My fifth day in Bangkok proved to be just as enjoyable as the fourth. Yo agreed to be our tour guide again, this time taking us to her university and the surrounding area.
We started out around noon and took the bus to her university. Yo's university specializes in food and because of this the vast majority of the students are female. Besides getting a first class tour of the university we also got to sample some of the delicious baked goods from the bakery. Yo told us that they have the best bakery in all of Bangkok. At the bakery we had some sweet-roll like rolls with nuts and mango syrup on top.
After some food we headed east and visited the grounds of the Vimanmek Mansion. The grounds were beautifully landscaped and everywhere you could see Thai's in their graduation gowns. Apparently, many of the universities were having their graduation ceremonies that day.
Grounds of the Vimanmek Mansion
After the Vimanmek Mansion we headed over to the zoo. The zoo was fairly impressive, full of bears, tigers, lions, and many other animals native to SE Asia.
From the zoo we walked over to the national assembly hall. Upon reaching it we noticed that the street had been closed to traffic and there were police officers everywhere. As it turned out the King's son was going to be coming down the road at any moment. A few minutes later came a fleet of cars and trucks bearing the future king of Thailand. There must have been 20 different cars in the escort group.
National Assembly, #1
National Assembly, #2
National Assembly, #3
After the King's son passed life returned to normal. The street quickly became crowded with vehicles. The sidewalks returned to life. Street vendors continued selling their food. All was good.
After walking by the National Assembly we headed south to the Giant Swing and then to City Hall. The Giant Swing is about 500m high. Today there is no swing there, only the two giant poles that used to hold the swing. Back in the day the swing used to be used as part of ceremony. Participants would swing in ever-higher arcs in an effort to reach a bag of gold suspended from a 15m pole.
At the City Hall we witnessed the daily 6pm playing of the national anthem. Everything stops in the square next to the city hall at 6pm. There is even a huge digital clock showing the time. After the national anthem there was some step aerobics put on in the middle of the square. It was rather entertaining and I even participated in it for a while.
After some step aerobics we got a bite to eat and then headed back to Khao San. After a bit of rest all of us went out to the Sushi Pub for some drinks and dancing.
Posted by todd at January 13, 2004 10:26 PM