Day 5- Dusit Park and Western Food (Gasp!)

Well, on Day 5 we decided to use those tickets for Dusit Park that we paid for when we went to the Grand Palace.   So if you come to Bangkok, remember to see the Grand Palace first and then Dusit Park.  If you have any interest in either one that is:).  On the way there we saw a few motorcycles and scooters. 

 There are so many on the streets here, and sometimes on the sidewalks.

While we were walking in the park we got to see some wildlife.

 It's crazy to be just walking along in a city park and see giant lizards wandering around.  It's practically like Jurassic Park!

It's been a few posts since I've mentioned toilets, so just in case you think I forgot I took a picture of this sign:

Good thing they warned me!

 The main reason for coming to the park is to check out the Teak Palace and various throne room castley type thingys.  They have actual names, but I don't have a Bangkok guide book.  If you are really interested you can google Dusit park:)  The Teak Palace is built entirely out of....you guessed it, Teak wood!  It is possibly one of the most beautiful buildings I have ever been in.  I could totally live there.  I think I might have Matt build me one someday...maybe a tad bit smaller.

 The wood work and details are amazing.  We thought of our friends that enjoy woodworking, especially Zak.  Check these out!

This picture is for Andy, no house is complete without a putting green!

 It is totally worth a visit if you come to Bangkok.  However, no cameras inside, hence no pictures to share with you.  :(  But the inside is even more amazing.  There are doors everywhere and it is perfectly set up to catch those precious breezes that you need in the tropics.  Even though it is huge, it still felt cozy somehow, like a family could really live there.  It is supposedly built without any nails (can you imagine the skills that would take?), but we found at least 3.  Maybe they were put in after the fact, for repairs? Afterwards, we went back out into the park:

 This is a more imposing Throne Hall type place.  Italian Renaissance style and completely unique for the area.  Inside you will find amazing gold and bejeweled royal type stuff and ornate wood carvings.  Also an octagon shaped room with a four tiered tray ceiling.  I don't know the technical name but you have to appreciate the workmanship!

I loved this throne hall because it had the most beautiful wood work.

So detailed!

I could so live here!

 No Royal Palace Park would be complete without the Royal Elephant Stables!  They are now a museum but actual elephants were housed here when the park was a royal residence.

 Here you can see how the elephant would be all gussied up for ceremonial stuff.  They have a special hitching post and stairway complete with canopy!

 Well, after the Park we rushed to pick up our visas.   We made it in time to get a good place in line.  Then we went back to our hotel for a rest before we took the tuk-tuk to Villa Market and found the Greyhound Cafe.  Folks, we broke down and ordered western style food.  Shameful, we know.  We felt pretty guilty because Thai food is wonderful and there is no shortage of other types of food either, but we just were in the mood for something familiar.  So I got fish and chips, since I'm always trying to duplicate the fish and chips experience I had in England.  It's never come close but these were still good..

 Matt had a burger sized hole in his tummy which this adequately filled.

Anyone notice that the portions are smaller than in America?  Just saying.

My dessert was exotic though, Crepe Cake with Fresh Cream and Berries.  Swoon!  I loved it and will go back for more next time we are in Thailand.

Matt ordered chocolate cake, since he is always trying to duplicate the chocolate cake he had in Moldova.  Unfortunately, they were out so this Blonde Brownie had to do.

 Then we went to the grocery store and bought more western food like popcorn, chocolate and double stuff Oreos. It's all about a balanced diet.

We went back to the hotel and then back out for Thai massages.  A unique experience, and very unlike the ones we are used to.   The massage place we go to is next to the hotel so it's a short walk back to bed after you are totally relaxed.

That was Day 5.  If you come to Bangkok for touring we hope that you will make time for Dusit Park.  It's a nice way to see some beautiful things, without feeling like you are in a big concrete city. 

Day 4- Moon Bar

We started day 4 when we applied for our visas.  After that we headed to MBK for more shopping.  MBK is an overwhelming shopping experience, but we were diligent shoppers and with Matt to guide me, I didn't get lost. Later in the afternoon we started heading for our evening destination.  To get there we took the BTS and then the subway.  Which is VERY clean.  Then, after walking for a few blocks, we looked up and saw our final objective.

The Banyan Tree Hotel.  We were headed towards the very top of the building where you will find the Moon Bar and Grill.  We had been told that it is a must see in Bangkok and it totally is.  We arrived early, 15 minutes  before they even opened.  Our goal was to reach the best seats to the right of the bar to watch the sunset.  Since we were the first ones there, that was no problem.  I think the staff thought we were crazy but we were determined.

I have never been to the top of such a high building before.  61 stories I think.  Something like that.  We had amazing views.

Saw some unique buildings, like this glass barn concoction.

Our friends Ryan and Rhonda joined us and we stayed up there for several hours, until the sun was all the way down.  However, they actually expect you to buy drinks, it's not a free view so I started out slow with this non alcoholic pina colada.  I think the cocktail waitress smirked at me when I ordered it.

