Another two days have passed and I am sitting in the Siam Reap Hostel in Cambodia, having just received a superb Khmer massage… But on to what has happened lately. on the 17th I joined Matt and James, two guys from England on a sightseeing tour around Bangkok. We first walked to the main train station, which, considering the polluted air and the heat wasn’t a very good idea. of course, distances sometimes seem a lot shorter on the map then in reality.
So we walked about an hour to get there. The train station itself has not changed that much, but the underground that was being built in 2001 is now fished and leaves right next to the train station. Outside the train station people still try to lure you into one of the travel agencies. While Matt and James booked a train ride to Chiang Mai, I visited Richly, the travel agency I booked most of the tours with, back in 2001. All the people that used to work there have left the company, some going back to other cities across Bangkok, the friendly old guy that greeted everyone at the entrance back then has become a monk, but the daughter of the owner has apparently taken over her father’s business and could remember everyone on the picture.
After my short visit to Richly I met up with James and matt and we decided to continue to our next destination by taxi. 15 minutes with air condition and 50 Baht later we arrived at Wat Poh and walked around the Temple for about 2 hours, including taking a look at the amazing Reclining Buddha, about 25 meters long and painted with gold. After Wat Pho we walked over to the Grand Palace. Since it was already 3 pm and the grand palace closes at 3:30 pm. I decided to stay outside and wait for my companions to take a look. After that we went down to the river and took a ferry across to Wat Arun, a Giant Khmer temple, with a very funny decoration: smashed china, plates, which makes it a very colorful building. We finished the day across the river at a place called „the deck“ with a superb dinner and went to back to the hostel for round of beers on the rooftop terrace.