Chinese New Year - Who Knew?

We made it! 28 hours of travel, a 17 hour time change, and two tired travelers later, we collapsed into our hotel. Getting into town at 2 AM made our hotel choice easy that night: an airport hotel. Our first morning, not quite refreshed as we wanted, we conquered the Bangkok public bus and made our way over to old town Bangkok on Khao San Rd, in the heart of the Back-packers Ghetto. My second trip here, it all came back too quickly, but James took his first encounter in stride:  streets lined with market stalls selling everything imaginable, food stalls, street hawkers, tuk-tuk drivers, western music blaring, the heat, the humidity,  and TONS of people.

It is the start (or end, depending on who you ask) of Chinese New Year and the whole area is hopping with travelers. The Thai government has been giving holiday stipends to tuk-tuk drivers and free entry to many of the temples, make the area jammed packed. Everyone is in town, and the many, many home-stays are fully booked. We were lucky enough to get a room in a nicer hotel due to Jame's desire to have something pre-booked for our first real day in town.  After switching hotels, we spent the day walking, exploring, and getting oriented in the busy, bustling neighborhood.  Diving right into street food and the sites, we had a day of wandering, discovering a very pleasant river walk and park. On our second morning, we joined the crowds, hired a tuk-tuk driver and started seeing the Wats (a.k.a. temples). And although we might have ended up on one of the most beat-up tuk-tuks in the area, James thoroughly enjoyed the hectic, nail biting, ride. It was a perfect way to spend the morning before the heat of the day and we were able to see both the Wat Tramit, or Lucky Buddha (only open once a month to tourists) where James got his first lesson in Buddhist prayer, and also to the Golden Buddha, which stands 35 M tall. We were offered many blessings and had much luck bestowed on us, our marriage, and our families. (You all should be feeling much luckier these days.) After lunch, we attempted to see the Wat Pra Kaew and Grand Palace.  But thwarted by people overload, we rewarded ourselves with new swim-suits and a dip in the pool.

Today, we found ourselves up early and waiting for the Wat Phra Kaew and the Grand Palace to open. Built in the 1500's, it was the first palace complex build in Bangkok and the old city was build around the royal residence. Later, it was converted and expanded into a monastery and temple complex. The Emerald Buddha now makes its home inside on of the temples.  Truly an awesome, awesome site to be seen as the morning sunshine gleams off the golden glass tile. Glad to have gotten there early, as the bus loads of Chinese tourists kept coming, we left just before lunch and the heat. For comparison, we decided to skip town on Khao San Rd and head into Siam Square, the heart of new Bangkok. A furiously quick moving part of town, it's modern shopping and transport makes you feel like you're somewhere altogether different. James has decided that both the new and old town areas have been laid out by an evil genius because it is so confusing to get around. All in all, it's been a beautiful contrast between old and new, tourists and locals.

Tomorrow, we will start our trip up north. We've got until the end of the week before we're due to enter Cambodia. We're planning on traveling to the previous two capitols of Thailand, with the first stop being Ayuthaya. Promise, we'll try to get some photos up on here soon!