Matt's drink is next to mine.  His was not non alcoholic.;)  The main main reason we were there though was this:

This has got to be one of the most romantic spots ever.  If you want an unobstructed view of a sunset over a bustling city while enjoying yummy drinks with your hubby.   Which I did!:) It's a good place to propose, in case any of our friends is planning a Thailand proposal.  Having already been proposed to 6 and a half years ago I didn't get to experience that here.  I mentioned it to Matt in case he wanted to reaffirm his proposal from a long time ago but he looked at me like I was drinking something rather than a non-alocholic girly frufru drink.  Huh.  Anyways, back to the view.  I don't mind living in cities I find, but I really do enjoy getting out of them, or at least being able to see over them. 

We stayed and watched the city turn it's lights on.

Even though it's dark, it can still look like daytime with all the lights on:

One last photo before we went in search of food!

Rhonda and I had decided that it would be fun to try a cuisine that none of us had ever experienced before so we chose Egyptian food! Finding it was interesting, however, thanks to Rhonda's spot-on map skills and the assistance of a friendly tailor we found our restaurant just as it started to pour.  It was the blingiest restaurant I have ever eaten at.  Check out the sparkly chrome!

I seriously felt as if I was in a different country while we were there.  On the menu was meat, meat and more meat.  The guys were pretty happy.  However, how do you chose?  Well, our friendly waiter recommended the Lamb Fufta special.  We asked what it was like, and the waiter whispered something about how it would make the guys more manly into Matt's ear.  So, the Fufta it was!  Not wanting or needing to be manly we girls chose the hummus.

The food was delicious and afterwards we had Egyptian tea.  Which was also delicious.  It tasted like black tea and mint together.  This next picture is for George and Joanne.  If anyone in Riverton is reading this, please make sure they see it!

Thank you for the tea!  We love you both!

We headed back to the hotel and on the way passed through a night market:

After all that shopping, sightseeing and eating we were pretty tired.  More adventures to come!

Grand Palace Day 3 Part 2

Well, I warned you. Tons of pictures. Everything at the Grand Palace was so glittery and shiny that I couldn't help taking pictures of everything. Sometimes several pictures of the same thing. Just to be sure I captured the the sparkle. Seriously though, the detail on the buildings was AMAZING!!!! Such tiny pieces of glass and ceramic tiled absolutely everywhere. Except the places where it was gold. After we deftly avoided the wily strangers we entered the palace grounds. We had to avoid the "licensed" tour guides inside as we made our way to the tickets. They are wily too! The tickets were a little pricy but on the upside we didn't have to pay for the park we visited on a different day as that was included. What park you ask? All in good time.. Anyways, they had the headphones available to rent as well but we just opted for the wander around and make up stuff option. Actually it was more like wander around and stop constantly for photo ops! If you go at the correct time, which we make a point never to do, you can get free tours inside in your language. It would have been nice to have someone explaining things but we enjoyed it anyways. (By we I mean I, since Matt was feeling not quite the thing.) I really should have been a good wife and take a couple snaps outside the palace and then insist we go find a place for him to lie down in AC.  Unfortunately my desire to see the place that I have wanted to go for a long time overrode that line of thinking. I actually did offer, but Matt was too gentlemanly. So, into the palace grounds we went.

Here is a view of one area inside the palace:
Inside the perimeter of part of the grounds there are murals. Apparently there are 2 kilometers of them. I believe it and we weren't able to see all of them. Most of the murals were filled with scenes of a religious nature but it was interesting to see in amongst all of that, people in everyday life. I thought this scene was lovely and simple.
There were many planters and flower gardens:

One of my favorite things about the glitter was seeing how intricate the tile work was.  I loved the ones that were ceramic plates that had been broken up into tile flower mosaics. This building is decorated that way:


Also on the grounds is a model of the Angkor Wat which is in Cambodia. I have actually always wanted to see the actual one, (ever since I knew it existed) but this was close enough for now.

A large portion of the grounds is closed to public viewing. But I peeked through the gate and took this picture of one of the private palaces. They still use it for hosting VIPs.
Walking towards the main palace. (You can't go inside right now.) This gate is decorated with those ceramic flowers I like.
This is a spot where the king could've sat to relax outside:
Did you notice the chandeliers?

 This is outside one of the throne halls. They are doing construction, hence the slide. If you look closely though, it's positioned so as to make it look like one of the sculptures is poised to take the ride of his life.
We had a slide like that on our house when we were redoing our roof too. Our slide was a little less fancy but just as dangerous.  Our roof was a teensy less fancy too. Just a tad.

Here is the entrance to the main palace, which we weren't able to enter this time. Notice the guard. Oh wait, Matt is there too! And a Royal Elephant! What a photo opportunity! See how perky Matt looks? That's because you can go into a couple rooms on the street level in this palace and they contain swords and guns museums. Cheered him right up. He saw lots of guns he never saw before, some he didn't know existed. Like the quadruple barreled shotgun. You can't make these things up folks! Unfortunately, no pictures for you gun enthusiasts. Sorry.

