Not as shy as I used to be when I was younger, but there are certainly a few occasions in life when I have needed to pluck up the courage to do something that those with more confidence would have been able to do without a second thought.
I think that it is a character trait that has receded some what in the last couple of years, particularly since my days at Primary and Secondary school when I was definitely one of the shyest and quietest people in my friendship group.
It's hard to put my finger on exactly when things changed, I think maybe when I went off to university. I distinctly remember preparing myself and acknowledging maybe there were going to be a few moments when I had step out of my comfort zone slightly and just dive in; it was either that or spend three years alone I figured. I remember telling myself as I stepped into a huge 'meet and greet' hall for the first time after being dropped off, "There are at least 3,000 other people here who don't know anyone else either, so you have nothing to worry about".
Turns out I was right.
Despite my shyness, I wouldn't consider myself to be a particularly solitary person, but I would definitely say that I usually feel pretty comfortable doing things by myself.
One of the things I got asked a lot when I mentioned that I was going travelling was, "Who are you going with?", and when my response was that I was going by myself, I think most people were quite surprised. For those that understand my adventurous nature, it was probably something they could have predicted.
Pretty much all of the experiences I have had here (all the positive ones anyway) I would certainly have liked to have shared with another person. Most of the 'foreigners' I've seen on my travels so far have usually been in pairs or groups, so sometimes it makes me feel like the odd one out that I am here by myself.
The hotel-stel that I am staying in actually has quite a few solo travellers in, I've probably seen more here than I have in the last month. For us people who are a little bit crazy and don't mind going off by ourselves I'd imagine it is a totally different experience from those who travel with their girlfriend / boyfriend / group of friends.
Safety is one particular thing we have to be more concious of - not that it isn't a concern anyway - but being a solo traveller there really is no one else who will look out for you and I think sometimes there are certain situations which can be a lot more intimidating for people who are by themselves as apose to those who have company. I certainly have tried to be very alert on the few occasions I have been walking around in the dark and I keep all my valuables in a safe place on my person and in my hotel room. You really never can be too careful.
Having said that, I am always pretty determined to not let being by myself dictate my behaviour and I don't think there is anything that I have wanted to do since I have been away that I haven't done because I was alone.
Being in somewhere like Bangkok then, with it's reputation for crime, dishonesty and after-dark shenanigans is something that could be a pretty daunting prospect. Each new town or city that I travel to, I always have a fair measure of uncertainty, just like I would in England if I didn't know the place very well.
When I got here last night, I would have loved to go off walking around and exploring my surroundings, but it was pitch black by the time I had got myself sorted, and I didn't fancy not being able to navigate my way back to the hotel at night, so I saved my exploring until today.
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When I woke up this morning and looked out of the window, it appeared as if it had rained overnight.
I was awoken by the sound of beeping horns and mopeds revving their engines this morning as I dragged myself out of bed and down to breakfast. Usually as I stay up pretty late each evening, I like to have something of a lie in each morning, but my hotel-stel only serves breakfast until 9am so I had to be down there or risk missing out.
There was a reasonable choice on offer as there were many choices on the buffet - a mix of western and eastern things - but then I also got a meal as well. I ended up choosing a Thai omelette which was pretty nice.
I'd made a bit of a plan yesterday of what I was going to do, but as ever I felt that it was quite optimistic. I've written before about how difficult it is to plan for doing things, but I would certainly give myself to much to do rather than to little.
My plan was to travel to at least two of the main religious monuments in the city which are both on the banks of the river. As useful as it was in getting me to my hotel yesterday, the Skytrain doesn't exactly run in what I would describe as a logical route, and I read that because of this, much of the travelling you are likely to have to undertake is probably going to be end up done using a combination of buses, tuk-tuks and taxis.
Using the waterways as a method of transport in Bangkok is also possible and looking at the map I got in the airport yesterday I could see that there were lots of piers up and down the bank which would likely help me navigate to the right place.
About a five minute walk from my hotel is the 'Central Pier' for the downtown area of the city, so I decided that would be the best place to head as headed on my way out. I needed to get myself some lunch as after breakfast I went back to bed for a little bit, and once I'd got ready it had just gone past noon.
The road I am staying on is a bit of a monster, and after waiting at least five minutes for the traffic to stop I managed to make my way across to a 7Eleven which was on my way to the pier.
For the first time since being I away, I actually ate something which resembled a sandwich! A breakthrough moment. It wasn't a very large one, and was actually a double sandwich as when I tried to pull what I thought was the first one out of the packet, it appeared to have filling on the outside. Unconventional, but at least I know where to go now next time I need to buy one.
