Bangkok!

It's so beautiful. There are so many flowers. It's so hot. 

Where to begin? I can start with the fact that we are poolside at what must be one of the most special hotels in the world. We are just back from amazing sight-seeing that was slightly blurred by all the sweat coming from our bodies. 

I'll back up so you can see how we got here. We arrived in Bangkok from Tokyo on Thursday. The flight was about 6 hours and, in comparison to our previous flight, felt like nothing. Upon arriving, we came to our hotel, The Mandarin-Oriental. We were greeted with flowers and the service has been extraordinary ever since. There is a butler on every floor to anticipate your every need, sometimes even racing you to the elevator to hit the button for you. There are so many details I could go to in but my favorite happened today at breakfast. AT blew her nose (with a pre-packed kleenex*) and the waiter was immediately there with a box of tissues to offer her another. Whoa. 

I could go on for days, but I'll spare you. I will say that the lobby is beautiful and the flowers are so abundant that I insisted I take my picture in front of the hanging purple flowers to "show the wedding planner." This is putting many tuk-tuks before the horse and I don't even care. 

For our first full day in Bangkok, we went on a Jim Thompson pilgrimage. Jim Thompson was an American who was stationed in Thailand during WWII and he loved it so much that he returned after the war. He revolutionized Thai silk production and brought it to the attention of the western fashion world. We started at his outlet store, then went to the real store, and ended at his house which is now a museum. 

The outlet store was five floors with the first three all being bolts of fabric. If you need to upholster something in Thai silk, please start here. The choices were endless and each was more beautiful than the next. The top two floors have clothing, bags, and home furnishings all made from Thai silk. We bought many many things. 

We had to compensate for our entire trip in Japan where we tried to shop but found nothing of interest. It felt a little bit like this**:

After shopping at the outlet, we went to full retail. I know we've seen many beautiful things this trip and will continue to go many more awe-inspiring places, but...I think that store was the prettiest place I have ever been. Imagine the most exquisite scarf you've ever seen. And then imagine it is next to another impossibly gorgeous scarf. And then imagine it goes on forever just like that. At one point I had to stop in the middle of the store with my head swiveling around and figure out which way to walk because I wanted to walk all the directions at once. I took no pictures inside because I consider it to be a holy place. 

Our last stop was the Jim Thompson house. Admission includes a guided tour of the six traditional Thai buildings he combined to build his house. It is filled throughout with art and antiques from Thailand and the whole world. 

Today we hit the more obligatory tourist destinations. We rode the ferry up the river to the Golden Buddha. We had a bit of a walk from the pier to the Buddha himself and the heat-dripping*** began. Please ignore the shine from us and focus on the shine from him. 

Next we went to Wat Pho, a Buddhist temple that was a short trip away through Chinatown. We opted for a tuk-tuk to avoid further pore-cleansing. 

When we got to Wat Pho it was one stunning visual after another. We started at the Temple of the Reclining Buddha. He is HUGE! I had/got to don a lovely robe (which I returned, don't panic) to cover up my shorts and then we walked all along the perimeter of him. I don't think the pictures really capture how giantly chill he is, but let's try. 

From there, we wandered around the very large complex. It hosts many tourists, a working Buddhist monastery, more than one thousand Buddhas, and many mounds that are ornately decorated in tile, gold, etc. It was overwhelming to see it all in one place. 

So overwhelming, in fact, that we got on the ferry and turned into our own reclining Buddhas at this pool. And we've come full circle!

There is still much to see! Tonight we are going to visit one of the night markets or continue visiting temples when the heat of the day has dropped off a bit. We then have one more day in Bangkok before we head to Cambodia! 

-KT

*She is an expert traveller. 

**In this scenario, Japan is the snobby Beverly Hills sales clerk, AT is Hector Elizondo, and I am a hooker with a heart of gold. 

***I've decided we need euphemisms for sweat.