Bangkok Adventure! Exploring Sathorn

Before delving in, I must say, the Thai people are so friendly. Everything I've heard about this country is true and I'm already in love with it. It's busy, it's hectic, it's noisy, and it's wonderful! There's something to see EVERYWHERE. It's never a dull moment here! At one point a school let out and several hundred students filed past me, a hundred or so in boy scout uniforms, swarming the streets. And I realized there were candy and dessert vendors waiting for them right outside the school! Now that is some smart thinking in terms of location. Also I am really trying to say no to the desserts here but it isn't easy. More on that in a special food review entry.

Right near my hotel there is a Hindu temple. It is called:

 Got that? Awesome. Its Thai name is "Wat Khaek".
It looks like this:

Photography isn't allowed past the entrance. But I did take my shoes off as the sign directed and walk around on the inside. There was incense burning and many people were buying bowls full of flowers and fruit for the gods, complete with small bottles of water. I walked down a narrow carpet and was greeted by some monks. They bowed, I bowed. It is a far more recent temple than most, built in 1879. Inside I felt moved not by the statues of the gods, mainly Shiva and Ganesh, but rather by the fervency of the prayers of the faithful seeking help from the divine. 

Here are some more pictures of the outside.

After this, I visited the Bangkok Seashell Museum, which has thousands of seashells from all over the world on display by grouping. It is a fantastic little museum, but I accidentally paid for the couple from Barcelona behind me because the clerk thought we were all together. The friendly older woman embraced my hands and said "thank you, my new son!" and laughed a big belly laugh before the clerk refunded me for the cost of their tickets. I said in Spanish I thought the Spanish language was so beautiful. Because of their accent I thought at first they were Italian! "Por supuesto!" she replied animatedly. 

I then went on to see all the seashells you could possibly see. I saw seashells in Sathorn. 

I did some window shopping along the streets and there are so many massage experts, tailored clothes shops and tour guides! I'm definitely going to get a tour soon but I keep looking up all the places I want to go at night and not sleeping, or sleeping during the day. I am new to this whole thing. I won't say what I'm planning because I want it to be a surprise but there is no lack of places to go see! Bangkok has a myriad of temples galore and a number of gorgeous places just on the outskirts of the city.


I rounded off my evening with a visit to Wat Suan Phlu, which is a Chinese Thai Buddhist temple not too far from my hotel. On the way I made my way through the crazy traffic and prefer to follow Thai people when they cross because they seem to know the best times to not get killed. I love how whenever I have the thought come to me that I need a cool drink there always seems to be a vender with ice-chilled fruit juice within eyesight. 


I found the winding road up to the temple, and it includes a koi pond underneath one of the temple structures! I saw a few devotees of Buddha praying fervently and kept my distance out of privacy. I found myself bowing to statues of Buddha out of respect before taking his photo...the scent of spice laden incense filled the air as I watched the dozens of koi glimmer across each other as evening dimmed....