Temples and Technology

Wed, Dec 12 2012 This morning we got up early to get a jumpstart on visiting one of the cities' main attractions: the reclining Buddha at Wat Pho. The short 4 mile cab ride seems to take forever. Lots of sitting in traffic. We don't mind so much since it gives us an opportunity to see more things along the way. We walk past the Grand Palace, but decide not to go in because I was a dummy and wore shorts, which are forbidden (I could have "rented" some pants). We walk around the perimiter to get to Wat Pho, encountering several helpful people along the way informing us that Wat Po is closed for the day, and we should do a long tail boat ride instead. Luckily we had previously read about this common "tout" and proceeded on our way. We arrived at Wat Po not surprised by the giant sign in front saying "open daily". Shorts are ok here, so we're good to go. We go check out the giant reclining Buddha, which is simply an awe inspiring piece. We tour the grounds admiring the architecture of the temple complex and exquisite detail of the many chedis. Of course, we just HAD to experience an authentic Thai massage from the students at the Wat Po Thai Traditional Medical and Massage School. What a treat. We then head off to find some street food for lunch in the surrounding neighborhood. We had some curries and rice, totally spicy and super yum. Amanda was stoked to find a vendor selling Khao Nieu Ma Mueng (Mango sticky rice) and fried bananna. After lunch we hop on a river boat and head down the Chao Praya river towad the sky train to head back to the hotel. This was a nice opportunity to take in a panorama of the city. Technoverload I had wanted to visit this mall called Pantip Plaza which is supposed to be the mecca for computer geeks, so the girls went to the pool while I set out on an adventure to find it. Looking at the map, it was only about a mile from the hotel and I decided it'd be quicker to walk then take a taxi. So I headed out in to the wild of Bangkok streets, google maps in hand. Walking down Thanon Phetchaburi was an interesting look into day to day life with lots of small shops and stands along the way. I arrived at Pantip and was awe struck as I entered the 5 story technology mall. Everything a geek could imagine under one roof: cpus, every kind of USB peripheral you could think of, stalls repairing laptops, cameras, pirated software, you name it. I wandered around here for probably a couple hours just taking it all in. Didn't really find anything that I really needed to buy, but the experience of just roaming the halls and back corridors was totally worth it. In the hotel lobby, Amanda makes friends with the house band, a cute couple from the Phillipines and they invite her onstage to perform karaoke Abba. We decide to venture into the city again this time via Tuk-Tuk to find some dinner and choose a restaurant that has good reviews serving Northern Thai (Issan) cuisine (Somtam Nua). It's jam packed with locals which is always a good sign. The food was flavorful and spicy but our server ended her shift midway thru our meal and abandoned us. After dinner we hopped in some random car to take us back to our hotel for 150 bhat, and ended up sitting in traffic for like an hour.