Bangkok, the city where you can get anything (and I mean “anything”), was a very interesting and hip city.  It is the center of pop culture for Thailand.  The city has about 6.3 million people so you don’t come here to see the “city”.  You come here to see small parts of the sprawling city.  Luckily, most of the tourist attractions are located near the central city.  The city has a great public transportation system which includes buses, a subway, a light rail system, and a Skytrain system (elevated train tracks).  Another really super transit option for us was the “metered taxi” (Wow, what a concept, huh!).  In all the other cities and countries we visited here, there were taxis but you had to negotiate the price, never knowing if you are getting a fair price.  So it was a relief to rely on a meter for the price of the ride.

With the Reclining Buddha at Wat Pho

The Grand Palace complex is the requisite tourist site in Bangkok (they know it as well and charge children under 12 the same price as adults, about $11).  It is a large site that encompasses both the Grand Palace and Wat Phra Kaew where the Emerald Buddha is kept.  Although the Grand Palace and Emerald Buddha was cool to experience, we really loved the Reclining Buddha at Wat Pho.  It is one of those wondrous sites that you see in pictures but don’t appreciate the magnitude of the place until you are there.  At 152′ long and 50′ tall, it barely fits in the building.
Read More