We started out on the ferry to the tourist boat, and bought a one way ticket ( we seem to like doing that) to Dock #9 for the Royal Palace. Armed with a map and many warnings by the very nice, very concerned people at our hotel about not speaking to anyone about anything no matter what.....off we went. Within the first 5 minutes, William had struck up a conversation with a very nice Thai policeman, who told us that the Palace was closed until 1:30pm. Our hotel had neglected that part, and it was only 11:30. We showed him our trusty map, and he suggested 2 other places to go while waiting....
The Buddha museum, where the Happy Buddha is. And the turtles. About 300 turtles live in a pond next to the museum. You can feed them, and it is very good luck to do so. He also told us that that day, the Royal Lapidary would be open to the public, which does not happen very often, and that we could go take a tour and look at the gems that the Royal Family...(yeah yeah yeah...no royal jewels cracks here folks....) can wear. Then he helped us get a tuk tuk, with a driver named "Jim" and off we went.
Around the block. The tuk tuk died, and Jim needed a minute to fix it. While we were waiting, a man who was walking by helped Jim explain to us what he needed to do. The man, the Professor, stayed and chatted with us for about 15 minutes while the Tuk Tuk was fixed. He taught Thai history. Told us some more about the Lapidary, and it's special one day opening for the public was this day. Something like that. Tuk Tuk fixed, we went on our way.
Jim was a speed demon. About as much as you can go on a tuk tuk, which is a special blend of rickshaw, golf cart and go cart. I am not sure my photos do it justice. Jim liked to drive on what we consider the correct side of the road, only problem was that in Bangkok, it is the wrong side of the road. Kind of a big deal for me because I was sitting on the right side.....
The Buddha museum was amazing. The turtles were as well. We struck up a conversation there with a man who came once a year to visit the 102 year old turtle, and his parents. (never did figure out if they were there in spirit, or he visited them somewhere else.). We fed the turtles bananas, using long sticks, and fed the gigantic catfish popcorn.
Then off to the Lapidary. Amazing. We stayed there a while, and made a purchase or 2, (not of the King's jewels, we stayed more in the price range of common people...) and after several hours of looking and choosing, we left. But not empty handed, or without a plan. Nik, our salesperson, got us a car, ( we sent Jim home, long long day....) and we went to dinner. AND had a plan for the next day, today, to pick us up at the hotel and actually go to the Palace, the reclining Buddha and the temple of Dawn. That, is another post.
We took the express (?) ferry back, with the young monks, tourists, families, everyone. Stopped many times, were scolded for standing in the wrong place, and marveled at the activity on the river at night.
It was only about 7:30, but I was exhausted. So off to bed, too tired to blog. I hope to post again tonight about today, it is only 4pm and we have had a really full day. Let's see how late I am out tonight....
No comments:
Post a Comment