Bangkok - The Grand Palace
We woke up at 7 o’clock, got ready and headed up to the 27th floor and ate breakfast at the M club. We knew that we got free breakfast, but we had no idea how great it would be. Such a nice buffet with so many things great things to choose from. I ended up having a gourmet salad and then going back for seconds.
Heading to Church
At 8:30 we headed down stairs and onto the streets. With several Google maps open we tried to find a church that started at 9 o’clock. It was fun to see the streets of Bangkok. We wandered, trying to find the church building, got directions, wandered some more and finally found it.
Our first look at the streets of Bangkok. We loved the bright pink taxi’s.
We snuck in the back a little bit late and found that it was an international ward, which meant they were speaking English. We stayed for Sacrament meeting and for Sunday school as well, which was really fun. I am liking the way we are prepared with our scripture reading and can make insightful comments. Especially fun to hear some of our own group participating. After church we took a few pictures by the church sign and then headed back to the hotel to grab a small lunch from the club. Duck sandwiches — which carry some inside jokes with us already — and which we didn’t like at all. But we did eat some apples and grab some Oreos to go.
The Grand Palace
We jumped Into taxis and headed out to the Grand Palace. A 30 minute drive cost us us 300 baht, or about $10. So very affordable. The Grand Palace was remarkable, and so crowded. At the peak of the day it was 94° and 83% humidity and we felt it. Our attempts to wear long pants and long skirts were successful and we were allowed into all the temples. We wandered through cool glittery architecture and took pictures in all directions. It was so interesting.
We thought this picture was the obvious tourist thing to do. The funniest part was when a couple of Asian ladies could NOT stop laughing and pointing… and taking a few of their own pictures.
Ferry down the Bangkok River
We found our way to a ferry and sat down to enjoy a ride down the Bangkok River. Cool to see the Bangkok skyline along the way.
We took the crowded but air conditioned sky tram to a huge market. At this point I was hungry and exhausted so being at the biggest market in Bangkok didn’t thrill me — but Jared took pity on me and gave me a granola bar which helped a ton. It was fun to walk around and see what kinds of things were being sold and bought. Terri, Missy, Geneva and I ended up buying Thai pants - but not from the ‘mean lady’. Yikes, looking through some of the different designs, we put the hangers back on the rack backwards and she was NOT happy. The customer is NOT always right in Thailand. Ha ha. But I really like my pants!
We took taxis back to the hotel and went straight into one of the Marriott restaurants. I got a vegetarian green curry that was delicious. When I asked for ‘not spicy’ she responded with ‘there are peppers. It only comes medium!’ I ordered it anyway and it was SO spicy I couldn’t eat it. Missy suggested I use some of her coconut soup to ‘water it down’ and it worked and was delicious. Chris liked his noodle stir fry. We all followed Jared’s lead and got berry smoothies that were great as well.
After dinner we headed up to the M Club for desserts and drinks and then retired for the night. Once I had a bath and got settled in bed, I didn’t last long at all. We fell asleep just after 8:30pm and slept almost 12 hours.