Bangkok!

I have only scratched the surface, but every time I am here, alone, I see so much. Alone because it is so hot, I want to complain to someone, and being alone takes care of this. Today I did okay, but I pushed myself relentlessly to accomplish a few new Lonely Planet top tens. That's right, it has taken me years to go through even a few of the must sees. Prior to my last goal, the Golden Buddha, I swear I was swooning on my walk and hat to pop into a 7-11 for a water.

My goals:

• Wat Pho/Po (a repeat, but I loved it the first time)
• A massage 
• The Indian district
• Indian lunch
• The Golden Buddha
• Canal tour

All but canal tour complete!

To get to Wat Po from my hotel involves a 20-minute walk of danger, a 60-second boat ride across the Chao Phrao River ($.15) and a tourist or local boat (your choice, both cheap and inconvenient) upriver. I was shocked at the number of people, but it seems they were all there for the reclining  Buddha. The last time I visited, I was nearly alone. This may or may not be to the rise of Chinese tourism in the area. But my favorite part was less crowded....this is where you purchase a cup of tiny coins and make one hundred wishes, more or less,  by dropping coins into a series of 100 (maybe) vessels. Just so you know, I think I covered most of you in my prayers.

  

Reclining Buddha, back of head (too many people at the front)

How I wished you all well --dropping coins.

The rest of the temple complex was considerably less crowded, allowing me to locate my alma mater-- the Wat Po school of massage! The cost of massage is considerably more than I'm used to. I cheap out n. 30-minute Thai massage for 260 baht.. $8.00. But when you are used to one hour for $6.00, it seems like robbery! The massage was excellent, and air conditioned, a considerable upgrade from temple massages I'm accustomed to.

The Indian district -- who knew -- is in Chinatown. It seems to be a warren of fabric and notions shops connected to an Indian "department store," and of course connected to eating establishments. Hungry, I stopped in the first restaurant that was definitively Indian. Trust me, this is not crazy...so many dishes or so mixed up, how can you know for certain? I went to a South Indian place specializing in thali and dosas, and sweets!

There is a metal district in Chinatown on the way to the Golden Buddha. Some of these shops have gleaming brass hardware in the window. Others have piles of metal rods and the distinct smell of metalworking. Still others are filled with scrap metal, and in some cases it pours out onto the sidewalk.

The Golden Buddha at Wat Traimit is indeed a very large piece of gold --5.5 tons! The story is that the piece was forged in the 15th century and then coated with plaster to hide it from the Burmese. This strategy worked, but perhaps too well, for it was rediscovered in the 1950s when it was accidentally dropped.