Heaven-sent!

We only had all morning of the following day to spend in Bangkok before we proceed to the next leg, so all we had in mind was to see the National Museum.  But before going there, we stopped by the strip of street food stalls outside the hotel to see what we can try.

ETS oddly bought macopa.  She's the only person I know who likes the fruit, which according to her gives her a "Ratatouille" moment!

While I bought freshly squeezed orange juice for two. 

As usual, we took the train to the ferry station because the river cruise is the fastest way to the National Museum.

But just when we were about to enter the museum compound, a strange man approached us and told us that the museum was closed for the day because of the Parliamentary elections.  Knowing ETS and myself, we just don't take crap from anybody without finding out for ourselves, but oddly, we took the man's word for it.  Call it hypnotism if you may.  There was not even any sign that the museum was indeed close and the gates were wide open.

Scam or not, the guy was heaven-sent!  Find out why later!

He asked for a map so he could suggest where else we could go instead.  We willingly obliged.  He encircled two temples and a jewelry store on the map.  He even showed a cheap looking ring he said he bought on sale for like 30K Baht!  Then we smelled scam, but we surprisingly took everything in.  He even gave us tips how to haggle on price and told us to take a government tuktuk because it's cheaper, which came around on cue!  I swear it was orchestrated!

Perfect timing!

Off we went after profusely thanking mystery man for the "help".  But we were telling each other we were duped, but still went along anyway.

First stop, Wat Indravihan which has the tallest standing Buddha image in its compound, built in the reign of King Rama IV, is 32 meters tall and 10 meters and 24 inches wide.  It was only when I saw this Buddha that I remembered I was also here in my first Bangkok trip.

Interior.

Exterior.

Thai lanterns, aren't they pretty!?.  This area was still a grassy piece of land the first time I was there.

We then proceeded to our next stop, Wat Benchamabophit.

The usual gate...

And the usual guards!

So we thought we're just going to see just another temple...

There was a group of monks gathered in front forming a circle, all in orange robes, except one in white.  There was a ceremony going on so we went in to observe.  I did not even realize I was in my shorts and tank top, how disrespectful was that?

We both thought it was just another Buddhist ceremony  until the guy in white (the  standing monk above) came back in an orange robe.  Only then did it dawn on us that it was actually his higher ordination as a monk!

So imagine how excited ETS and I were to be there!  It turned out that everyone in there, except us two uninvited guests, was a relative or a friend of Dora the Explorer, the name he's been given by ETS because of that odd looking back pack (probably overheard by one of the guests because she couldn't stop giggling while looking at us!).  We were so restless that we couldn't stop taking pictures and videos that most of the guests were probably confused who we were!  We actually took more photos than they did!


Then we both realized that we were duped for a divine reason, that an actual ordination was way cooler to witness than see a bunch of artifacts stuck in glass shelves.  After all, not all tourists can boast he's watched one!