Wat Pho / Wat Arun

Once Nathan and I got our visas sorted, it was on to some sight seeing. We decided that Wat Pho looked interesting enough as well as Wat Aran.

Probably my favorite part of this experience was catching the bus to get there. The buses sort just roll to a California stop after you wave them down. We knew what bus number to catch but were on our own as far as trying to figure out or actual destination. The bus driver waved us off telling us the bus was free, so we were pretty happy about that. I felt like a dog hanging my head outside of the window of this old wood panel bus. There was something in the air (if you can even call it air) that made the hustle and bustle of the city exciting and fascinating. Maybe it was because it was our first exploration trip, but despite the relentless smog, fermenting fish, and utter complete chaos of horns and sardined cars, buses, scooters, and bikes, Bangkok had some kind of charm to it. You sort of feel like a fish in a fishbowl when sitting on the bus. I wasn’t even worried if we never made it to our destination. Riding around on the bus was entertaining enough for me.

Surprisingly enough, we found ourselves right outside of the Wat Pho. It was hard to miss the massive structures. For a whole 100 baht ($3.26 USD) we spent the next couple of hours exploring this beautiful little tourist trap. The crowds were slightly obnoxious, but we were able to breakaway from most of them. I even found a couple small empty Buddha rooms and took a moment to say a little prayer.

Home to the birthplace of Thai massage and one of the oldest wats in Bangkok, Wat Pho is most famous for the 160 foot reclining Buddha. It was pretty neat, but nothing I felt changed my life or awed me in any way. The little moments I was able to capture during our visit are some of my favorite travel photos so far. It only makes me more excited to look forward to what India has in store for me. Here are some of my favorites:

Afterwards we walked down to the river to get a glance at Wat Arun. We were mostly looking forward to see the structure as a whole as we heard it is best seen at sunset and at night. We happened to snag the perfect viewing spot from a small little cafe on the river. A perfect waterfront meal and drinks for two for the whole whopping price of 240 baht ($7.83 USD).

All in all a perfect first day of exploration.

Leave a Reply


*

Instagram
Pinterest
Pinterest
fb-share-icon
LinkedIn