9 February 2012
My tour with Intrepid through Indochina began on Wednesday evening. There are twelve in the group ranging in age from 26 to 71 plus our Cambodian tour leader, Kom. We went out to dinner after our orientation meeting and everyone seems nice enough.
Earlier that day, we visited the Grand Palace, the kings’ official residence since 1782, though the current king lives elsewhere. The palace is currently used for certain official ceremonies. Talk about a lot of gold! There’s also a miniature Angor Wat model inside!
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| Grand Palace |
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There is a very strict dress code for entrance to the palace.
You can borrow clothes inside for free. Hence the shirt. |
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| Angor Wat--no need to visit the real thing! |
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| Water to ensure luck and health |
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| More bling |
Thursday morning the tour went on a longtail boat along the Bangkok khlongs (canals). At one point we were given bread to feed the fish and in return for good karma. After that we saw the largest reclining Buddha in the world (43 meters long and 15 meters high) at Wat Pho. There I was also able to trade coins for wishes, so I should be doing alright for the next little while.
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| Longtail boat |
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| "James Bond" boat |
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| Enjoying the ride |
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| Bread for the fish, karma for me |
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| Largest reclining Buddha in the world |
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| Putting it in perspective |
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| Buckets for coins |
Anticipating possible temple burnout after four weeks in
Southeast Asia, I opted to spend an hour relaxing at the pool instead of visiting
any of the other hundreds of temples before heading to the bus station for our
overnight train to Chiang Mai.
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