Day 12 Bangkok

Today our alarm clock went off at 8 o'clock. First, we prepared our well-known breakfast and drank coffee. Then we went to the harbor to visit the two temple complexes Wat Pho and Wat Phra Kaeo. At Wat Pho, the famous, huge, reclining Buddha figure was located. We were really amazed at how big it is. Unfortunately, we couldn't even take a proper picture of it 😅

At the second temple complex, we saw monks and watched them pray in the temple for a while. But taking pictures was not allowed there.

The buildings and statues were incredibly impressive. However, it soon became very hot, making walking around there really exhausting, so we decided to leave without thoroughly exploring every building. But we still used the voucher that came with the entrance ticket and had ourselves taken to the Sala Chalermkrung Royal Theatre. There we were able to watch a half-hour dance show. Taking pictures during the performance was also not allowed.

Afterwards, we went back to the river. There we took an hour-long longboat tour. While waiting for the boat, I watched locals feeding the fish and then I got to feed them myself. After I was done with that and we were allowed on the boat, I was given a joint, but I ended up giving it to someone else on the boat.

During the tour, it was very clear how different the conditions are in which people in Bangkok live. There were very run-down wooden huts that stood right next to beautiful new buildings. One picture that illustrates the contrast well is the rose-sized golden Buddha towering behind the dilapidated wooden huts.

Twice, boats came up to our boat and tried to sell us drinks or souvenirs. On the first boat, the whole boat crew went for beers.

After the tour, we went to Wat Arun Temple and watched the sunset there.

After that, we went to the famous Khaosan Road. On the way there, we also had dinner. However, we once again looked for restaurants too late, so it ended up being a bit more expensive today and we had Pad Thai again because we ordered a set menu. By the way, expensive means that we paid about €5.50 for a set menu (cola, Pad Thai, spring rolls). That's how much we normally pay for both of us together 😅 but it was nice that there was a live singer at the restaurant. So it was worth paying 'so much'.

Khaosan Road, and even the streets before, were full of people who love to party. We walked along the street twice and sat in a rooftop bar once, but we were very disappointed with it, so we went to a bar right on the street afterwards. But since we're getting old 😁 and we have to get up early again tomorrow, we went home soon after.

When we arrived at the hostel, we talked to other travelers longer than planned and ended up going to bed quite late 😅

Tomorrow morning at 7 o'clock, our taxi will pick us up for the next tour.