Prior to my arrival I read two "how to survive in Thailand lists". They are below. If these are what it takes, today I did it right.
1. Smile: I would say 99% of the people I met today were smiling and when you smile back if you are not the smile initiator the relief is palpable. The great thing about this is what on earth is there to frown about? I am in Thailand!!!! I met a bunch of new really friendly people (from Brooklyn, Manhattan, La Jolla, Alaska, the UK, and Spain), ate Tree Gratitude ice cream (is the gratitude from the store because I purchased it? From me because it was delicious? Or is this what grateful people eat to replenish themselves after spending a lot of time in a Wat?)
and at the best mall food court ever created, and went to Wats and shrines and markets!
2. Watch your feet: I started my day early and walking and therefore for the first hour or so I would say partially lost. Good news is I had a paper map. Better news is I still know how to use one of those puppies. Interesting news is my map got pickpocketed (best news it is the only thing I had in my pocket and I actually found my hotel sans map with the help of some Spaniards this evening). I stumbled upon several small street markets and discovered Lumphini park, a really peaceful space in the midst of the city with lots of runners and an adult playground of exercise equipment.
My first intended stop was Wat Pho (wat means temple) the home of BKK's largest Reclining Buddha (16 m tall and 46 mm long)
and the largest collection of Buddha images in Thailand and a really cute school where I saw kids learning traditional dance and music and skidding across the temple floors in their sock-clad feet.
To go in a Temple there is a dress code: no sleeveless action (sorry Vida members), no knees, and you remove your shoes before you go in. When you sit in front of the Buddha you are asked to sit either mermaid style or with your feet behind you so they don't point at Buddha.
This is the same with the monarchy (just in case you gain an audience but more likely equals you not stepping on dropped money because it carries the king's image).
After that I wandered through the amulet market (envision table after table of Buddhist necklace pieces made from all kinds of stuff). The monks shopping were particularly interested in the clay ones.
3. You (if you are female) can't touch a monk or hand anything to him directly. So put your money down on the counter. I forgot this rule. The monk at the Golden Mountain remembered. This Wat is a man-made hill with lots of steps that are worth it even if you aren't looking for activities that qualify as "marathon training" because the top gives a great panoramic view of the city and it has mist is reminiscent of the jungle cruise at Disney.
3. Eat! And eat I did. It began with the aforementioned gratitude ice cream and then progressed to the MBK food court (street food in a mall). I had a mushroom bun, pad thai, a thai tea, and a jelly dessert for about 4.25.
Next I caught the sky train to the weekend market Chatuchak.
This market is 27 acres with more than 8000 stalls. They say over 200,000 people visit it each day. Sadly, I never found the pet section but reportedly you can buy baby squirrels (I believe this because from what I saw you can buy anything you could possibly dream up including large plastic butts that dispense toilet paper from an anatomically appropriate location (no pictures allowed). In other news Craig David's music is still played somewhere and that somewhere is in the knick knack and miscellaneous section of the market.
Chatuchak is across the street from Or Tor Kor (another market, food only). It is here that I bought my dinner (to go. Due to my occupation I am not a professional eater and could not fit anything else into my stomach. If only I had trained.).
The fruit at Or Tor Kor was humongous. The lychees were larger than ping pong balls and thus necessary. However, who knew they don't sell less than a kilo at a time? 2.2 pounds of lychee fruit and possible stomach ache here I come...
4. Treat the sky train like its war (or at least the same as the subway in NYC): Tremendous bag of lychees and much more sensibly sized bag of sautéed mushrooms in tow I squeezed/ maneuvered myself onto the sky train with 1000s of other market goers and made my way back to the hotel through the "go-getters" of the ladies and girlies of the night (7 pm and bright light seems aggressive to me but maybe not to the dozens of older heavily cologned white men that seemed to be headed in their general directions?).
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