Wat Pho and a bit of Thai culture

Although we were exhausted after visiting the Grand Palace, we still had the whole afternoon to spare. It would be a waste to to do absolutely nothing at that time. Especially since our time in Bangkok was strictly limited. Ok, I know, we had the following day and a full day once we get back to Bkk before our flight back home. But we had other plans for the two. Plus, we wanted to see as much as we could and rest once we get to the island. Yes, we had a few days on a paradise-like island. And yes, I will be writing about it somewhere in the (unfortunately, hard to define, but hopefully sooner than later) future.

Wat Pho (also Wat Po or the Temple of the Reclining Buddha) is another temple in Bangkok. Ok, there are lots of temples in Bangkok. But this one is also very famous. As the name suggests, it houses the figure of the reclining Buddha, that is Buddha during his last illness. It is one of the largest Buddha images - about 46 metres long. It's hard to get him all in one picture ;)

The temple also houses the largest collection of Buddha images (over a thousand of them) in Thailand. There also is a school of medicine (Thai massage!) on its premises.

Again, as with the Grand Palace, the buildings are colourful and richly ornamented. The place is quiet, as if totally detached from the busy city. The image truly is huge and impressive. From the temple, there's just a walking distance to Chao Phraya River. From that pier you can cross the river for 3 bht/person to get to Wat Arun, you can arrange a river cruise or you can hop on a water tram to get to other parts of Bangkok. The last one can be tricky, though.

We wanted to hop on the tram. But we didn't know which one of the many boats stopping at the pier was the tram we wanted to take. We tried to ask anybody out there, but with no luck. We might be stupid, that's true, but we were not the only ones (which makes me feel a little bit better). There were other foreigners asking around (even asking us) how to get on the tram. Especially that every time a bigger boat stopped (after a minute or two we figured out that the ones with blue, orange or white flags were the trams, colour of the flag marking the "line") and we tried to hop on board, a guy was making us get out of the floating pier. So we couldn't do that. After five to ten minutes, we gave in and walked away. We didn't want to waste any more of our precious time. We did make it to the water tram the next day, though. And successfully ;)

We got back to our hostel, took showers, changed and went to see the famous Khao San Road. The backpackers' paradise, as they say. At first, we were not sure which street was the famous Khao San, cause they all looked similar. Vibrant, full of people, full of life, noisy. But, eventually, we figured it out. And the later it got, the more obvious it became.

Somehow we were lucky that evening. Cause we got to see a Thai cultural show on Khao San Road. Its purpose - obviously, to promote Thai culture. We had no such thing planned in our travel itinerary, so we were happy to watch the show. Some sports, some dance, some music. All in all, it was worth the hour that we spent watching the spectacle. My husband got to try Thai box (or maybe it was something different? I know nothing about it, so sorry, if I'm wrong). And one of the shows was so hilarious, that it got us in even better moods (was it even possible?) and we couldn't stop laughing! Plus, since we topped it up with delicious coconut icecream, it was a perfect way to finish our first day in Thailand!

 Toes. We couldn't see the soles of his feet, because of their renovation. And they're so pretty!

 Reflections of sun

 Our first coconut water and street food in Thailand

 Wat Arun in the back, to the left (under renovation though, so it was closed)

 The evening on Khao San Road

 I loved the instruments

 The best and funniest shows of all!

 Girls, again. This time with huge sticks.

  And Khao San Road after the show. Pretty empty. Surely, it no longer looked anything like it when we returned twelve days later...

Would you spend the evening watching a cultural show if you got a chance?