Day 7 - 1/28/10 - First Full Day in Steamy Bangkok

Unfortunately, I started the day little bit sooner than expected at 4:30 am. There is this very loud rooster right outside of our balcony that started to tell us that the new day is coming and he would not shut up until 7 when a parrot took over his lonesome singing. Chris slept through it all!!!
We had a very good buffet breakfast in the riverside restaurant in our hotel and once finished we thought it may be a good idea to go explore the city before it gets too hot. Ha ha... I don't think there is before it gets too hot time in Bangkok. At first we wanted to walk to all the attractions but after five minutes of walking we decided that it may not be such a bad idea to check out how the extensive boat transportation works. Thank God!!! It was so worth it. Our hotel is right by a pier and the boats come by every five minutes or so. It costs 13 baht and it takes you to all the major sightseeing attractions that happen to be conveniently located along the river.
Our first and just about the last destination was the Royal Palace Complex, I say the last because it took us over three hours to explore it all. We were somewhat warmer than necessary as one is required to wear appropriate clothing while on the palace grounds. Appropriate clothing means long pants for men and long skirt/pants (below knees) for women and a shirt that covers the shoulders for both. If one does not come dressed appropriately one can rent clothes or be refused entry.
We got there just in time for a free 10 am English speaking tour so we took advantage of it. We got to know some more about Thai religious symbols and other interesting facts about the surrounding plentiful buildings. The grounds were beautiful and we truly were in awe. We were happy that we found our way here.
Little bit of trivia information - The royal monastery of the emerald Buddha houses a Buddha image carved from jade, which was first discovered in the year 1434. A ceremony officiated by the king is held three times a year to let the emerald Buddha wear different outfits according to the season, summer, rainy season or winter (basically hot, hot and hotter).
After our visit to the palace we were hot and tired and thought about taking the boat back to our hotel, but once we set down in a shade for a drink we felt much better and we took on yet another site, the Wat Pho, also known as The Temple of the Reclining Buddha. The gold plated reclining Buddha is 46 meters long and 15 meters high, and is designed to illustrate the passing of the Buddha into nirvana. The feet and the eyes are engraved with mother-of-pearl decoration. It was very impressive but after walking around the 20 acres worth of grounds we decided to return into our hotel and cool down a bit.
As of right now we are still hiding in our AC bunker and Chris is schemeing about how to kill our resident rooster & the parrot.
If we get brave enough we may even go out for a dinner.