Monday I went with Brenna, Calvary, and Emily for some exploring of the Chao Phraya river! The Chao Phraya river runs down the heart of Bangkok, and then upwards towards Ayutthaya. We started by taking a taxi to the Madarin Oriental Hotel. The hotel was beautiful! Exotic flowers and oriental hardwood furniture adorned the lobby. We went outside and saw palms and orchids shielding the private pool. Unfortunately, I think it was pretty obvious that we didn’t belong there, and we were shooed away by the people working in the lobby. It was actually the most unwelcome I have ever felt at any hotel!
After scurrying from the hotel, we found the oriental pier next door, where we caught an express water taxi down river. The water taxis are medium sized ferry boats that Thai people use to travel down river. Our first stop was at Memorial Bridge, where we went looking for Wat Rajaburana and Red Chinese Temple. They were part of the same complex, and we found them, but for some reason the temple had been converted into a parking lot? We were so confused! The temple was one of the prettiest temples I have seen in Southeast Asia so far! We tried to take pictures, but some guys in the parking lot started walking towards us, so we ran away quickly!
We hoped back on the river taxi and headed to Tha Tien. It turned out that we were at the same port we had been to on the day we went to the Grand Palace and Wat Po. Our group was really excited about that because there had been some great shopping. We took a quick shopping break and I got some beautiful ceramic wear and a teak wood carving. Next we took a cross river taxi to Wat Arun, or the temple of dawn. We didn’t go inside the temple because we were trying to conserve our baht, but it was amazing to see it from the outside! The temple is so intricate and beautifully designed it is unreal!
We took another cross-river taxi back to Tha Tien and hopped on a tuk-tuk to visit the Golden Mount. The golden mount is a large shrine built on an artificial hill. It is the only place to get a birds-eye view of the old city because high rise buildings are prohibited in the area. As we ascended the 300 steps to the top, there were gorgeous flowers and various small shrines. Additionally, we could here the prayers projected from the surrounding monastery as we climbed. The view from the top was spectacular. We could see the Bangkok skyline in the background, so many wats, people playing soccer on a rooftop, and more!
Unfortunately, we got caught in Bangkok 5 o’clock traffic for the first time, and it took almost and hour to get back to Mahidol. I was glad to have checked so many great sites of off my list though!
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