Had a hearty breakfast. Interesting to note that they catered to all tastes ranging from Western to Asian to Indian. I opted for the Indian. I never thought I'd be having rice and chicken curry so early in the morning.
We were supposed to meet in the lobby at 9 a.m. I realized 9am means roughly 9! So people started trickling in a leisurely manner. Finally everything was gathered at around 15 minutes after the hour.
The Gate1 tour manager, Ranee Upara, quickly gave us a rundown of what we were going to be doing over the next couple of days. All very precise and detailed in the usual manner of Gate1 style presentations. Two things for today: the city tour and an evening welcome drink followed by dinner.
We piled in to the bus and went through China Town and India Town. The two are intertwined with the streets from each of these intersecting in a rectangular grid. The Indians specialized in fabric, mostly silk, while the Chinese specialized in herbs, Thai style massages and hardware. It seems that the Chinese also own most of the industry around here.
We were supposed to meet in the lobby at 9 a.m. I realized 9am means roughly 9! So people started trickling in a leisurely manner. Finally everything was gathered at around 15 minutes after the hour.
The Gate1 tour manager, Ranee Upara, quickly gave us a rundown of what we were going to be doing over the next couple of days. All very precise and detailed in the usual manner of Gate1 style presentations. Two things for today: the city tour and an evening welcome drink followed by dinner.
We piled in to the bus and went through China Town and India Town. The two are intertwined with the streets from each of these intersecting in a rectangular grid. The Indians specialized in fabric, mostly silk, while the Chinese specialized in herbs, Thai style massages and hardware. It seems that the Chinese also own most of the industry around here.
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Glimpses of China Town
We then visited Wat Po, the largest and the oldest temple complex in the city of Bangkok. The complex is large and filled with Stupas or Pagodas of various dimensions. Hundreds of sculpturse of the Buddha in a standing posture. But the most impressive of all was the giant reclining Buddha. Hard to imaging they built such large sculptures those days. Even the Pagodas were tall and wide. Our guide gave us great descriptions with historical and religious context.
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The Wat Po Temple Complex
We were then led to a government-run factory where workers were making jewelry. This was a demo factory. The real factory was out of town. The showroom was massive with glittering display of jewelry. We spent about a hour there before heading back to the hotel. By the time we got back it was almost 3 pm. We were ready to crash because of the jet lag and we did crash till dinner time.
Dinner was a 'set piece' thai dinner. I can't name the dishes but they were all exotic. The foundation of course was a bowl of rice accompanied by curry and other thai dishes. Not something I would eat everyday, but worth trying at least once.
1 comment:
Makes great and interesting reading read the blog and found it very interesting ..Actually you have makings of a good writer. You should write books!! Very interesting reading...I look forward to it everyday! and missed it when there was nothing yesterday!
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