I continued down past the convenience store and after a little while I reached the river which essentially splits the city in two. There are bridges to get across, but most pedestrians have to use the boat service to assist them in doing so.
I looked around for a while and saw that there were plenty of people selling rivers tours, but couldn't see if there was a way that I could just buy a ticket like you would on the bus or the metro. I had considered doing a river tour, but read that usually they are only for about an hour or so, and are actually quite expensive.
Although the name suggests that it was a river cruise-esque type of operation, there was a sign which showed that it was essentially like the bus as you could buy an all day pass and use it as much as you wanted, or just buy a single ticket to wherever you needed to go. I decided to go for the all-dayer as I didn't know how many uses I would get out of it, but figured it might be beneficial rather than to keep paying for single tickets.
Being ushered to one side I waited about ten minutes before a boat showed up. We had been given a timetable, but like most things relating to public transport in Asia, it didn't appear to be running on time.
There was quite a gathering of people on the other side of the rope to where I had been ushered and although everyone sitting where I was stood up, all of the other people were asked to board the boat and left us on the shore.
Eventually another boat came along, which I can only presume was for people with the all day pass, and we were allowed to board that one.
All loaded up we set off, and a man at the front started welcoming us to the Tourist Boat service and explained how things worked. He was cracking jokes all the way along and was very entertaining about various different stereotypes in Thai culture. He also explained what we were seeing as we went along, and very informatively told us where the best places to get off were for each sight on the shore.
I was really impressed with all the things I managed to learn, and was enjoying looking at the fantastic sights as we moseyed on down the river:
Eventually we started to get to some of the stops which people were getting off at. I was wondering if there was a way in which you could walk down the river and take in the view, but had decided to stay on until we got to Wat Pho (stop number six) which is one of Bangkok's many famous temples. The tour guide at the front then explained that after Wat Pho we would be stopping at the Grand Palace which usually closed its ticket booth at about 2pm. It was just before that so I changed my mind and instead went to get off there, with the intention of circling round back to Wat Pho afterwards - if it was still open.
The man told us the direction to walk in - and generously gave us the brilliant advice to ignore any people who offered us tickets or tried to offer us assistance with buying them. He said there was only one way in and one way out, so if anyone tried to steer you away to a 'ticket office' then they were more than likely up to something suspicious.
It was pretty packed around the palace area, and the traffic seemed to relentlessly continue until I was able to cross and get inside the main gates.
Already I could see that there was some pretty spectacular scenery, and what looked like a huge amount of tour groups milling around in the area:
I ploughed on through them to the entrance and eventually made my way to the ticket booth where I was just in time to get in before it closed.
One thing I did forget to mention is that in preparation to visit the Grand Palace and Wat Pho today I had to dress 'appropriately'. This obviously means different things for different genders, but for men it meant no shorts, and having to wear a shirt with sleeves. If you wore flip flops, you had to wear socks with them (very attractive), and for women the rules meant you could wear a skirt, but it has to be below knee length, and you had to have something to cover up your arms. You could borrow clothes from the Palace itself as I saw people walking around with some funky trousers decorated in pictures of elephants, but I figured considering I had a pair of trousers in my bag which hadn't been worn as yet, I would use this as an opportunity to put them on.
Thankfully the Bangkok breeze was blowing a bit all day, so even though I was much warmer than if I had worn shorts, I wasn't uncomfortably though.
The Grand Palace appeared to be set out in several different layers. You had the outside zone where I initially entered through the very royal looking gates:
Then you had an inner zone which you needed to have a ticket to get into:
And then there was the Grand Palace chambers themselves which I was only allowed to take pictures of the outside of:
Although not strictly a religious monument in itself, the palace is obviously very sacred, and throughout it contains lots of images of Buddha. There were other certain sections of the palace where you weren't allowed to take pictures, but for the most past I spent my time dodging between other people whose lenses were snapping almost as frequently as mine.
Most people's attention was drawn to the central building which was all decked out in gold on the outside. You had to remove your shoes to go up to the second level of it, and then inside there was a temple which was also completely decorated in gold. It was very impressive stuff, and the outside of it shimmered in the sun making it look even more beautiful, and highly valuable than it probably already is.
There were several other areas of interest, including a huge golden bell shape which is probably familiar to those who have seen a picture of the palace before, and there was what looked to be a number of different pavilions which people were using for sitting. Inside the main part of this area there were actually some monks preying in there, and there was an opportunity to kneel down and prey with them for those who felt inclined. I'm sure I studied this in R.E. at some point, and the information escapes me now, but there was a big sign saying that people were not allowed to point their feet directly towards Buddha. It was funny to see the way people angled themselves to make sure this wasn't the case with some sitting cross-legged on the floor, others on their knees and many with their feet swept under them facing to the side of the back.
