Bangkok, Thailand-Boats, Buddha’s and Palaces

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Bangkok, Thailand-Boats, Buddha’s and Palaces



A long bus ride (2 1/2 hours) from the port at Laem Chabang to Bangkok, started our day. Actually the time went pretty fast as it is still interesting to us to see how people live as we travel towards our destination.



Rice paddies with small and large businesses all along the highway. There were many more industrial equipment businesses than we have seen in Asia, and the areas are clean. The small neighborhood markets are well kept. As always, lots of motorcycles, but not as many as we have seen in other countries. Many more automobiles and a lot of buses-40 buses from our cruise ship alone making their way into the city.



Our guide, “Kenny”, was born in the slums of Bangkok. One day when he was 12 years old, he saw a tour guide and asked how you become one. The Guide said you have to know another language. Even though he wasn’t religious he went to the Catholic Church on Sundays where they spoke English. After awhile he told the priest he wanted to learn English and become a tour guide. The priest told him to come after school every day of the week and he would teach him. English and American priests taught him for the next 4 years. Tour Guiding has been good to him and he now also owns a coffee shop in Chiangmai, which is 500 miles to the north-he files back and forth, now and then, to do day tours for people like us ;-) Each flight is for $35 per trip! We, once again, have a “#1 bus driver” as he weaved the bus in and out of traffic like a sports car and kept us on time.



Bangkok is crisscrossed with canals called Klongs. Its nickname is the “Venice of the East” (where have we heard that before?) Barges, rafts of teak logs, ferry boats and river buses all glide along the rivers and canals. Some in Asia consider this city of 7 million people as a mecca for shoppers looking for silks, gemstones, and highly decorated objects. It is a fairly modern city with new and old buildings some high rise apartments, and the largest construction project is the expansion of their subway system.



On the way in to Bangkok we stop at a “rest stop” with a 7-11 store and gas. A Coke Zero was 50 Cents and water bottles were 25 cents. Things are pretty cheap here. Our first stop was a jewelry manufacturer, of course. There were some beautiful pieces but we didn’t buy.



Our next stop was the Grand Palace, the former home of Thai kings-the palace sits on the Cha Praya River, the main river for commerce and pleasure boating running from the north to the south of the country.



We went to the place grounds themselves and first to the Temple of the Emerald Buddha-this was a phenomenally beautiful building set with jewel-like mosaic. It just takes our breath away. We had to acknowledge the dress code -the women could have not uncovered arms, no plunging necklines and no shorts or short dresses-any pants had to be angle length-the men could not wear shorts or tee shirts. If you didn’t have something to cover you up you could rent garments for 20 Baht (about 90 cents), heaven only knows when they were last washed ;-) Fortunately for some on our tour, our tour driver had clothes to loan them.



Before entering the temple we had to remove our shoes and take off our hats to be respectful when we entered. Kenny, sat on the ground with all of our shoes piled around him, to “guard” them while we went in.



The Palace and Buddhist Temple are adorned with gilded columns and glass covered mosaics atop its major buildings. Each mosaic piece was placed by hand. There are millions of pieces of tile covering every wall and ceiling of the Palace and Temple plus many, many other buildings and places of worship on the grounds. They sparkle in the sunlight giving a feeling of opulence and majesty.



One interesting thing we learned is that the current King of Thailand, Ramus VII is the richest monarch in the world, ahead of the Sultan of Brunei and Queen Elizabeth, at least according to our informative guide. The Grand Place complex was established in 1782 and was not only the royal residence and throne halls, but a number of current government offices.



Also the king loves his dog! At a recent ceremony the King did not have a person next to him on the throne but, indeed, he had his dog, all dressed in beautiful robes LOL.



Well, after all these weeks of traveling, it finally had to happen…a couple got lost. They did not meet our tour group when it was time to walk to the river port for the cruise to our lunch place.



We waited a long time for them, but we then headed out of the palace anyway. Our tour guide would try to find them later. We left the grounds and dodged cars, crossing the crowded street to a narrow, crowded but really nice outdoor market. Lots of noise and chattering as we made our way single file through the stalls to the river cruise dock. We boarded the boat in 90 degree weather with 90% humidity. As we boarded they passed out ice cold water and ice cold wrapped wash clothes…YES!! We were sitting on the sunny side of the boat but Cope was able to angle some shade. I was in the sun so used our washcloths to cover my arm in the sun and put Cope’s hat on… this worked. Unfortunately we did not leave the dock as our boat bounced up and down on the waves being made by all the other tour boats. We sat, and we sat, and we sat… our tour guide had gone back to find the “lost” couple. UGH! Okay patience, I suppose at some time it could be us ;-) Finally after about 20 minutes Kenny and the lost” couple jumps aboard the boat. The boat erupts in clapping! They are embarrassed and already loudly making excuses… Geez. Let’s go ;-)



Moving into the Chap Praya River we saw lots of homes and businesses along the river and the canals, and we could see the Grand Palace from the river. The Captain passed out huge loaves to bread to us and each passenger pulled off a chunk. It was to feed the catfish. We pulled close to the shore and everyone started to break off pieces of bread and throw them into the river. Yikes! Hundreds of cat fish came to the surface, flipping and spinning as they grabbed for the bread.



Boats, barges, and cruise tour boats were everywhere-lots of activity on the river. At the end of the river cruise tour, we docked at a very nice hotel and had an excellent buffet lunch-great food, lots of choices, full of Princess Cruise ship passengers!



After lunch we were ready for a nap but instead headed out to find the tour bus ;-)



Traveling across town we stopped at Wat Trimitr, the Temple of the Golden Buddha. After climbing 78 steps and taking off our shoes (with Kenny guarding them ;-) we went into the Temple. What a sight awaited us! The golden Buddha was huge, high on a pedestal, and was just shining with the gold. About 40 years ago, a concrete plaster Buddah was found abandoned across the city. Since the temple needed a Buddah and had very little money, they decided to move it. They didn’t know why it was sooo heavy. In the process of moving it, it dropped off the truck and tipped over and the concrete plaster broke and they discovered there was a Buddha within the concrete made of solid gold and no one knew it! What a discovery! The solid gold was in four pieces and you can see the joints where they fit together. It is incredibly beautiful-shining so bright even though it is in a covered building. There were some worshipers there, but there were so many tourists jammed into the building, we kind of felt bad for the people going here to worship and pay their respects.



Fortunately no one got lost on this segment and we were able to quickly dodge the motorcycles, trucks, buses and cars to our bus on the other side of the street.



Home to the “Mother Ship” ;-) A quicker 2 hour drive good for a little napping.



We are still so intrigued with all the modes of transportation in these countries, I was watching out the window looking at all he motorcycle configurations when I saw a man riding on an elephant along side the road! It went by so fast; there was no time for pictures, but what an end to a spectacular day!



Next, off the Cruise Ship and on to Singapore!

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Comments

[elaine]

arizona
Happy Thanksgiving, Jean and cope! We are staying in your condo in Phoenix and loving it. Miss you tho! everything looks good here.