Saturday, March 24, 2012

Bangkok, Thailand - March 21, 2012

View of River from Restaurant
 Early in the morning, we depart our hotel in Cambodia and fly to Bangkok, Thailand.  A tour guide, “Matthew”, meets us at the airport and whisks us off for the hour drive to the Mandarin Oriental Hotel, right on the river, for a buffet lunch.  This place is luxurious and the buffet tables are loaded with amazing Thai food and desserts with amazing flavors and interesting textures.  There is a cooking school associated with the restaurant – might be worth coming to visit!

Cooking on the street
Foreground are the slum areas
Tuk Tuk Taxi



Various Buildings at Grand Palace
Emerald Buddha Palace
We next bus around the city with Matthew explaining different sights.  First, there are numerous slums located between modern buildings.  It turns out the government can’t make the people move because of land rights – families who have been on the land forever.  It’s a city with lots of history, smells, sights and sounds.



Old Guard at Palace
New Guard at Palace
Our main stop is the Grand Palace.  This is an amazing array of temples erected by various Kings of Siam (including the Yul Brenner “King & I” king, Matthew repeatedly assures us).  There is also a temple here that houses the famous Emerald Buddha (which is really made of jade but is still priceless).  There is so much gold, colorful tile and mirror here it is almost too much to take in.  Unfortunately, with the heat and the crowds and limited time, we are not able to explore as much as we would have liked.  It is a huge complex. 




Wise Guy
Back on the bus for the two-hour drive to the Queen.  We see lots of trucks heading to Laem Chabang (which has interestingly designated itself as “the Detroit of the East”) – the port where our home, our room on the Queen Elizabeth, is waiting for us!

I'm loving it!

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