Buddah and Hospitality

Today, while Steve was in Islam in Thailand class (which he tells me has a smart, but boring professor, who is a Thai Islamic himself, active in the community), I took the opportunity to go out on my own. (dont worry i stayed in touristed areas that i knew to be safe). I wandered around the areas of the royal palace (i didnt go in because it was 350 baht, but i heard we get in free if we are in thammasat uniform) and Wat Pho (more on that later), I then go lost in a Wat and pet some kittens (there are a crazy amount of stray cats and dogs in bangkok, all incredibly well tempered, i havent had one growl, bark or threaten me in any way) and was able to ask a monk, in thai were to get back to the university.

Back at the the university, i met up with Jennifer and we decided to go adventuring together. We first went to Wat Poh. I forgot my camera, so when i get pictures from Jennifer ill have a whole photo essay of that place to share with you.
Wat Pho is a very large and famous Wat. Its fame comes from the massage school that it houses and the Reclining Buddha. The Buddha, is said to be very large, and hard to explain how big it is. I thought that most descriptions of it were rather hyperbolic. As Jennifer and I approached the buliding that houses this gargantuan Buddha, I had to make sure to censore myself from exclaiming "holy shit!". By way of comparison, The buddha was at least the lenghth of a basketball court and twice the height of the top of the backboards. The footprint was nearly the size of an average bedroom.
This was merely the centerpeice of a Temple complex full of hundreds of Buddhas, and intricate paintings, mosaics and archetecture.
After Wat Pho, we continued down the street, and ended up in Bangkoks famous flower market. I must say that we were to awestruck by the amount of color and blooms that we forgot to take pictures. It doesnt matter, because the picture would do it no justice.
When we neared a bridge over the river we saw a large white Chedi (spire) and headed towards it, to see more Wat architecture. We stopped in a beautiful park on the way to have a drink and relax our legs. From this point until we got back to the Appartment, we saw no other white people.
At the Chedi we heard the sounds of a band playing. We investigated and saw a middle school aged marching bad practicing (wats are often the center of their community, like early churches were. at Wat Pho we had seen a daycare learning center with students haveing a water balloon fight).
Continuing on we saw the Cross on top of a church. Haveing seen no other Christian Church in bangkok before, we went to investigate and found ourselves on the grounds of a catholic grade school. The Children were quite welcoming to us and invited me to shoot basketball with them (which i proceeded to embarass myself without hesitation) and later they brought out an MP3 player so we could have a dance party (i taught them the moonwalk and robot). They were all eager to teach us thai words and practice thier english. We probably sayed with them for a half hour.
We gained our bearings and found that we were actually on the road that we lived on, Auranamerin, but a few miles away. We started walking to see what the road had to offer. Among the intresting sites was some very inexpensive, and always delicious street vendor food. We also found that the areas under bridges were being put to good use. Bangkok was originally much like venice, Italy, with many canals. Now many are paved over, but there is still an abundace of waterways, so there is a plethora of bridges. as the bridges rise to a height tall enough for boats to pass under, the space between the bridge and the ground is put to good use. There are shops, playgrounds and a Muy Thai boxing gym under the bridges.
As we walked on, Jennifer and I stopped at a street restaurant (Which is a sit down restaurant that is under a tent) to eat. Here we had some delicious food, which i dont recall the name of. We were handed a menu in english, but i noticed that the thai people had much more extensive menu options to choose from. In thailand learning the language pays off.
We payed for our meal, which cost no more than a small dish from a street vendor in the more touristy areas, and went on our way. As we walked on we said hello to a thai family who were just starting to eat thier meal on a table they put on the sidewalk next to thier house. They invited us to join them, but haveing just eaten we declined. Further on, a gentelman of about 55 stoppped us to say hello and practice his english. We talked with them for a good lenghth of time. I find that Thai people are amused when i tell them in Thai that i cannot speak thier language, and it is often a good ice breaker. He told us good advice such as that the streets start to become a bit sketchy at 9pm. He then invited us to come by for dinner sometime, and called his daughter, Aom, out of the house (she is 25 and enducated in england) to exchange contact information with us. We will hopefully dine with them on sunday.

At this point it was around 8 and the streets were not as busy as before so we hailed a cab to take us the last few kilometers to the appartment. At the appartment i met back up with Steve and tagged along with him, Johnny, and some other people to Khao San road to get some Indian food. Needless to say my high metabolism is being put to good use in this country. I feel like i am always eating, and i like it that way.
Unfortunately i did not notice my camera slipping out of my pocket in the cab to Khao san. Luckily i know where to buy stolen goods in this town (okay, i dont know if they are stolen for certain, but the fact that the vendors have a limited and random supply and only come out at night is a bit of a hint). Upon returning to the appartment, i headed up to the roof with some guys and we shared Whiskey and Coke, bullshitted, and admired the Bangkok skyline untill we were ready to head to bed.