Starting our Mekong Adventure, Feb. 12--March 9, Bangkok arrival

I flew from Seattle to Bangkok on Feb. 12 on Asiana Airlines.  It is a wonderful airline, with plenty of leg room in economy. The stewardesses were very polite, all wore their hair in a bun, and were very helpful.  The first flight was 12 hours to Incheon airport, on an island outside of Seoul.  I was given two meals--too bad I got vegetarian as it was vegan pasta both times and the regular meal offered Bim Bam Bop or steak.    The second meal was fish, rice and veggies and the stewardess got me one.  I had an open seat next to me the back of the plane, so I stretched out and rested about 7 hours but did not sleep.

Incheon airport is beautiful and very traveler friendly.  I look forward to exploring it when I get back, esp. the cultural area and museum.  People can take short free (?) tours into Incheon if they have a longer layover.

The 6-hour flight to Bangkok was mostly full.  Ttravelers on both flights were mostly Korean. The announcements were in Korean first.  I slept for 4 hours.  The airport in Bangkok was huge and a bit confusing.  Visa/customs were easy and I went to wait for my ride at the information center/door 3.  She was not there, but a nice staffer helped me.  The ride was 30 minutes but can be up to 2 hours at other times.  I did not realize that Thai drive on the left, so the driver was on the right.  She drove a new Toyota Camry.  She paid tolls twice.  The first one was 25 baht (33 baht to the dollar) for cars under 4 years old, 35 baht for cars 4 -8 (?) yr old, and 45 baht for older cards. The next toll on a different road was 50/75/100 baht.

I got into my hotel around 2 a.m., and even though I slept 4 hours on the flight from Seoul to Bangkok, I managed to sleep another 4+ hours at the hotel.

It took me a bit to realize that I had to leave the key card in a slot for the lights to work, similar to my trip to Spain 12 years ago.

The hotel is very close to the central train station, and we can see it from the breakfast room window.  It is a bit hard to reach from the hotel as a lot of construction is going on in the three blocks between them.

I had a wonderful breakfast--both western style and Asian food offered.

Then after talking to several people who just came back from a GAdventure trip, I heard that we are in for a wonderful experience. I also met and found out we will have their same wonderful guide, a former school teacher named Kakada, who changed professions so that he could make a living as teachers are paid so poorly, but he still helps run a school. The women I met said that several times Kakada arranged dinners in people's homes as an alternative to a restaurant for those interested. Count me in.

I headed out, walked about 3/4 mile and with a lot of help found the pier.  I walked along the rather odiferous Phadung Krunk Kasem canal across from the hotel

and then cut across by the Sheraton to find stop #3 on the regular boat at Sri Phraya.    Then I took a river boat for about 45 cents (15 baht).  It was crowded, noisy and the smell of gas was around.

My map showed which boats stopped there--orange/red is the "local."    I talked with people who were British, Swedish, Spanish, and from Khurdistan.   We went by another famous Wat (temple) on the other side fo the river where one can get a great view of the city.

 We went toward the Emerald Buddha/Grand Palace (stop 9)  only to find out after walking more that the Palace was closed (to tourists) for a special Buddhist holiday, called Makha Bucha Day, which falls on the full moon of the third lunar month. It commemorates the following:  1250 monks who had attained nirvana spontaneously visited Lorda Buddha at the Weluwan Temple in India 2500+ years ago.  50+ temples are holding special events for youth to be mindful and think in positive ways (and not over focus on Valentine's Day). 

Note sign in lower right corner:

So I walked more, at least 1/2 mile, and went to Wat Phra, where an enormous reclining Buddha is on display.

  It is 15 meters high and 43 meters long with his right arm supporting the head. The foot are 3 meters high and 4.5 meters long with inlaid mother-of-pearl. It definitely was impressive!  We took off our shoes to enter the temple and were given a bag to carry them. 

Close up of reclining Buddha's head

Full length of reclining Buddha

A tiny model of this immense statue made in the 1800s

The walls inside had many paintings around and the ceiling had special carvings too. The paintings, I think, represented different times in Buddha's life. 

 For more information on the Reclining Buddha, go to

 Wat Pho http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wat_Pho  

There were a number of stupa in the general area of the Wat but outside of the reclining Buddha area.
I only learned later that stupas were special memorials where people were buried, in this area important people.
 

 There was also a special school for massage there but I didn't discover it.

I took an express boat back for 40 baht.  Several of us were just happy to get on a boat as it was hot and crowded.  It would have been very expensive to take a taxi back and much longer because of the holiday traffic .  I could easily pay the $10 US but didn't want it to take so much longer!!   I came back to the room, lay down to rest at 5 and woke up at 9 p.m.  I was too tired to look for food, ate a bar, and went back to sleep until 2:30 a.m. and rested/slept off and on to about 7.

By the way, the majority of the taxis in this area are pink. They definitely catch one's attention.

 Marcy left DC in a blizzard 4 hours late, so missed her connection in Korea.  She will arrive in Bangkok about 1 p.m. today.  Thank goodness we had an emergency # in Bangkok for our travel group as the hotel only had the regular (M-F) office hours for GAdventures here.  They helped me reach the # and arranged Marcy's pick up at the airport.