Wat Saket and the Golden Mount

With a three day weekend, I decided to use my Saturday to go downtown and do something touristy.  Other people were going back to the weekend market or other shopping, but I've had enough shopping for now and wanted to a) speak some Thai b) take some pictures and c) learn how to get around better downtown.  So last night I flipped through my Lonely Planet and decided to visit Wat (temple) Saket and the Golden Mount today.  I planned out a route that would take me from bus to skytrain to a boat taxi.  My back-up plan was to take a regular taxi instead of the boat taxi if I couldn't find the canal or pier or figure out how to ride the boat.  Bangkok has quite a few canals and they can be a quick and cheap way to get around. 

I managed to find and get on the boat just fine (my transportation experience from Argentina has really been helping me) but wasn't 100% sure where to get off.  When I was pretty sure it was the right stop I double checked with a guy who was getting off there and he said yes, I was in the right place.  As we were walking from the pier he asked me in his broken English where I was going, and then pointed out the way to the temple. but then he decided to practice his English and just walk me there himself.  As we walked he asked me questions, some of which seem very forward to a westerner, but are natural for Thais.  For example, right after 'what is your name?' comes ' how old are you?'.  He was, of course, shocked to find out that I was 30- he was just 24.  He followed that one up with 'do you have a boyfriend' to which I naturally answered, yes. He girlfriend lives in Chiang Mai, unless she's as real as my boyfriend :)  Less than 5 minutes into our conversation Don (Dom? not really sure what he said...) tells me that I am his first foreign friend ever. 

Don (I'll just call him Don since I really couldn't understand what his name was) ended up giving me a bit of a tour of the Wat and Golden Mount.  We walked all around and he explained to me what some things were.  I understood about 75% of what he said.  At one point he asked me if I had been to this town near Bangkok that was the ancient capital with lots of temples.  "Do you want to go there with me next weekend?"  Emmm, no, I have plans, sorry. 

Left on my own, I probably would have done a bit more wandering and a bit more picture taking, but it was fun to make a Thai friend.  Don walked me back to the pier to catch the boat back, we exchanged phone numbers and I was on my way.  It is interesting how being foreign can open up so many doors to conversation! 

On the boat ride back to the skytrain they left the tarps on the sides of the boat down more so I was able to take some pictures of the places along the canal. I made my way back to where I live, stopping to get some clothes for my stretching class on the way (leggings and 3 cheap tanks for $5), and arrived home to find out I had locked myself out.  Since the people with the extra keys weren't home, I had to break in, which was amazingly easy. 

A successful day of adventure, a few Thai phrases, lots of pictures, and a new mode of transportation.  God is good! 

PS- you can click on any photo to enlarge it.