Day 1 in Thailand (6 April 2014)

We arrived earlier today (~12:00 AM) from Tokyo. The entire Bangkok airport exit systems (immigration, luggage collection, etc) are very fast and informative. We went out and a shuttle bus from our hotel is waiting for us which then took us to our hotel.

 welcome to Suvarnabhumi Airport

We decided to utilize the short time that we had (until our next flight to Phuket) properly and want to see one of the most tourist attractions sites in Bangkok. Thus, we woke up early and took a taxi to the Wat Phra Kaew (in English called Temple of the Emerald Buddha), which is regarded as the most holy Buddhist temple (wat) in Thailand and is located in the historic center of Bangkok. It consists of over 100 brightly colored buildings, golden tips and impressive assortments, and dates back to 1782, when Bangkok was founded. The temple was built during king Rama I’s reign (1782 – 1909), which is the beginning and raise of the Chakri Dynasty of the present Kingdom of Thailand (the present head of the dynasty is King Rama IX). It housed Emerald Buddha, a dark green statue about 66 cm (26 in) tall carved in the meditating posture in the style from a single jade stone. It is not allowed to touch the statue except the Thai King, who changes the cloak around the statue three times a year, corresponding to the summer, winter, and rainy seasons.

Bangkok view on our way to the Temple

 hold on there! you can't get to the Temple premises with this outfits!

 Just outside the Temple, partial view of course

 What can you say with all these architects that were designed in the 18th century?

Wonder if this was inherited from the British!!

Then after we headed off to see the other Buddhist temple, Wat Pho (also known as Temple of the Reclining Buddha or as the birthplace of traditional Thai massage), which is located not far from the Grand Palace. The Reclining Buddha is a golden statue of 15 m high and 43 m long with his right arm supporting the head with tight curls on two box-pillows of blue, handsomely coated with glass assortments. Its foot is 3 m high and 4.5 m long is decorated with mother-of-pearl.

 Beautiful garden!

 Temple complex

The 43m long Buddha! 

Finally we took a taxi (o! you need to bargain very hard to get the right price) to another nearby hotel, Mandarin Oriental Hotel, and cool ourselves with cold Singha beer before we head off to our hotel. We then took out flight to Phuket and arrived safely in Phuket and a driver from our hotel was waiting for us outside the airport entrance. For today, everything looks very smooth. Tomorrow, we will meet our collaborators both from Bangkok and Phuket, we’ll start our mission. Yep! It is a lot of job waiting for us.