costumes, we decide to go down and sit in the Hotel Lobby for a while to catch up with home and Facebook and, whilst there, accidentally order a cocktail each, seeing as we can! They turn up and go down very nicely, then Becky decides to try her luck with the Hotel computers so that she can do her Blog and whilst she is gone, I order myself a Caramel Cappucino which, when it arrives, is so pretty it seems a shame to drink it and spoil the pattern on the top, but I do, and it also comes with two cookies. I feel a bit guilty after, having spoilt myself and not Becky so when she comes back from her Blogging, I suggest another Cappucino each and of course she goes with that!
After a while we decide to go for a walk and have a look at some of the street markets and maybe pick-up something to eat. We walk along the street and dare not look at anything for too long as we are asked how much we'll pay for any of it. There is only a narrow walkway between the shops on one side and the stalls laid out on the other side of the pavement next to the road. There are a couple of Massage Shops that we pass and whilst one of them looks like it probably is a Massage Parlour, one definitely looks more like Ladyboys offering a different kind of massage! We cross over via a bridge and walk back along the other side and cross back over via another bridge and then look up some of the side streets where we find a stall with various meats on skewers being cooked up. Becky bravely asks what's what and we choose a beef one each (I think we both err on the side of caution - chicken and pork not being quite so good if undercooked!) and then we get a banana pancake to share and that's dinner. We head back to the Hotel room for a glass of wine, as we've found another great label and it was nice and cheap here, and it tastes ok too, so hopefully a good nights sleep for us both after such a busy day.
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