(day 2) bangkok

Started the morning out really early, went by BTS (Thailand's MRT, actually, they have a BTS AND an MRT, they are operated separately, have different metro cards, and don't connect, making the pubtrans system really inconvenient and one of the less convenient ones I've used) to Victory Monument. Here it is, it's kind of boring.

Stopped by a random stand (we were poached by a hawker) for breakfast (not pictured). I got boat noodles, which is kind of like Thai beef noodle soup. They're called boat noodles because they used to be sold on boats to other people doing business in the canals.

7-11's have all these interesting drinks for sale, like Ovaltine and milk tea and Thai iced tea!

Some have Slurpee machines.

Took a cab to Wat Phra Kaew, or Temple of the Emerald Buddha, which is also connected to the Grand Palace. The entire complex was HUGE and absolutely inundated with tourists. We may as well have been in Seoul with the number of Korean tourists that were there.

Though we weren't completely inappropriately addressed, it turns out both leggings and shorts are unacceptable, so we had to borrow sarongs/trousers before we were allowed to go in. They rent them out for free but you have to go through this process of putting down a deposit and then getting it back, plus there were tons of people that were wearing sleeveless tops or dresses, so it took a while. Not a good start to the experience.

The temple itself was really cool. The architecture, ornamentation, colors, grandeur etc. were all brand new to me and it was really amazing to see. However. The sheer volume of tourists plus the intense humid heat put a real damper on the experience for me, and I had a hard time getting into without feeling suffocated and uncomfortable. I think I would always go to a quiet "second tier" tourist attraction than a crowded "absolutely must see" tourist attraction.  

Closeup of some of the gold tiling. The gold and glass reflecting in the sun was really brilliant and magnificent.

Closeup of a column, those silver bits have mirrors on them that reflect light back at you so the whole temple complex looks like it's made of thousands of sparkling jewels.

There were also little cute landscaping scenes like this scattered around.

I'm not sure what the significance of any of the buildings, spires, and shapes are, but there are a lot of these pointy things. They're not always gold. Seems like each temple goes with a color scheme and sticks to it. I like the little guys at the bottom holding it up.

Face cracks me up.

See how I tried to cut off all the tourist heads at the bottom with my framing. I wanted to do it in real life too.

Stayed a couple of hours, then when we were nice and sweaty, got a tuk tuk to take us to some random food cafeteria that I'd read about (didn't know much about it, just needed a place to go).

The tuk tuk ride was really fun!! There's just something about riding in an open air vehicle that is so free and exhilarating. It's not about speed, cuz you're only going like 30 mph, it's just that you're way more connected to the environment while you're traveling I guess.

The cafeteria place. Big, not a lot of people, not a lot of English.

They bring you a cart of drinks that you can choose from (and you have to pay for whatever you pick ofc). We picked this shocking green Fanta drink and basically chugged it. So hot in Bangkok.

The food was only ok, I think we just got one small thing of curry and shared it. Glad we didn't order more.

Went back to Airbnb and basked in the sweet sweet AC. Used the rooftop infinity pool (seems like all apartment buildings have one in Bangkok).

After cooling off, headed back out again for (you guessed it) more food! Had a specific restaurant in mind that specializes in papaya salad and northern Thailand (Isaan) cuisine.

But on the way, had to stop and try this street food stand that popped up right at the corner of the street. They didn't have a stove or anything so I guess they just cooked it at home and then set up shop somewhere.

We got an order of the eggrolls for 35 baht ($1). The stuff on the right I think is for making dessert, like when you get Vietnamese drinks and it has a bunch of crap in it? Or maybe old school Taiwanese bing dessert? Something like that...

Got a red bull from 7-11, Thailand has like the "real" or "original" Red Bull or something, contains some ingredient that we're not allowed to use at home so everyone says to try it when you go to Thailand. It's really cheap there! Tastes the same.

The eggrolls were vegetarian and they gave us a thing of sauce. It was sooooo good. Dylan maintains it was the best thing we'd eaten so far (and maybe on the whole trip?)

Kind of a larb salad thing.

Papaya salad (som tum)! This was my favorite dish but also deceptively the spiciest so I couldn't have a lot of it.

A bamboo salad dish. Everything we got was kind of similar, all pretty good though.

After having a ton of salads, Dylan wasn't feeling great so we headed back. Everyone says that you will get upset stomach when you visit Thailand -- and it's true. We both did at different points in the trip. The spiciness doesn't help, either. Bring Immodium! Or buy it in Thailand, it's cheaper.