So, apart from shopping...

... marlon and i tried to cram as much sightseeing as humanly possible into one day. our morning was spent with a pinoy tour group and a smiley, ultra-charming thai tour guide named Puki (I kid you not). apparently, puki means "fat baby" in thai. eve ensler would be disappointed to know that the young mommy-age Pinays preferred to call our tour guide ana, a derivative of her first name, which is pratchana. after introducing herself, Puki told us that the name of her tour coach driver was Supot, whereupon she was besieged with raucous laughter.

our city tour began at promptly at eight thirty and ended at around 2pm with lunch in siam center. we decided to leave our group at Wat Pho, the Reclining Buddha temple (a perfect deity for me, snorted my boyfriend) and cross the street to visit the Grand Palace instead of joining them for a leather and jewelry factory visit. we got lost inside the complex, probably got heatstroke from sightseeing in the noontime sun (plus I now have funny ballet-flat tan lines on my feet) and crawled half-dead to Chatuchak afterwards, but it was definitely worth it for a breathtakingly beautiful array of sights. besides, who wants to visit a jewelry factory if you've only got lint in your pockets?






these next two pictures are bizarre, so let me try to explain them away. there are murals all around the complex depicting... well, i'm not entirely sure what. there are a lot of figures from Indian mythology shown in painstaking detail. i believe some of them were also mean to depict virtues that should be upheld by all kings. anyway, marlon and i had fun with some of them.





10 things i loved about the grand palace:

1. it makes for wonderful, colorful pictures.
2. literally dozens of golden bells or chimes hanging from the roofs. they made beautiful music in the breeze.
3. the feel of cold marble under bare feet after five hours of walking in the sun. (one is required to take off one's footwear before entering the Emerald Buddha temple).
4. the security of believing that Buddha is protecting your favorite shoes from theft while you pay him your respects.
5. the high, deep red ceilings and sweeping sense of grandeur of the Emerald Buddha temple.
6. the massive gold stupa out front, which hurts to look at when you get too close.
7. the fact that the massive gold stupa is actually made of thousands of tiny glass-like gold tiles.
8. the van that sells cold fruit juice (passion fruit or sugarcane juice, anyone?) just outside the palace itself.
9. the fact that the palace would look hideously gaudy if you transplanted it anywhere else. it's perfect where it is.
10. the workmanship makes all my beaded thai bags/skirts/purses with tiny mirrors seem like cheap tourist crap. which, of course, they are.

my mantra for the day was, "there's so much to be said for waking up early!" to which marlon emphatically agreed. this from the couple who was late to the night safari and had to make a mad dash to see the tigers before closing time.