Bangkok.....again!

Ok, we've been through this place so many times now. It's getting ridiculous. This time, we needed to fly out of Bangkok on our way to Myanmar. So we spent another night in this crazy place. During the day we went to see the Golden Buddha at Wat Traimit. It is literally solid gold! 15 feet tall, weighing in at 5 tons, it is quite impressive. It is worth about 28 million pounds and over 700 years old. It was once completely covered in plaster (to hide it), but was discovered much later when some of the plaster chipped off.

I loooooovvveee gooooooollldd

That night we went to Sky Bar, where they filmed parts of Hangover 2. It is this rooftop bar that other travelers told us about for the views. We didn't realize when we go there that there was a dress code for guys, so they turned Jared away. We were walking out the main entrance somewhat dejectedly when a security guard pointed us to a little Thai woman standing by a car. The car was full of men's clothes- shoes, pants, sport coats, etc. It was a little ridiculous, but basically you can rent whatever you need and return at the end just to satisfy the dress code. Such an enterprising lady. It's amazing sometimes to see the 'spin-off' economies that the main tourism industry creates. I think we paid about $9 CDN to get Jared dudded up, then went back inside to ride the elevator up the 65 floors to the top. It was a great view after all, as Jared stood in some random's shoes. 

Beard watch

Like the outfit? Pants and shoes on loan

Bangkok by night

Jared was a little peeved there were no rules for girls. I was wearing sandals and a dress, and that was perfectly OK to the folks at Sky Bar. 

I was reading my journal to remind myself of particulars, and in it I say "....We got up there and paid an ungodly amount for 2 drinks- 900 baht! What is this Calgary?!" If you convert that back to Canadian, it's about $33, but I remember at the time thinking this was one of the most frivolous splash-outs we did all trip! It's crazy how different your perception of cheap and expensive become when you spend enough time in a different economy with a different set of costs associated to everything. I just got used to paying $2-3 CDN for a supper.....for both Jared and I! Hotels that cost more than $20 per night were simply too expensive to even consider, and the old "$1 per 100 km traveled" rule actually held up most times we priced out bus and rail travel. If this information, plus the blog in general, hasn't enticed you to travel this region then I have failed you miserably. 

We walked around Khao San Road a wee bit, it's always good for some people watching. Lots of vendors selling souvenirs, curios and pretty much everything else. Want to eat some grilled scorpion? No? How about caramelized crickets, cockroach, snake, not even a deep-fried beetle? Who am I kidding, I ate none of that crap. Plus the tuk tuks lined up to take you to the places that are too racy to mention on a blog your mother occasionally reads! Add a bunch of bars, people giving massages on the street, places to make fake IDs, the odd Thai national (but it's mostly backpackers new to Bangkok) and you've got Khao San!