Reclining Buddha & Getting Lost in the Markets of Bangkok, Thailand

As I have mentioned before Bangkok was our first international trip outside of Europe. Thus, it was the first time we experienced a true “market” that is so common in most of the world. We had just finished exploring the Grand Palace (I have written about previously) and were simply wandering around the busy streets of central Bangkok. We happen to stumble on the famous “Reclining Buddha” and were blown away by its size and grandeur. This famous statue is gigantic and takes up every square inch of the temple building that houses it. Most Buddha statues show him sitting but reclining Buddha’s (this is not the only one in the world) show him laying on his side. This means they are huge statues and this particular one in Bangkok is one of, if not the, biggest. It is almost impossible to explain how cool it is to walk in and see this gigantic gold platted statue laid out before you. Lindsay and I were blown away by how big just the feet of the statue were. We spent about an hour just admiring this incredible piece of art before continuing on our way. I don’t remember where we were headed but I do remember that we didn’t know how to get there. :) We basically just started wandering to see what we would find. Within only a few minutes we found ourselves walking through one of the coolest markets I have ever seen. Many of the markets in Thailand are commercialized and cater to tourists while also catering to locals. However, this market was strictly for locals and we were the only westerners in site. It was a food market so the locals and vendors were coming/going and busy with their day to day work. Lindsay and I just walked slowly with our eyes wide open trying to take it all in. Again, this was the first international market experience we had ever had and so we were both having a fantastic “travelers high”. To this day we both fondly talk about how cool of an experience it was to wander into such a cool market. We have since seen numerous markets all over the world but this small and busy local food market in Bangkok will always have a special place in our hearts.