01/27/2023 Grand Palace, Wat Pho, and Departure in Bangkok, Thailand

The day started with some breakfast pad thai covered in egg at the highly reputable Thipsami, a place recommended to me by locals and friends who have traveled to Bangkok. It certainly lived up to its reputation and provided fuel for the temple tours coming ahead. Joseph and Morgan had visited some of these temples the day prior, while I hung back and took it slow. Namwann picked me up and drove us across town to the area that Thipsami, the Grand Palace, and Wat Pho were located. I thought riding on the back of a motorbike was scary… riding in the car with a Bangkok native whose driving standard is efficiently moving fluidly through traffic and past backups on highway shoulders was possibly more frightening. Still, I was hands off the wheel, literally and metaphorically, and we made great timing getting to where we were going. The day started with some breakfast pad thai covered in egg at the highly reputable Thipsami, a place recommended to me by locals and friends who have traveled to Bangkok. It certainly lived up to its reputation and provided fuel for the temple tours coming ahead. Joseph and Morgan had visited some of these temples the day prior, while I hung back and took it slow. Namwann picked me up and drove us across town to the area that Thipsami, the Grand Palace, and Wat Pho were located. I thought riding on the back of a motorbike was scary… riding in the car with a Bangkok native whose driving standard is efficiently moving fluidly through traffic and past backups on highway shoulders was possibly more frightening. Still, I was hands off the wheel, literally and metaphorically, and we made great timing getting to where we were going.

Note on the Grand Palace: The Grand Palace complex was established in 1782 and it consists of not only royal and throne halls, but also a number of government offices as well as the renowned Temple of the Emerald Buddha. It covers an area of 218,000 square meters and is surrounded by four walls, 1900 meters in length. After King Rama I ascended to the throne in 1782, the palace was built.

The palace had a massive 178 wall panel painted mural of Ramekin, Thailand’s national epic story. “The Ramakien is about good triumphing over evil following the battle between King Rama and Tosakanth, the King of the Demons. Tosakanth falls in love with King Rama's queen, named Sida. He kidnaps her and takes her to his palace in Krung Longka in hopes that she will fall in love with him. Naturally, a magnificent battles ensues as King Rama tries to save his queen. Although Tosakanth has a powerful demon army and evil magic spells at his disposal, King Rama has Hanuman (the god-king of the apes) who leads an army of both monkey and human warriors, helping King Rama defeat Tosakanth and win back Sida.”

Within the Grand Palace walls is Wat Prakeaw, or the temple of the Emerald Buddha. This temple was absolutely stunning, however visitors were asked to not take pictures. If karma exists, I definitely don’t need any bad karma directly from Buddha by breaking the rules of visiting one of the most sacred temples, especially with several months of international travel yet to come.

Following the Grand Palace, we crossed the street and entered nearby palace Wat Pho. Wat Pho is one of, if not the most, esteemed temples in Bangkok. We visited several of the temples and shrines, lighting incense, and coating the rock statues with fake gold sticky paper.

Once again navigating the chaotic trafficked streets of Bangkok back towards Thong Lo (area within Watthana where my Air BnB was located), we made our way to a spot to grab lunch that was next door to Marley’s smoke shop I had ventured to and DJ’d at earlier during my Bangkok visit. We enjoyed some soup, chicken, and rice, that she described as Thai comfort food. I was then dropped off at the Air BnB to reconvene with Morgan and Joseph, and we cabbed our way to the airport. Friday evening traffic in Bangkok was no joke, and I believe it took us about 50 minutes to get to the airport (20 minutes longer than our first ride from the airport to Air BnB upon arrival). I can’t say for sure how long the ride was, as an impromptu nap overpowered me for the entire ride.

After grabbing one last bite of Bangkok pad thai and an iced boba matcha green tea in the airport, we caught our flight to Koh Samui. The flight was only an hour in length, yet Bangkok Airways served everyone a hot meal onboard. From my experience, only long flights provide meals, so it was a pleasant surprise.

We touched down in Koh Samui, took a shuttle from deplaning to baggage claim, and cabbed to our hotel. After a late check in and dropping off our baggage, we walked across the street and roamed the beach to get the lay of land. As I dipped my toes in the warm Gulf of Thailand water and looked up at the clear sky, a feeling of peace and stillness overcame me as the next couple weeks of Thailand island living would bring a slower pace than the eventful week prior in Bangkok.