Day 88: Bangkok

Today we were set to do something touristy. We set off for a boat taxi up the river to the Grand Palace, which has been the house of the Kings of Siam since 1782. We climbed down in this tiny boat with a massive engine on it and roared up with river, each wake smacking against the bottom of the boat like the thing was going to collapse at any second.

The cone pointed tops of the palace looked like something out of Star Wars. At first, I thought the statues were Hindu; they were somewhat similar to the statues I had seen while in India and Nepal. We all agreed that the day couldn't have been any hotter, it was almost not enjoyable to be there because of the heat. We did everything we could to hide in the shade whenever we could and, eventually, decided to make our way back to the hotel. On our way out, Boyd, Robbie, and I got stopped by these, what looked like, Thai girls (could have been Chinese or Vietnamese, we were not sure) who wanted to take their picture with us. I got a couple single photos with them; Robbie is convinced that Asians are obsessed with me. I laugh it off and jokingly tell him it's the mustache... I'm not complaining.

Before we got to the boat taxi, we stopped off at the Queen Sirikit Museum of Textiles museum by the Palace. After 1950, Thailand made it a law that all Thai people had to wear western clothing, abandoning their traditional garments. The museum talked about the later resurgence of the traditional-wear when the Queen toured the US and much of Europe to help show that Thailand is back, sporting her new traditional Thai garments a decade or so later, I can't remember exactly. No photography was allowed inside.

Interesting fact: did you know that in WW II, Thailand declared war on the US, siding with Japan to help gain back land it had lost to the French via Indochina. The ambassador to Thailand in Washington DC refused to deliver the declaration of war fearing the worst from the US, therefore, war was avoided. Shortly after, Japan had two nuclear bombs dropped on them. Wonder what would have happened had that ambassador delivered the declaration of war?

The rest of the afternoon was spent relaxing by the pool. Can't tell you how good it felt. That night, it was just Boyd, Boyd's father, Robbie, and I for dinner. A night for the guys. Good company, cigars, food, and wine was just what we needed for our last night in Bangkok.