Packed in a tourist filled morning at the old city before organizing our luggage and enjoying our last night in Bangkok before Inna heads home and I move on to Laos. We saw lots and lots and lots of wats. (sounds like a Dr. Seus rhyme). It was rainy and overcast, but it kept the heat at bay. Good day for ducking in and out of temples. Grabbed a tuk-tuk over to Ko Ratanakosin, the old town/royal district. They are much better than taxis with dealing with the city traffic, but the ceilings are so low, my head almost grazed the top! Good opportunity for breathing in exhaust fumes too, makes me glad I packed my neti pot..

We started at Wat Phra Kew, the Grand Palace, with hoards of tourists. Inna was stopped a few times for pictures, to the tourist Thais, she was quite the novelty, perhaps more so than the grand palace. We had been warned to bring clothing to cover up in the temples so we would not have to borrow the less than clean loaner clothes, but didn't quite realize the extent of it. No tank tops covered by shawls and no "skinny pants" - want to apply that rule to Williamsburg, haha. So we were sent to the changing roam for 200 baht loan garb. I wrapped my shawl around my waist and was told to then roll UP my pants underneath. We were both given stylish and flattering yellow polyester button-down shirts. It was absolutely gorgeous (the complex, not our fashion). Even in the rain, I can only imagine the sparkle of the gold leaf in bright sunshine. The grounds are huge, over 90 hectares with numerous halls temples and buildings showcasing various detailing and architectural styling. The most famous building and icon is the Emerald Buddha, a relatively tiny jade Buddha that sits on a huge altar and cloaked in royal robes - one for each season! It has an interesting history, it was originally covered in plaster, and in the 15th century, it fell and part of the plaster chipped from its nose and the stone was revealed underneath.

After leaving the palace, we wandered along Th Maharat, which is also known as "amulet alley" where vendors line the sidewalk with small talismans. Some old, some new, some plastic, some bronze. Maharat follows the river and we continued down to Wat Pho, home of the largest reclining Buddha. He is 46 meters long and 15 meters high, gold leaf and has mother of pearl inlaid feet. He's too big for the space, it's very difficult getting a full view. It reminds me of the part in Alice in Wonderland, where she drinks the potion which makes her grow too big.

By midday, we were completely Wat-ed out. Returned to the hermetically sealed CentroWorld mall for some lunch and then back to the hotel to chill and pack before heading out for our final evening. We went to the southern part of the city to Tawandang, a really bizarre place. It’s a massive beer hall, which brews its own German-style beer, has good food, and strange variety-act type performances. The place filled up pretty well for a Monday night, and there were very few foreigners. The performances were not exactly to our taste, but gave good insight into contemporary culture. It was a combo of Thai pop songs, cheesy American cover songs (think Tom Jones), dance performances to Disney songs, and some traditional music. No lady-boy cabaret though.