Dusit

After our crazy attempt at visiting the grand palace and the emerald Buddha, we were afraid to visit other temples so we decided to take a break from temples and head to a huge flea market by means of the acclaimed sky train. The train isn't anything special but it is very clean, just not easy to go in and out of with a stroller. (Carrying a baby and a stroller down 2 floors after walking in the heat isn't exactly fun).
Overall the day was great!! We got to the market which extended for miles. You can find practically anything there. Again, it reminded me of Mexico's Mercado de Sonora (it's beginning to sound like I'm homesick, I know...). Anyway, we had a really nice cheap lunch there, did a bit of shopping, walked to siam square to have dinner and went home.

The following day, we decided to give temples another shot and went to visit Wat Pho and I'm so glad we did! We all loved the temple, it is truly spectacular.
To avoid the crowd we decided to head out as early as possible. Besides seeing a 5 meter long golden reclining Buddha, there were so many other Buddha status as well. What is specifically curious is the sense of peace and calm you get just by going into the temple. Was it the incense? Maybe the chanting monks or the Buddhists going to pray and get blessed with wet water lilies? Whatever it was, it was quite calming and soothing.

After a few hours of exploring the birth place of Thai massage, we head out for a bite at an artsy café near a wet market by the river and then took a boat to visit the temple of dawn.

Though under renovation, the temple is still quite breathtaking and even though you can't climb all the way to the top, it was still a lot of fun going up the steps to see the four Buddhas on each of the sides of the structure.

After seeing the spiritual side and the history of Thai massage I had to try it for myself. I had been warned that it can be quite painful so I asked the masseuse to take it easy on me. What an experience!! I absolutely loved it!! My only regret was that Sammy didn't get to try it as well.

For our last day in Bangkok we rounded out our cultural experience by visiting the famous BMK shopping center: a seven for building that is a cross between an indoor flea market and a mall. It was a fun day and I used my newly found bargaining skills to buy a really nice hiking backpack for a third of the price I would have gotten it in the US. Yay!

Visiting Thailand has been overall an exciting, eye opening, tasty experience that I will never forget. Hopefully I'll be able to go back one day and explore more of this amazing country!En savoir plus