Day 20 - Jan 3 - The Temple of Doom

After a successful night of living through the terror of swarming cockroaches in the train, we arrived in Bangkok and even made it to our hotel. On the way we went through a large park, where the locals were busy with their morning exercises, including sword dancing.

Fortunately the guests in the room that would be ours had just checked out. Unfortunately the world is not always magical and we were told we could check in after noon.

So we went to a little cafe and had a partial breakfast, then went back to the hotel in hopes of swimming. Seeing our commotion digging through our bags, the hotel checked us in to a different room and it was only 10 o'clock :)

Once we were swim'ed and cleaned, we began preparing our battle plans for this day in Bangkok.

We set off shortly after 3 o'clock, and rode the Skytrain to the main river dock, foolishly asked somebody advice and set off on the wrong ferry, got on the right ferry and made it to the right port, took the 2-min ferry across the river, and arrived at Wat Arun, the Temple of the Dawn. (Somebody called it the Temple of the Doom once on accident so....)

Wat Arun is named for the Hindu goddess of the dawn, Aruna. (Though that's not why it was named that, maybe?) It was maybe built in the 1600s and restored later on (it also went through a name change).

The central prang (tower) is fairly high, and we climbed the steep, large stairs to reach almost the top for a nice view. The stairs are steep and perilous enough to warrant a rope-like handrail.

Once we'd wandered about the top for a bit, we went back down, then hung about the grounds until sunset.... when the lights came on. As the sky grew darker and darker, the temple and grounds grew brighter. It was quite pretty and we were glad we'd stayed.

After this serene rest, we went back via ferry, ferry, Skytrain, then revisited a Japanese restaurant (Yayoi) for a late dinner. The walk back was still festively covered in Christmas decorations.

It was a lovely day. Well, it ended better than it started. Did you know that trains in Thailand are not unusually 4-5 hours late? But guess what. Ours were all early. Including the one this morning, which arrived 10 minutes early at 6:40, and we were woken at 5:20. Phew. We slept very well that night in our lovely clean comfortable Mariott suite.


(I include the following section because it was a pain to research it all and I hope I can save others my pain. May Google help you.)

Thailand Traveler Directions to Wat Arun (by Skytrain):

Take the Skytrain Wangyian(?) bound, to Saphan Taksik (river pier). Get on the ferry with the orange flags -- do NOT ask anybody for advice, do not get on any 'Tourist Boat' -- just get on the boat with the orange flags. They charge you on the boat, and it should be no more than 15 baht. After maybe 10 minutes, get off at stop 8, Tha Tian (will check names later and update). The dock right next to where you arrive is the ferry across. You will pay your way to it, the ride is a whole 3 baht (about 10¢).
Congradulations, you've arrived at Wat Arun! Entry is 50 baht to the main prang (no charge for the rest of the grounds).
Be sure to dress appropriately: women, you must have covered shoulders and no transparent clothing (but a transparent shoulder-cover is OK), skirt or pants that goes below the knees, and (supposedly) closed-toed shoes. Men supposedly have to wear pants that go below the knee (I read) but hah. I also saw people in flip-flops so I don't suppose that mattered either, at least not to that guard.
The entry area closes at 6pm, but there is a little temple inside that seems to close at 5 (but it didn't look that interesting).
There are two sets of about 15 steep big stairs, lots of people seemed scared of going down especially, but it was not that bad. Be ready to climb (no long skirts! You'll die!). The view from the top is pretty nice but nothing spectacular.
The temple is especially pretty at dusk (and dawn, I'm sure). Lights start going on before the sun has set all the way. I'm not sure if it's because it's the holidays or if they always have them, but the gardens were decorated with blue (Christmas) lights and it was quite pretty. Be sure to view the tempe on its side, then take the ferry back (runs 'til 9pm) to the other side and observe from afar.
The ferry back down the river runs until 7pm. Get off at Central (which is after stop 1!). Take the Skytrain home.
(Note, across the river from Wat Arun, on the side of the pier, there are a bunch of attractions. Wat Pho, the Grand Palace, etc. So if you are smart, you will do these all in one day. The Grand Palace closes at 3:30.
NOTE 2: Never listen to anyone trying to tell you the temple or Palace are closed. They are con men.)

Thank you and goodnight.