Farewell to New Things (Kinda)

     We're trying to go to bed early so this will be quick...
     The boatride up the river to the palace was short but pleasant.  It went through some old parts of the city and we got to see the first bank, among other things.

 

     It was scorching and the crowded walk from the dock to the palace was not fun.  We waited in line for a while before deciding that we had been there, done that with palaces and the unmoving long line and extreme crowd wasn't worth it.  The crazy admission rate didn't help.  Instead we went to the reclining Buddha a couple of blocks away. 
                              
     The Wat was intricate and beautiful but the building the Buddha was in seemed too small for him. His fifteen-meter-tall  head bumped against the top corner and his feet weren't far from opposite wall, forty three meters away.  Ignoring the signs a woman touched his mother of pearl feet. Bowls lined up against the wall and we joined the people dropping a coin in each one.
 

     One Wat was plenty.  Outside we found the first cab that gave us the meter rate and took it to the well-reviewed May Kaidee's restaurant that had good food and tiny portions.
 
     I got to experience firsthand the infamous Bangkok traffic and after about an hour we got out and walked to the nearest sky train terminal.  Despite only being halfway home we were back in twenty minutes.  I wish I could communicate the heat and noise and chaos of the city but there's no way.

We considered going to the night market but the sky trains didn't take us the right way and we didn't want to get in a cab again.  Back to Thaifood Very Good but there was a different chef and the heavenly curry of last night was not recreated.     
 
     Next time I blog we will be home.  I'll  post a couple entries about settling back into American life but not many...