Yesterday was spent on the tourist trail in Bangkok, taking in the obligatory Grand Palace (including the Emerald Buddha), Wat Pho (a reclining buddha), a river trip and for good measure a marble temple with yet another buddha - sitting up this time. The temple containing the emerald buddha is the holiest site in Thailand. The buddha itself is green (of course! but made of Jade, not emerald. Apparently it took a few centuries for them to realise this and the name stuck), about 500cm high and totally dwarfed by the gold altar it is perched upon. That and the surrounding site are equisitely decorative. The reclining buddha is HUGE (45m long), made of gold on plaster and had enormous feet, enlaid with mother of pearl. Bet it takes some pumice stone to manicure them. We enjoyed the Marble temple; having the opportunity to listen to some monks chanting and peaceful stroll in the gardens afterwards. We hired a longtail boat for an hour-long river tour; with views of the city and some very voracious fish; although given the look of the water I'm surprised anything lived in there. It certainly made me think twice about ordering river-fish when we ate. We are still acclimatising to the heat (31C) and after five hours were glad to escape back to our air-con room. Watched the premier league football. In the evening had a beer and a plate of food in the street market; a five minute stroll from the hotel. Apparently there were demonstrations last night in the vicinity of the hotel; some guests were complaining about being kept awake. We were undisturbed though and assume that any protestors had been swept up by the street cleaners as there was little evidence of anything this morning. Today was a sorting out day; namely the details of our onward travel to Cambodia and beyond. We have a very early start tomorrow. Angkor Wat here we come....
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