Cruising the South China Sea to Bangkok

On December 12 we arrived at the port of Laem Chabang in Thailand. The disadvantage of this Asian cruise was that the port cities were located about two hours from the major cities, meaning four hours total just to get into and out of the city. This severely limited the type of tours we could do, since the ship would sail without you if you got stuck in traffic on the way back (with the exception of ship-sponsored tours where they will wait a short time).

These enterprising women had set up shop on the dock and were offering Thai massage at bargain basement prices.

We had a half day so we decided to take a taxi into a local shopping mall to see if we could buy some miscellaneous computer supplies. The mall turned out to be very nice and the top floor was a warren of small tech-type companies with great prices on computers, mice, etc.  Next on our list was relaxation and we found a Thai massage place just outside the mall. We were led up three flights of stairs to a small Japanese screened room where two young Thai women gave us the most wonderful hour of pure bliss. Thai massage is unique in that they sit on your back,  (they are very light) and use their entire body weight to pull and stretch your various muscles. At US$ 7 an hour I could have stayed all day. They also tend to laugh and giggle a lot, especially when trying to bend one of my tree trunk legs.

The next day we grabbed an early breakfast for the 7:30 am departure from the port to downtown Bangkok and then joined the hoards of people boarding a fleet of tour buses heading to various destinations. Our tour guide talked the entire two hours to the city, but we did learn a lot about Thailand, it’s economy and culture. Thailand is a more popular tourist destination than London, and with over 8 million residents, it’s like a bustling beehive of activity.

Bangkok has always had some of the worse traffic in the world and we learned it hadn’t gotten any better since our first visit in the 1970s. How the bus drivers maneuver the huge tour buses through the myriad of cars and motorcycles is a mystery to me; you are waiting for pending disaster around every turn.

Elephant sculptures are frequent in Thai architecture.

Huge crowds of Thais queue to morn the death of the highly popular King Bhumibol Adulyadej, who died at the age of 88 in October of 2016.

Memorial to the recently deceased King are everywhere in Bangkok.

Our tour group formed and unformed like a protoplasm under a microscope.

The golden Wat Phra Kaew or the Temple of the Emerald Buddha.

Our first destination was the Grand Palace, home to the Kings of Siam for centuries. Situated along the Chao Phraya River, the palace complex stretches for about one half mile in each direction and is surrounded by four walls.  The palace complex is made up of numerous buildings, temples, halls, gardens and courtyards, all dominated by the Grand Palace building. 

Since Meryl and I have traveled independently most of our lives, it took us awhile to get used to the regimented “tour guide” style of site seeing. With all the different nationalities represented in our group it was a little like herding wet cats most of the time, and a little like Roller Derby bouncing your way off hot sweaty bodies in the confines of the Palace complex. We enjoyed the tour, but yearned for the more laid back independent style of touring we were used to.

Wat Arun, the Temple of the Morning Light.

The temple is covered by thousands of small ceramic tiles.

This is the place to buy your buddha statues.

We were next bused to a nearby hotel for a nice buffet lunch (and a chance to grab some quick Internet) and then on to Wat Arun, the "Temple of the Morning Light." It consists of hundreds of thousands of small ceramic tiles, all set in precise order to portray a luminosity when struck by the morning light.

Our last stop was the Royal Barge Museum where the huge (wait for it) Royal Barges are kept in a large floating moorage building. Every year the barges are brought out and sailed down the river amid nationalistic pageantry. As much as I like anything that floats and is similar to a boat, I have to say we were pretty wiped out by the crowds and heat and looked forward to the bus ride back to Phu My and our air conditioned cabin.