One of the nicest things about the executive floor was the smell. When we first stepped off the elevator, there was a warm, pleasing scent. I still can't place it, but it makes me think of sunflowers and chrysanthemums. I will certainly miss that, when we're gone - it seemed to put me to sleep with ease!
When we awoke, we headed to the Executive Lounge on our floor for breakfast. The servers greeted us warmly and made sure we were well taken care of. In the morning light, I could see much more of Bangkok, both the city - and it's traffic. There was a decent amount of congestion on the roadways - something to consider if you have to travel by roadway.
I could also see much more greenery in this capital than I could see in Kuala Lumpur. Something I would have to mull over in the future.
We had less than 48 hours remaining in our stay, so we expected to see just the things we could work into our trip. Our plan for the day was to take advantage of public transportation and get to things we could reach rather easily/quickly.
First up: we would walk to the adjacent MRT station to get travel passes to get a around the area. It was on the next block, so it was easy to get there. At the station with passes in hand, Ramona noticed we were near a Pier that had access to a water taxi. We took the train from Surasak to Sathorn Pier. At the Pier, we purchased a hop-on-hop-off pass from the Chao Phraya tourist boat company. This boat cruised up and down the river, with multiple stops at nearby points of interest.
Once onboard, we had a marvelous view of the city skyline, seeing the mixture of temples and skyscrapers. The waterways were thick with tourist boats of all kinds, including both pleasure craft and the eponymous long boats often seen in the movies and tour videos.
Our first stop was Wat Arun, a temple complex featuring the co-called "Tower of Dawn". The name held an interesting meaning for me, as the Tower of Dawn was the goal in the Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time game for the Playstation 2, introduced in the early 2000s. The soundtrack for this game, produced by Stuart Chatwood, featured an incredible soundtrack, often referred to as "Moroccan Roll", due to the synthesis of Eastern instruments and vocals with heavy synth effects. The track titled "Tower of Dawn" is by far my favorite track! There was an abysmal movie, loosely based on this game, that wasted the talents of Ben Kingsley, but I digress....
At the tower, we learned the intricate decorations were made from crushed seashells and minerals for coloring. I can't imagine how many people or how many man-hours went into this work. We climbed many steep steps to get a good view and pictures.
After circling the complex, we headed to an adjoining area to reach another temple complex, this one featuring the giant reclining Buddha we'd heard about in Malaysia. This one turned out to be significantly larger than the one in Malaysia, by a long shot!
Leaving the complex, we started walking down the street to another complex. As we crossed the street, a gentleman at the corner stopped us and pointed out that we could attend several Buddha temples for free today, as it (Wednesday) was a special holiday and many of them were open for free. There was also the Fashion Expo, a place where we could get inexpensive "high fashion" for very good prices. He flagged down a passing Tuk Tuk taxi and indicated the locations to the driver.
He quickly took us across town to another temple, followed by another. As we rode, Ramona's suspicious nature picked up, so she Googled common scams in Thailand. When we went to India, our tour to the Taj Mahal included stops at several clothing and rug vendors, who tried to sell us their goods. As a captive audience, the high-pressure sales were intended to ensure there was some "sucker" would who buy under such circumstances. And sure enough, our Tuk Tuk driver brought us to a men's tailor for handmade suits. The online reviews said that odds were 50-50 of getting a good, quality suit - many of them are shoddily made and since they lacked labels, it was difficult to hold them accountable or even warn others away via social media. Tired of the high-pressure sales tactics, we left the shop and bid our Tuk Tuk driver farewell.
A short distance away, we spotted a restaurant that was listed on TripAdvisor, so we stopped in for lunch. Ramona was intrigued by the fresh lime juice and pad thai, and I had a dish of broiled pork.
Walking a block or so up the street, we hailed a new Tuk Tuk driver and caught a lift back to the pier, where we rejoined the tourist boat. At another pier stop, we hopped off to ride the MRT to a nearby mall. We poked around for souvenirs and such, but really didn't see what we were looking for. After a time, we eased back to the MRT and returned to the hotel.
A night market, known as Asiatique, was said to be an excellent night stop. We headed back to the Pier and boarded a boat that took us there. The market was bright and lively, featuring stall after stall after stall of souvenirs, gifts and trinkets. As we worked our way back and forth, we found a few items we thought would make good gifts.
Ramona stopped for a quick massage, then proceeded to a makeup store to pick up a few things. I think she was pleasantly surprised to get so many things for so little money. As the evening wore on, it was time for more (delicious) lime juice before boarding our water taxi.
Back at the pier, we returned to the MRT station and the hotel. Room service beckoned for dinner, so we ordered up a few appetizers before bed. This would be our last night in Bangkok, and it was certainly a great ending to a good day.
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