Where does this man go at night?

The day started out bright and early at about 630; I had gotten a good nights sleep the night before. I went down to get some breakfast at our hotel about 7. We met out orientation leaders and made out way to the grand palace.

Just inside the gates at the Grand Palace. 

To the left is the gold building. 

Today was a national holiday, something about when some buddha reached enlightenment. I am not sure if it was THE buddha, but it was someone who along their path in life had reached nirvana. So it was particularly today. We saw some really great stuff. Our tour guide spoke good English, but she was throwing Thai in there, speaking fast, and talking away from me (not to mention I was preoccupied with taking pictures of everything), so I am afraid I cannot recall all the details of the tour. We saw a pagoda that was made from pieces of gold that cost 50 cents for the king to buy many years ago. It contained thousands of them, I can only imagine what it would be valued at today. There was one building that was made from broken glass. The Chinese used to trade goods with the Thai people. On one such journey they Chinese ship hit a bad storm (I think this is how the story goes) and broke a lot of colored glass. The Chinese did not know what to do with this broken glass, so they threw it into Chao Phraya river, the main river in Thailand. The people who lived along the river complained to the king about all of the broken glass in and on the shores of the river. So the king had a building made of the broken glass and made it a holy place. Our tour guide even suggested that this is where Gaudi, the famous Spanish architect, found inspiration for his well known designs. There were many other things, but one last thing I would like to mention, we were able to see the Emerald Buddha. I am not sure as to the significance of this tiny sculture, but it seemed to be the centerpiece and the focus of the activity (This was probably the buddha that reached enlightenment).

Not a fan of these. 

From there we walked through a market and waited for our van to come pick us up. From there we headed to lunch. This was maybe the most filling meal that we had all day, and it didn't hurt that it was paid for by OEG (OEG is my on the ground program here in Thailand). The food was good; I tried some new things, and learned what I didn't like. After we ate there was this incredibly creepy but awesome puppet show. The show acted out the story of a mural that was painted on the walls of the Wat that in on the Grand Palace grounds. It was the story of a princess that got kidnapped, and there were demons, and I don't know the rest of the story. All you need to know was that it was not just a sock puppet show, and the puppets might have been the creepiest thing that I have ever seen.

Why did he think this was a good idea? 

After that we were able to come back to the hotel for about an hour. This gave me time to upload some photos from the morning. We had then decided to meet and go to the tallest building in Thailand. We took some alley way there. This alley way was packed full of vendors selling everything that you could think of when you think of street goods and products. There was a man driving a moped down the alley like it was a regular road, like he seriously thought this was a good idea (Please reference picture). We finally made it to the building we were looking for. It was just like any other tall building, but this one came with a view of the bustling metropolis that is Bangkok. There was one exception, this building had the most random interior design ever. There were old tuk tuk's, giant plastic aliens, a boat. It was just rather weird.

There was something today that I really struggled with, and quite honestly I am still struggling with. I have seen many beggars; this is nothing new to me. But today it struck me particularly hard when I saw a man that was lying face down on the sidewalk of Bangkok. The man had about 3/4 of one leg missing and 1/2 of the other gone. He literally had his face on the ground. What does one do? I do not have an answer, and I have thought about this for a long time.

Where does this man go at night? Where is his family? What does this man do when he is hungry?

I might think I have a lot to worry about, but I do not. I am carrying on around Bangkok like it is this getaway, but really life here is much harder than I will ever know through my own experiences.