As I walked around the palace complex for a while, it started to empty out a bit, and my photo opportunities grew as I covered every single space of the grounds that I could whilst I was there.
From this section of the palace you moved to another part which was the throne room, and then joined onto that area were the royal quarters which were not open to view but still very impressive looking from the outside.
This bit of the palace I think is actually still in use, as when there are official functions, I think this is where they take place - a bit like how Buckingham Palace is used by the Queen:
It didn't matter how many photos I took, or how long I had been walking around the grounds, it continued to be an impressive sight, and I was glad that I had been able to squeeze a visit in before it closed. I wasn't quite what to do with myself next as I exited the palace, one of the last people to be shooed out by the guards.
I stood and looked at an information board for a little while, when some guy 'innocently' came up and started talking to me. I mentioned a few of the places I was looking to do, and he told me they were either very far away or closed. Then he went into a spiel about how he could take me to Wat Arun which is another temple across the river which he said was good for looking around.
As I mentioned yesterday, I can't claim to be an expert about everything around me, but I do know having read on Trip Advisor, and having come down the river that Wat Arun looks like this...
... and is very much not open.
It was at this point I decided to end the conversation and walk in the opposite direction so I could get my bearings. I knew that having followed out way north up the river earlier on that Wat Pho was in a southerly direction away from the palace so I decided to walk there to see if I could get in. The guy who tried to offer me his services had said it was closed, but I doubted his information, and when I arrived I discovered that it was a complete lie as it was open until 6.30 pm.
It took me about ten minutes to walk between the two attractions, and I brought a ticket and went in to Wat Pho. This is another historical sight in Bangkok, and a bit more of a religious monument as it is known as the 'Temple of the Reclining Buddha'. Just as the Grand Palace contained much more than just living quarters, Wat Pho contained much more than the one statue it is famous for, admittedly that is the first thing you come across when you enter, but there is certainly more to see than this grand gold statue:
I walked around the grounds here for about an hour and a half, looking inside another temple where I was actually allowed to take photographs this time:
The architecture on Asian buildings has always fascinated me, and I think that is one thing I took away from somewhere like Prambanan or will be drawn in by when I hopefully visit Angkor Wat. I love the detail on the tiles, and their stone carvings are so interesting. Here are some of the best ones I found at Wat Pho:
https://instagram.com/p/0ah3tztyjW/?taken-by=sicparvismagna_30for30
Even though the tourist boat was useful in helping me get to both monuments, it tends to cease working pretty early so I had to call it a day at about 6pm as I needed to get back to the dock for the last boat which was at 6.15pm.
There were a few people waiting, and a couple of minutes early the boat pulled up and I jumped on. The sun was just starting to set and the view across the river was exceptional as we sped back south.
Rather than jumping off at the Central Pier where I had got on, I was going to leave a few stops early and try to find somewhere to eat on my way back to the hotel. I had spotted a mall on my travels earlier, and figured that would be as good a place as any to grab some dinner.
I found a rather confusing food court on the top floor, but once I figured out that I had to buy a pre-paid card and then go to order my dinner I was all sorted. Tonight I had a bowl of Traditional Thai Noodles with beef and vegetables which was pretty delicious and cost me less that two pounds! Exceptional value.
Walking back to my hotel, night had completely fallen, but thankfully there was no sign as I returned to my street of that notorious Bangkok nightlife anywhere.
I seem to be making something of a habit of travelling to impressive religious monuments on this trip, but I'd say that both of the two I saw today were special in a different way to which the two in Indonesia were. I was in awe of those to because of their age, where as I was taken in by the Grand Palace and Wat Pho because of their scale, but also their beauty. It was more of a superficial beauty that at Borobodur or Prambanan as those seemed to be more natural wonders just using stone to create their effects, but here it was the decoration that was really a sight to behold.
Even though it is closed and covered in scaffolding it was also good to see Wat Arun from across the river, I might take the boat over there tomorrow just to take a few pictures, but we will see how the day pans out I think.
I'd say that my first day in Bangkok was definitely a success. I didn't reach my lofty expectations of visiting a large number of the spectacular sights here, but the good thing about staying here for a couple of days is that I can just add them to the itinerary for the next day. I feel comfortable that I definitely picked the best two to look at today, but I hope that whatever I decide to do tomorrow will compliment my efforts today very well.
Gold
Spandau Ballet
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