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Our Round The World Trip home page is here.
Part Five is here.

October 8 (Monday, Day 7, Tokyo to Bangkok, continued) –

After dinner we decided to see the Erawan Shrine which is on the corner next to the Grand Hyatt.  It was bustling with local Thais.  I just love the fresh marigold garlands and other flower offerings that people buy to pay their respects.  It is a Hindu shrine that houses a statue of four-faced Brahma. It often features performances by resident Thai dance troupes who are hired by worshippers in return for seeing their prayers at the shrine answered. On March 21, 2006, a man vandalized the shrine and was subsequently killed by bystanders.  (The Thais are a very religious people and take it very seriously.)

Erawan Shrine

The Erawan Shrine was built in 1956 as part of the government-owned Erawan Hotel to correct bad omens believed to be caused by laying the foundations on the wrong date.  Construction of the hotel was delayed by a series of mishaps, including cost overruns, injured laborers and the loss of a shipload of Italian marble intended for the building.  An astrologer was brought in to provide a solution to the bad luck, hence the shrine.  The hotel construction then proceeded without problem.  In 1987, the hotel was demolished and the site used for the Grand Hyatt Erawan Hotel.

We continued walking, without looking at a map, and found ourselves on a very long street that didn’t have a cross street for probably 1.5 miles.  I had a map, but we were fine.  We turned at our first opportunity and ended up making a big square hike.  It was a longer walk then either of us really wanted, but we survived just fine and slept soundly!


October 9 (Tuesday, Day 8, Bangkok) –

We had arranged for a driver/guide for two days in Bangkok and this morning we met her.  I found her from a bunch of glowing reviews on tripadvisor.com.  Her name is Tong Tong (tourwithtong@yahoo.com) and I figured that the $100 for us to be with her for up to 10 hours was well worth it.  Her husband ended up driving for us today since they hadn’t really seen each other in several weeks.  They live about 1.5 hours from Bangkok and he is an optician in Bangkok at his family’s business.  She’s a private guide (i.e. she doesn’t work for a company) and often leaves before he is awake and gets back after he is in bed.  So, he took the day off today and drove for us!

We started off by seeing the Golden Buddha.  This huge Buddha was coated in cement during some war way in the past to keep it safe and then within the past 30 years or so someone chipped it and discovered that a gold Buddha was under the cement.

Golden Buddha

We then went to the Grand Palace and Royal Temple of the Emerald Buddha.  The Grand Palace is a huge complex that Tong normally would spend 3 or 4 hours in.  However, since we aren’t history buffs and don’t like long explanations, it took us about 1 hour to see the major sites.

Views of the Grand Palace:

Thai military at the palace

When we left the Grand Palace complex, she bought us papaya juice and carrot juice from her favorite juice vendor.  Then she hired a boat for the three of us (and the boat driver) and took us on a tour of the khlongs (canals).  We saw a few nice houses along the canals but most of them were very shabby.  Then we went to Wat Pho which is famous for its huge reclining Buddha that is probably as long as a volleyball court.

The canals of Bangkok

Really big water monitor (all the other pictures were even blurrier)

The trip continues in Part Seven, here.
Part Five is here.
Our Round The World Trip home page is here.