We woke up this morning to realize that we only have a few more days here in Southeast Asia! There are so many things we’ve seen, learned, and experienced that we cannot believe it’s only been a five-week trip. Today we’re checking out of our amazing Marriott hotel and going to our last accommodation closer to Bangkok’s city center. We left to get a quick and light breakfast at Mou Café, but made sure to come right back and take our time checking out so we could soak up as much of this luxurious lifestyle as possible.
We checked out of the Marriott around noon and took the BTS Skytrain a few stops west towards the city center and checked into our final accommodation (it’s crazy this trip is about to end)!
We settled in and did some of our laundry ourselves to have a few more sets of clean clothes, and off we went! Tip: Most hotels provide laundry service and charge per kilo, but the last two hotels we were at were a bit more fantsy pantsy and charged per item, so we got to put handy dandy Scrubba bag to use!
After we did a few loads (aka bags worth) of laundry, we worked up an appetite and mutually decided that Bangkok’s crispiest pork would be the best remedy. Kuay Jab Mr. Jo is known for their kuay jab (obviously), which is a peppery soup containing all the innards of the pig…that’s right, lung, heart, intestines, liver, kidneys, etc…but they also have the some of the crispiest moo krob, or pork belly, in all of the land. We took a hard pass on the innard soup, but opted for a bowl of the peppery broth with a bowl of rice to go with our moo krob. Tip: If you do decide to go here (which you definitely should), we didn’t encounter any English speakers, so know what you want and how to say it in Thai. We received some funny “I think they’re lost” looks when walking in, but everyone smiled when we confidently asked for moo krob and held up two fingers.
After enjoying every last bite of our meal, we walked to the closest pier to catch a boat up the Chao Phraya River. This transit system is a vital organ of commuter life here in Bangkok, so keep that in mind if you plan to use it during or around rush hour. Also, there are different lines that run throughout the day indicated by a particular color flag flown near the stern. We got on an orange line boat at the Wat Worachanyawas pier and paid 15 baht per person (about $0.50 USD). The amount is a flat rate, whether you ride one stop or to the end of the route.
We took the boat about five stops to the Marine Department and walked to our first temple of the day, Wat Traimit. Wat Traimit is also known as the Golden Buddha Temple because of the very significant Buddha that is housed inside. This Buddha is the largest solid golden Buddha in the world. It was once covered with a thick layer of grey stucco to prevent it from being stolen when the Burmese invaded Ayutthaya in the late 1700s. It sat abandoned there for centuries until the mid 1900s when it fell while being moved to a temple in Bangkok. Some of the stucco chipped off, allowing a small section of the gold surface to be seen. It has since shined brightly atop beautiful Wat Traimat!
As we left Wat Traimit, we stumbled upon the Chinatown Gate and a beautiful Chinese temple called Chinesischer Temple. This is one of the best things about just walking the streets of Bangkok. There is so much to see and do, it’s practically impossible to plan it all, but if you just wander a bit, you’re bound to find something unusual and amazing. This temple seemed to mark the edge of Chinatown, and from here on down Yaowarat Road, we felt as if we were in Shanghai!
We continued through Bangkok’s Chinatown and made a few stops for some amazing eats. The first stop was Khnom Jeeb Wat Yuan, where an infamous older gentleman dishes out a delicious steamed dumpling for 3 baht a piece (about $0.09 USD). He’s actually had his cart set up in the same place (right under Wat Yuan, hence his name) for over five decades! You can taste the love he puts into these little snacks, as he makes them from scratch each and every day.
After we had a little dim sum, we walked back to Yaowarat Road to Hua Seng Hong to split one of the most delicious steamed pork buns either of us have ever had.
After enjoying our bun, we continued through Chinatown to a temple that both of us have been waiting to see for quite some time, but it’s been a bit out of the way. The temple is called Wat Chakrawat, and most locals know it as the Crocodile Temple…that’s right, it has live crocodiles right on the temple grounds! We spent some quality time with these beautiful reptiles, long enough even to spot some previously unseen ones surface just long enough to take a deep breath and resubmerge.
We then walked over to the nearby Memorial Bridge to spend some quality time with King Rama I. He has a beautiful statue here that was dedicated to him, but it was so quiet at the time we went, we just hung around for a bit to keep him company. We were there in the late afternoon, but we heard there is a pretty trendy night market that all the hipsters go to later on, so I’m sure the king stays entertained.
We were both exhausted by the time we got back to the hotel, but Joey took one for the team and went out to get some dinner for us. Tomorrow we plan to see the famous Jim Thompson House and finally visit the long-awaited Grand Palace and Wat Phra Kaew with the Emerald Buddha, so stay posted!