a seat at the table: the Grand finale: part 2.

The final stop of our Bangkok tour: Wat Pho. We rounded the corner from the Grand Palace and were right at our destination... here are some typical street views near the temples.

Wat Pho is the oldest and largest temple in Bangkok and is famous for not only the largest Buddha in Thailand but their massage school. I passed on getting a massage in a factory-like setting with rows of tables. Not exactly relaxing. A few days prior I was able to get a one-hour Thai massage for around $8 (yes, you read that right!) down from our hotel. Unfortunately, Miss Oh and I had not yet talked about massages, so she hadn't told me to be sure to tell them "no elbows!" Yikes.

Just so I'll remember the experience for years to come, I will tell a bit more. When I entered and asked for a massage, the lady asked, "Man can do?" I quickly told her no, I would prefer a woman. Oh goodness, was I ever glad they asked first! I entered a tiny curtained off room - if you can call it that - and changed into the oversized shirt and pants. At that point I wondered where the lady was going to stand as she worked around the table. There were honestly two inches at most on any side of the table from the curtains and walls. But never fear, catwoman was there! I thought I might pass out trying to hold my breath through the pain for the first 20 minutes... she was like catwoman perching on the edges of the table, poking her elbows into every inch of my spine. Finally, she switched into stretching mode and used her legs and feet to stretch my muscles into a pretzel. I really thought about yelping for her to stop a few times. ...which would have been even more awkward had a man been doing all this. Good gracious. Wish I had known it would be best not to have a traditional Thai massage while in Thailand. Be forewarned, friends.

When you enter the Temple of the Reclining Buddha, you leave your shoes in the slots.

The buddha itself is quite impressive in size but impossible to see in its entirety at any point in the room. Just the smile itself is 5 meters across! You can't appreciate it all at once because the chapel is only slightly larger than the buddha, so you have to peek in between columns to gaze one direction or the other.

As we walked down the front side, I kept hearing a clinking sound, sort of like instruments but in no pattern.

As we walked down the back side I understood the clinking. People paid for tin cups of coins since it's believed if you drop one in each of the 108 bowls, you will have good luck and a long life.

The soles of the feet are inlaid with mother-of-pearl prints and 108 icons which distinguishes a true buddha.

One icon up close.

Here's where I wish I could have swapped places with my friend Amy for even five minutes. She's an amazing photographer and I bet she could have done amazing work with her camera, this door and my daughter. Sad to say, Sweet P was hot, tired and would not let go of a drink that had just spilled all over her dress. Regretful.

Dried fish and squid. Yum.

I could live off the orange juice in this picture. We had a street cart selling it across from our hotel, and it was only 10 baht per bottle there. That's about 33 cents. It tasted like fresh squeezed tangerines!

This is where my camera died, so I wasn't able to capture any sites from the boat ride home. I charged it up in time for our last dinner in Bangkok, where the food was delicious and little miss entertained!

We took a final stroll down Langsuan Road past our hotel and Sweet P kept her eye out for stray cats saying "mah-ew" (Thai for cat).

One final stop by 7-11 where I could not for the life of me figure out how they get bright pink eggs.

We passed on these too.

...and roast ducks hanging by their necks in a metal noose weren't exactly the best way to end the evening, so we stopped back by Home Kitchen to get a to-go order of mango and sticky rice. Now that was the perfect ending to our time in Thailand.