Back In Bangkok: Day 1

On Friday the 13th, we woke our happy asses (not) up at 3am and went to the airport.  They have a separate seating section for monks and priests:

Ohh la la!  I doubt it was okay for me to take a picture of a monk without his knowledge, but I did it anyway.  Life is short.

 The flight was short and sweet, just look how happy we all are with only a few hours sleep:

Once again, I take horrible selfies (I don't know why, I just have no hand-eye coordination).

At 7am, we were there!  It was warm and sunny and we were hating it.  We wanted a dark cave to hibernate in for a minimum of 10 hours.  However, when we arrived at our hostel (the same one we stayed in last time we were in Bangkok: Bed Station) they informed us we couldn't check-in until 2pm!  So, we ditched our stuff and decided to suck it up and carpe diem!  

First we needed some breakfast.  Luckily there were food stalls everywhere.  We got chicken and deep fried banana slices:

Man oh man was that good stuff!  We're not low-carbing it today!

Aaron and I decided to take Niny sightseeing to all the temples and Buddhas we saw last time we were here (which was about a month ago).  We started by going to the "bus stop":

We hopped on a boat (about $0.20 each) and got a ride up the canal to the other side of town (I honestly have no idea where we got dropped off, we were just retracing our steps from last time).

We made a "deal" with a tuk tuk driver that for 60 Bhat total (about $1.50) we would get a ride to all the hot-spots.  In exchange, we would let him take us to a few different "fashion factories" where we sit and pretend we're interested in getting a custom suit or dress and he collects a finders fee for bringing in unsuspecting tourists.  Most of the tuk tuk drivers make deals like this.  Of course it's annoying to have to sit in a room and look at pictures of suits for 10 minutes, but it's in the AC and we basically got a tour around Bangkok for less than the price of a pack of gum.

First stop: Lucky Buddha

Disclaimer: I'm not posting too many scenery pictures because Aaron and I have already visited these places (and I've already posted them), so this was more for Niny.

Second stop: Marble Palace

Aaron made this cool picture on his phone:

Aaron and I took our pictures last time we were here, so we had Niny stand in the exact same spot.

Third stop: Standing Buddha

This flower arrangements were gorgeous and smelled amazing:

This kitty was just napping inside the temple, not a care in the world:

Fourth stop: Emerald Buddha Temple
This was the highlight last time we were here and this time it certainly did not disappoint!
The boys had to rent pants and shirts (I was smart enough this time to wear long pants and a shirt that covered my shoulders):

It was right around this time that it started to rain:

Now it was pouring and we ran for cover (Ahh!  My camera!!) into a temple and waited it out (about 30 minutes).  Then we were back in action:

On second thought, maybe I did overdo it with the pictures a little.

We walked around the block to our last stop: Reclining Buddha
On the way we got some street snacks:

Side note: Aaron had that bracelet made for Niny and put it on him when he arrived.  He hasn't taken it off since, even to shower.  It says "Owned by Aaron."  LOL

There was a man on the street with a giant snake and he put it around Niny's shoulders:

Then this happened:

Of course he charged us afterwards, but we were expecting it.  We're onto you, mister!

Reclining Buddha:

Finally done!!!  We are wiped out at this point because not only are we going off of 3 hours of sleep, but we walked A LOT and it was HOT!  We needed sustenance, so we stopped in the first restaurant we found with AC (yea, we're total pansies):

Yummy!
After we stuffed our bellies full, we grabbed a tuk tuk back to the hostel.
On the way, we passed all these places that made/sold giant Buddhas:

Really cool.
I fell asleep in the tuk tuk (which is no easy feat because bumpy ride is an understatement) and of course they took pictures:

Idiots.
We showered and relaxed at the hostel for a few hours, trying really hard not to fall asleep, so we could sleep at night like normal people.  Around 9pm, we decided to take Niny to our favorite night market, so he could get a few gifts and swag for himself.

I'm getting really good at haggling.  The key is not to be desperate.  Don't be afraid to walk away.  They need you WAY more than you need them and don't feel bad because their prices are WAY jacked up.  Once you've got those things imprinted in your mind, you can do no wrong.  We literally got a guy to chase us down after we walked away and lower his price from $30 to $3!  Score!  Everything here is probably a knock-off and probably not worth much, so I refuse to pay very much for any of it.  I did get some Ray Bans for $5, which I like and needed because the shiny stuff is peeling off my current ones, leaving black shiny pieces all over my face every time I wear them.
We went back to Aaron's favorite Mexican place:

It's like a greatest hits of all our favorite spots in Thailand, revisited!
Then we went back to the hostel and knocked out.  Today the boys are sleeping in (lucky!) and later we will probably go to the zoo or hit up a floating market.  Stay tuned for Bangkok: Day 2!