'Wat' I've been up to...

So I booked an overnight train from Bangkok to Chiang Mai, with departure late on Monday.

I woke up on Monday feeling quite dreadful, I think I was coming down with a bit of heatstroke or something. Mostly I felt like yakking, or alternatively, rolling around in a bed of ice with twenty servants waving huge fans over me. (Unfortunately, this was not an option so I settled for sticking my face in the A/C vent for a few minutes.) My queasiness was decidedly inconvenient because I had a full morning planned of "tourist" stuff.

After some consideration, I thought, "Illness be damned, I have plans!" I hopped on the Skytrain, which took me down to the water taxi. (The water taxi, essentially a large speedboat on the river, was nice and breezy. I felt a lot better after my ride.) I made it down to Wat Pho to see the Reclining Buddha (very cool). The wat (temple) grounds were very peaceful, so I chilled out a bit before my next stop, which was the Grand Palace.

When I departed the wat, I made an error in judgment that took me on an extended walk to the Grand Palace. By the time I found the entrance to the Grand Palace, I was lurching about like something from Night of the Living Dead, and I was seeing white spots dance in front of my eyes. While the 'light' show was interesting, I decided to lounge about on a shady street corner and hydrate myself before gearing up for the next tourist site.

After resting up, I headed for Wat Phra Kaew, which is part of the Grand Palace complex. The wat is the home of the Emerald Buddha (actually made of jade) and has three little costumes made of gold. His costume is changed three times a year in a big ceremony. You aren't allowed to photograph the Buddha or point your feet toward him. (It makes him cranky, and a bad-tempered Buddha is bad for all parties involved.)

Once I finished wandering the temple grounds, I explored the Grand Palace complex. It was really cool, and extremely ornate, but I think my poor little eyes couldn't absorb much more. Processing had shut down almost completely, and my brain was working as fast as a Commodore 64.

I went joyriding on the water taxi for a bit before I headed back to my hostel to get my bag. I got to the train station rather early, but it was nice to have time to lounge after my busy day.

Oh! During my wait at the train station (at a seemingly random time) we all had to stand and sing to the King. The previous day I saw TransAmerica at a theater (seeing a movie was a great way to get out of the heat), and before the movie started, a short slideshow of the King was shown, accompanied by music. The day before that, I was at a park and the song was broadcasted on the speakers. Kind of random!