You Are Not My Friend! Khao San Road & Wat Pho

Slated to take a late afternoon train for Kanchanaburi, we decided to spend our morning in central Bangkok to see some of the more iconic sites - Khao San Road and Wat Pho.

On our way to Wat Pho, opening at 9am, we encountered a peculiarly friendly Thai gentleman on the street who stopped us and struck up a conversation. We mentioned that we were walking to Wat Pho, to which he remarked it was ‘closed for the morning, only open to the Chinese until 1pm’. He then gave us a long list of other sights we should see, all reachable by tuk tuk in a couple hours. Right on cue, a tuk tuk driver ‘conveniently’ sped up. We had witnessed our first scam artist. We kindly told him we preferred to walk and said no thank you, he grimaced and crossed the street abruptly. At first, I thought this was a coincidence, and wanted to believe this guy, while Steven remained skeptical. We headed to Khao San Road for lunch, hungry from the heat.

Khao San Road, a backpacker mecca, is at its most vibrant in the evening, a smattering of neon signs advertising bars, massage parlors, food stalls, pushy hawkers selling cheap goods, and Thai bar ladies. Budget travelers from every corner of the world line this street, shoulder to shoulder, looking for a good time. But early in the afternoon, when we walked Khao San, the energy was subdued, and the street was just waking up. We enjoyed a cheap street food meal (I had my first Tom Yum and it was well worth the wait) and headed over to the temple district.

On our way to Wat Pho, determined to prove this Thai gentleman wrong, we were confronted by another ‘friendly’ Thai woman, asking us where we were from and where we were going. Oddly enough, she ALSO said that Wat Pho was ‘closed until noon’ and we would need to find another activity to occupy ourselves. She handed us a map, plotted an alternative 1-2 hour itinerary, and said it was reachable by tuk tuk. Like clockwork, a tuk tuk conveniently pulled up. We declined this second offer, and continued to Wat Pho. Alas, we reached the temple before noon, and it was open, with many tourists already enjoying the sights.

The name Wat Pho is taken from the monastery of the Bodhi tree in Bodh Gaya, India where Buddha is believed to have attained enlightenment. We spent about a couple hours roaming this Buddhist temple complex built in the late 1600s and rebuilt a hundred years later. After admiring some of the colorful chedis festooned with handpainted flowers, hiding heavy-eyed street cats, we darted for the famous Temple of the Reclining Buddha, 150 feet in length. Stunning, to say the least.