I arrived here on the 2nd with nothing to report other than it was an awfully long couple of flights….just over 20 hours including a stopover in Hong Kong. Needless to say, I crashed very early evening. What a beautiful riverside resort we are staying it called the Anantara Riverside Resort.

Thailand is morning the passing of the Queen Mother for 90 days. Everywhere you see pictures of her. Some places were not open because of it. We were asked to not wear flashy bright clothes out of respect.

The Chao Phraya River literally snakes through Bangkok, is 370 kms long, continuing into the heart of the country.  It has been the centre of Thai life for centuries.

November 3/25 Our first excursion, to get our bearings in the humongous city, we did a hop on, hop off bus.

National barges, built in late 1800s can been seen at  the Royal Barges Museum. 

Si Lom Road meaning “turbine” road, is the financial, main business centre of Bangkok 

Patpong, an older well-known tourist entertainment district known for its night market and nightlife-after 6pm, for fun and entertainment …typically strip bars, pole dancing and prostitution.

We passed by the Jim Thompson silk shop someone had told me about but I never got off to explore.

Royal park was donated by king.

On Rachadamri road-Rachaprasong mall, has 600+ stores, huge shopping. It’s across from Grand Hyatt. 

Central World Mall. 

Samyan mitrown-mixed use area of residential and shopping has underground tunnel and train.

Golden Buddha is a rock solid gold statue (5.5 tons)had been covered by plaster, hidden from all for centuries, (probably built in the 15th century), until in an attempt to move it, was dropped exposing the solid gold underneath.

1896 first train built. Railway station built in 1910. 

Next is Chinatown 

In the past there was all kinds of restaurants and food shops, operas, brothels, gambling dens, all of which are no longer in existence except for food & restaurants.

132 gold shops

Next is hospital initially built for sick prostitutes but now is a regular hospital. 

Near Wat Intharawihan in 1820’s, so many died from cholera.  They couldn’t cremate the bodies fast enough so vultures ended up eating the remains, mak8ng them so fat they couldn’t fly. 

Next we drive through Khaosan road… is the “road of life”.  In 1892 tourism began there in Thailand with coach leaving from there.  It was also an

area where movies were made.   

Giant swing… no longer used

1807  wat pho temple… historical

Back to the west side of river  where our hotel is, originally was the capital of Thailand. Siam, until 1939, was the name of Thailand. 

City name in Thai is 169 letters long, the longest name in the world… means “City of Angels”.

Icon Siam, a huge shopping centre has 169 stores ……. is where we ended our tour today.

One of the things that leaves quite the impression on me is the amount a high rises …. that are spectacular in design. It sure would be good to see something “different” like these at home. I don’t know what kind of a job or business you need to have in order to rent one. A taxi driver said rent is 5 million baht per month …. About 21,000CAD. I don’t know how true that is.

Maybe my next post will be less “combobulated”.