The Main Palace:
So pretty.  Also in the grounds was a Silk and Textile Museum. Which if you are in the area is TOTALLY worth a look. You can just go there if you don't want to look at the whole palace but you will have to pay to go in, and it is included in the fee for the whole palace and park thing. Just so you know.

Anyways, we learned so much about silk in Thailand and the best part is, at the end I GOT TO PLAY DRESS UP!!!!!!!!! SERIOUSLY SO COOL! Except the part where I almost made a fatal color combination and the helper ladies laughed at me. Apparently green with blue does NOT go. ( I had no idea.) So we went with pink.  Per their suggestion. That was better anyways because it matched my sunburn. Which you can't really see in the pictures.
After we took this picture, a tourist gave me HER fan and then took pictures of me holding it.  Now I know how it feels to be a tourist attraction.  I really wanted to buy some silky something or other, because after you have seen the really good silk then the stuff in the regular markets looks cheesy. However, the gift shop wasn't bargain priced. So the cheesy stuff started to look pretty awesome.

After I got back into regular clothes (so sad) we hustled back to the river. On the way we passed through the market. You can buy EVERYTHING at the markets.It took us awhile to figure out the boat thing, as we were NOT going to get tricked into the tourist thing again. So we finally figured out the ferry ride across and then the boat back. We missed one boat because we were trying to encourage a tourist. Poor guy was trying to see as much as possible but everything was closed. We gave a couple suggestions and then got on the next boat. Here is a picture of the engine of a long tailed boat like I promised in the last post. Matt wanted to make sure we had a picture.  Apparently it is extremely cool.  I don't really know, but it looks big and shiny.
The palace from the river:
Full view of long tailed boat.
Well, that's all for that day. We were late to meet our buddies for dinner, since we missed our boat and misjudged time it would take to get back since the regular boat stops at more piers. Still, we made it and after dinner we all chatted by the pool at our hotel.

More later, we miss you all. Please drop us a line if you have a chance, we would love to hear how things are at home. Even the small details make us smile and feel like we are there with you! Love, M&L

On the River to the Grand Palace Day 3 Part 1

Well, here we are, back to Bangkok. Monday the 27th we went on the river to go to the Grand Palace. We met some friends and walked down to the pier. Somehow we got mistaken for TOURISTS, no idea how the people got that impression. Anyways, we were hustled onto the tourist boat instead of the regular boat. The main difference between the two was that on the tourist boat there was a guy mumbling into a loud speaker that we couldn't hear and the small fact that the tourist boat costs 40 baht as opposed to 15-20 baht on the regular boat. Anyways, we made the most of it and took plenty of tourist-type pictures. Since we were on the boat and all.
Now before you get too excited, this isn't our boat. Many of the hotels on the river have a boat that will ferry you to the hotel if you want. For free apparently. Our boat was less glamorous and somehow I forgot to take a picture of it. Shocking since I take pictures of everything else.

We saw lots of interesting buildings. This is the Chee Chin Khor Moral Up-Lifting Benefiction Foundation. Now I don't know what that means, but is sounds very important. Plus, the building was very cool too!This is the Princess Mother Memorial Park. We didn't stop.
I call this one "Small Pink Building with Colorful Swirlies." Maybe I should be a consultant for naming important structures. What do you think?
You know how people in the states will try to imitate Asian architecture and decorating styles? And how it doesn't usually work in our landscapes and western houses? It soooo works here. Look at this cool set of buildings!
Check out the longtail boats in this picture. Can you see how big the engines are? We will show an up close look at those in another post.

On the river you see can see the imposing buildings, but also catch a glimpse of some places that seem to have grown out of the water.
We managed to get off at the right stop, thanks to the loudspeaker we were straining to hear. We went in search of the Grand Palace. Now, here is a tip for any of our friends that may potentially come here to a touristy spot. There are unfortunately some people who are interested in taking advantage of the lost tourist. Hence, if you are lost, don't act like it. (We weren't, I'm just saying IF you are.) Even if you know exactly where you are going there will be ones that try to "help" and tell you that where you are going is closed and suggest an alternate place to visit. Do not pay attention. Proceed to your final destination and find out for yourself. Now, if you are lost, what to do? Go INTO an actual place of business, talk to a respectable shopkeeper and you will be in a much better position to succeed in finding your destination. We did have a wily stranger tell us that the Palace was closed for a "special festival, til 1 pm, today only." Why he thought we were tourists I have no idea.  I mean we did have our Lonely Planet Bangkok Guide book out along with our very well used map, but who doesn't?  Just common sense to want to know and be sure of where you are going.  It's called street smarts!!  Anyways, we didn't listen and the Palace was NOT closed.

We did find it.

As we approached the walls, we heard a loudspeaker warning tourists not to trust people outside the palace walls. And to confirm it, they have a sign. Can you read that bottom line?

"DO NOT TRUST WILY STRANGERS"

Well, that is all for this one. I don't want to overwhelm you with pictures since the Grand Palace was VERY picturesque. Equals TONS of pictures. So, until next time, Ta-Ta!