I couldn't sleep late this morning so I got up at 6:30 (which isn't bad considering my body thinks it's 6:30pm). I went to Chamchuri square - a local mall - to try to buy a sim card but the phone store doesn't open until 10am. So I got some breakfast (previous post) and hailed a taxi to Wat Phrakaew - home of the emerald Buddha. I actually tried to take a bus but first I didn't know how to buy a ticket or how much it would be buy second I watched a number of buses that weren't the one I was looking for go by and I was worried about time. The taxi ride was good - <$3 for 30min ride.
I got to the site at 9am which was a fantastic time as I later found out because there was no line at the time while later the lines were massive. I walked around the royal palace and monasteries and took a ton of pictures. I especially liked the kinaree and yaksha statues. I was a bit underwhelmed by the emerald Buddha which is supposed to be the highlight. It's only 66cm tall the guidebook states and is so far you can hardly see it. Plus it's wearing some golden outfit (changed for each season) which covers up most of the green. Of course it's not actually made of emerald but is instead a type of jade. It does have a cool story though having been uncovered in Chiang Mai and believed to be made of plaster until the top layer started to crack. It was transported to Laos and later recaptured and brought to Bangkok. My favorite buildings were those with ornate flower-like decorations.
I was only outside for 2 hours but man was it hot! So humid and so sunny.
I ended the morning by returning to the shopping center to buy a sim card. I paid about $13 for more data than I usually get in the US. Nice!
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