Thailand sets the new standard for us in beautiful temples. But first the alarm buzzed us awake at 6:30am and our day began. Breakfast was taken in the Lido and we met our group of 7 others in the Ocean Bar at 7:30am and proceeded off the ship via a Deck A gangway. We waited for about 15 minutes until I went over to a fellow holding a sign from Shore Excursions Asia but with a different passenger's name. He asked for our guide's name and when I told him it was Alex, he said, "That's me." He had printed the wrong name on his sign.
We made our way to the now familiar little 10 passenger Toyota minivan and drove the two hours to Bangkok. As advertised, traffic got very congested as we approached the city. We made our way to the Jim Thompson House which is a museum which was formerly the home of a successful American businessman who went missing while walking in the Jungles of Malaysia. The house is made of teak and filled with artifacts, the oldest being from the 7th century. No photos could be taken inside the museum. If you want more information, google his name.
From there we made our way to lunch at a nice buffet restaurant that was an upgrade to our tour at no cost to us. After lunch we made our way to the Grand Palace and the Emerald Buddha before taking a short ride on the major river which passes through Bangkok. The boats are interesting in that they are long and skinny and many use an exposed engine with the propellor shaft sticking out the back of the boat. I asked our guide if we could fit in a visit to the Reclining Buddha, and he was able to do that for 500 Thai Bat per couple or about $16 US. After visiting the Reclining Buddha, we were taken to a jewelry merchant who had a few souvenirs. The merchants were pretty aggressive in trying to sell, but we weren't buying.
After a 2 hour drive we were back at the port in the dark where we said our goodbyes to our guide and driver who still had to drive 2 hours back to Bangkok.
After a quick shower to cool off (I'm finding myself really sensitive to the heat with a nauseous feeling). So I just ate some fruit a drank more iced tea.
The evening program at 9:30pm was a local Thai dance troupe who presented a fine show on traditional Thai dancing. And all too welcome was a chance to go to bed early as we have a ship's tour at 8am tomorrow. Stay tuned for details.
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