Since I have a few days here before I head to the chaos of Kathmandu, I figured I should take in as much of it as I can.

I think I gave it a red hot go, and fortunately, am back in the hotel in one piece.

I went and checked out the Royal Palace, which was pretty cool. Walked around there checking out temples (wat) and doing the tourist thing. Pretty cool to check out all the ornate design & decoration on all the buildings. One big massive structure (amongst many other things) was covered in gold.

Just across the street was the Pho Wat (pronounced Po Watt) which has a HUGE “reclining” Buddha. This is generally representative of a dying buddha, but the feet alone were about 16 or so feet long. The thing was massive, and completely coated in gold. It was pretty incredible.

Conveniently, just across the street is a Thai massage joint. Let me tell you, there was nothing happy about this massage. I felt like I had been beat up by a Thai kickboxer. I was punched, slapped, kneeled on, poked, prodded and kneaded. It was quite painful at times. After all was said and done, I felt awesome, and ready to back out and continue sweating my brains out. Best $18 I’ve spent in a while. 1hr in the ring with a dude who smiles at you’re wincing in agony while he’s got his whole body weight on a leg muscle, or jabbing his thumb in your neck.

The ride home was even more exciting. I took a jeepney, which is basically a cab put on a three wheeler, back to the hotel. That guy didn’t blink at splitting lanes, driving on the “wrong” side of the road, or taking a space in between cars when there was barely enough room for a motorcycle, let alone this thing. He did not give a shit about anything, and I’m glad I didn’t have a seat belt, because if we crashed, I’d just be turned into a vegetable. Better to let go, and enjoy the ride…

Back in the room, and needing to figure out what’s for dinner, then do it all over again tomorrow.