Bangkok

Thailand,  yes even Bangkok,  is the best smelling place we've  been so far. Fresh and fragrant  flowers mixed with street  stalls doling out tasty treats. Even the trash doesn't  really smell that bad. I know it sounds crazy, but it's true. Jim and I arrived in Thailand  after our no sleep for 48 hour adventure,  and took a pretty  epic nap, leaving us with a few daylight  hours for our first day in Bangkok. 

So we went for a walk, and took  the opportunity  to note the myriad  forms of transportation  that are possible in this town. Metered taxi, tuk tűk ( see right ), bus, sky train ( which we found super easy to use), metro, and moto (ie scooter).

Of course one of our first destinations was the Chautchak weekend market( the largest outdoor  market in the world) . For those of you keeping track, this means that in 3 days, we tackled the largest covered market in the world (Grand  Bazaar, Istanbul), the largest mall in the world (Dubai),and the largest outdoor market  in the world. What did we do at Chautchak?  Eat! Of course. Chicken basil and garlic pork.

And frozen fruit juice popsicles,

And meat on a stick (pork). We also bought a few things, a hat for Jim for sun protection,  and a long skirt for me to allow temple visits (temples, or wat's have strict dress codes )

We crashed pretty good  that first night, but managed to get ourselves up nice and early to tackle the Grand Palace and Wat Pho the next day. To get there from our hostel, we picked up one of the many ferry boats on the  Chao Phyra  river.

For about 30 baht for both of us (that's around a dollar), you can take the 15 minute ride up to the Grand Palace, passing several temples, skyline views, and odd river detritus on the way.

The Grand Palace  is unlike any aarchitecture  we've bumped into thus far on the trip. Gilded  and in mirrored tile living color, these buildings stand out as unique places for respect and reflection.

And the imagery is stunning and strange. Large dragons, and lions, buddhas, and war scenes, all gilded within the walls.

But one of my favorite features  were the recurring  chinese lion statues. Inside their mouths is a carved stone ball. I think it's probably supposed to be a tounge. But I just enjoyed sticking my hand in and playing with this odd stone creature.

Around the corner, we visited  Wat Pho, a temple with a building containing the "big buddah". And he was much bigger than we had thought. This is us with just his head. He also has a whole body, and some very large feet, but oddly, no butt. 

More fun with temple statues

Our  second  and last night in Bangkok before heading off to Koh Chang, we hit up the local street stall for some pad thai  and Chang,  the local brew. Jim was pleased with the quality  of the lager, compared to what had been available  to us the past month in Turkey.