The Tour Begins!

Day one of our tour, we explore Bangkok. We kicked it off with a very unique cultural experience. Riding the public bus.

Oh yes, those are wooden floors. The woman next to me kept bowing her head as we passed by every temple and Buddha along the way. I worried that I was being offensive for not bowing my head at them. We got off at Wat Pho. It is one of the largest temples in Bangkok and has one of the largest reclining Buddhas.

We also had the opportunity to watch some chanting monks. I believe they were having a ceremony for a new arrival. Kitti informed us that every Buddhist male must be a monk for 3 months at the age of 20.

As we were exiting this temple and putting our shoes back on, another orange-clad monk walked past us and his phone began to play a very loud instrumental version of happy birthday. Maybe it was appropriate since everyday is like your birthday in Buddhism...but he probably just enjoyed the tune.

After Wat Pho we took a ride through the canals of Bangkok. I saw rampant poverty in the homes along the canals. Bangkok is split into two parts, old Bangkok which is full of old shacks, and new Bangkok which appears to be filled with medical buildings. The boat ride was very bumpy because we were moving very fast and I managed to get some of the dark brown canal water in my mouth. So far I'm still alive. We saw a giant monitor lizard sitting on a wall during our trip. Can you imagine having one of those things wander into your house?

We also bought some stale bread and fed it to the giant fish in the canal. I was concerned that they would try to eat fingers as well, but luckily they didn't turn out to be the kind with teeth.

After that we took a trip through the flower markets in the streets of Bangkok which sold a lot more than flowers and smelled...unique. When we got back to the hotel we caught a van to take us to the chartered bus station where we will catch a bus out to Sukhothai!