Bangkok - Wat Pho

After over 24 hours of travelling we finally arrived in Bangkok at 1 am. The first stop the next morning was Wat Pho.

Bangkok is quite an assault on your senses.  It's hot, it's noisy, it's colorful, it's sometimes smelly, and it's crowded.

We took the Chao Phraya river boat from Sathorn Pier to Thien pier. We always ended up paying for the tourist boat ticket on our boat rides even though we specifically asked for the local boat ticket.  Language problems, scamming tourists, who knows.  It was still cheap.  A Chao Phraya Tourist Boat ticket costs 150 baht but the boats only run until 3 or 4 pm. We were told we could use our tourist boat tickets on other boats too but there ended up being too much language confusion so we never got that sorted out.

We started sweating our asses off as soon as we got off the boat.  We went during the coolest part of the year yet it was still 90 degrees.  Bring lots of water and sunscreen.  Us cold weather people need some time to adapt to the heat and humidity.

The entrance fee is 50 baht per person. We hired a guide inside the temple entrance for 300 baht or about $10. I thought the guide was well worth it. The tour was very in depth so if you don't have a lot of time or patience or aren't interested in a lot of details I'd skip it.  Since this was our first temple visit I found a guide to be helpful in explaining about Buddhism since I didn't know much beyond my World Religions class I took in college.

Wat Pho is a large complex. The main attraction and our first stop was the reclining Buddha. The reclining Buddha is 46 meters long and 15 meters high. His body is plated in gold and his feet are inlaid with mother-of-pearl.

We had trouble finding a place to eat lunch.  I didn't want any street food from a vendor because I have a weak stomach.  Plus they were serving hot food and there was no way I wanted to eat anything hot in this weather.  We couldn't find a restaurant and ended up walking forever, only to get chips, cookies, and bottled water from the 7-11.  At that point I was so hot, so tired, and so hungry.  I'd recommend locating a lunch spot in advance.  Or better yet, going back to your hotel pool or taking a nap.

The other main attraction (at least for me) in the Wat Pho complex is the Thai massages. Wat Pho was home to one of the earliest Thai massage schools. They offer foot massages and Thai massages (60 minutes or 90 minutes). Massages are cheap! I believe my 60 minute Thai massage was $10 or $12 and it was phenomenal. I'd never had a Thai massage before and she twisted me up like a pretzel. My masseuse was the tiniest woman yet had the strongest hands. This is not a luxe spa and as such your massages are done on beds that are pretty much right next to each other. The waiting room is in the same room but just sort of partitioned off. They give you a pair of loose pants to change into so you're comfortable. The best part was the whole massage building was air-conditioned so it's a nice break during the hottest part of the day.