[Jim's tour]
March 27th I awoke prior to the alarm clock, and we watched the sun come up and our arrival in Thailand. We were being escorted by a small ship with a manned 50 caliber machinegun on its bow.
Arriving in Bangkok the traffic is horrendous - 11,000,000 people. As usual our driver handles it with ease only this time I noticed and our guide pointed out no horns honking. I don’t recall hearing 1 horn for the entire 8 hour tour. This was very unusual from our latest tours. About this time our guide informed us that we would not be seeing the Golden Buddha. Great! I was looking forward to seeing 5 ½ tons of solid gold in the shape of one of the world’s largest statues of the Buddha. She explained that a new temple was being built for it on the same site. A quick drive-by of this location and we could see it was almost finished. Driving through the Chinatown district we see at least a million flowers for sale. The sidewalks are crammed with umbrellas - underneath are small tables covered with flowers.
Wat Pra Keo - known as the Royal Chapel of the Emerald Buddha, this is one of Buddhism’s most magnificent monasteries and one of the most celebrated sites in all Thailand. Although it was about 95 degrees and 95% humidity it was being celebrated in abundance today. This is one of those places you have to see to believe. At the heart of the monastery is a chapel containing a Buddha carved from a single piece of emerald-green jasper, perched atop a gilded pedestal. To enter the chapel - no shorts - legs covered to within 5 inches of the ground ( they supplied tie-on skirts and shawls for those who were not covered enough ) - no hat - shoulders covered - and shoes removed. No pictures in the chapel. We could take pictures through a doorway from outside the entrance. I didn’t know if I would like digital cameras at first but after a few years using different ones they are great. I can set mine to an ISO of 3200, which I did and got a fairly good shot of Buddha and then entered the chapel. Next was the Grand Palace - we could not enter the palace. The king does not live here anymore but it is used for royal ceremonies and state occasions. The Wat and palace take up about a 2 city block area and armed guards are posted throughout. It is very difficult to describe this place in text. We spent about 2 hours here and just skimmed the surface.
From there a short walk down the street and through a market to the river where we boarded a boat for our river cruise. Our boat was about 8 feet wide and 30 feet long - inboard engine. Some of the other boats on the river looked familiar - our guide said they were called the James Bond boats. One of the Bond movies was filmed here. These boats are about 20 feet long and narrow. What makes them different is the way they are steered and propelled. The engine, which most of the ones I saw were 4 cylinder turbocharged gas fueled, is mounted on a pivot near the stern above the hull. A long pipe is mounted forward that the driver holds for steering and throttle then behind the engine is a long shaft that terminates at the prop. Very fast - I had to shield my camera as we were splashed a couple of times. Heading south on the river we slowed and turned around at Wat Arun. Our guide gave us another history lesson - we took pictures and then we head north. Bangkok is hailed as the “Venice of the East” so up river about a ½ mile we turn into one of the canals. Our guide and her assistant start passing out pieces of bread and stating that it is not for us, although it smells very good and I getting hungry as it is about 1 o’clock now. Soon she says we are going to feed the catfish, but we can not feed them in front of the temple that is now on our left. As soon as we pass the temple she says “Now” and we all tear our bread into bits and through them in the water. The catfish are hungry - in about two seconds they are swarming on the bread. Turning around we head back to the river and continue north to the dock of the hotel where we have lunch.
Back on the bus we are heading for our last stop - the dreaded shopping, at least in my opinion. We pull into a parking lot that is gated and guarded and about the size of half a basketball court. There are marked places for about 30 cars - all full and in the middle 5 places for busses - all full. Pulling up to the door we exit the bus and are warmly greeted at the door which next to it is a uniformed guard with an AK-47. Inside we are individually assigned a personal shopping assistant. First I am led through the jewelry making factory of about 40 workers. On to the store. I’d guess about 15,000 sq. ft. it could easily be more. Sue always says “Diamonds and Gold” - that’s what I tell my personal assistant. Diamond aren’t big in Thailand so this department was small but that means not many choices. Couldn’t find anything that I thought she might like but out of curiosity I pointed to a piece I estimated at 3 to 4 hundred dollars. How much? For the forth time he tells me how cheap the labor is in Thailand and announces 2 thousand something. NO! Again he says labor is cheap while I look around to see at least 100 employees in this store and recall about 30 in the parking lot trying to keep traffic flowing ( most busses had to leave to be called back by guides when needed ). I thank him and ask “where is the exit”. He points. Now I am entering the cheap area - T-shirts trinkets etc.- evidently I was not the only one that did not care for the prices in the big store - I could not even see the floor. It took me 5 minutes to go 30 feet it was so crowded. I spent about 30 minutes outside till the rest of the group was finished shopping then the bus was called. Traveling a different route we arrived back at the port in about 2 hours. Overall a good day - some of it could be eliminated, but for $100 I didn’t expect it to be perfect.
Arriving in Bangkok the traffic is horrendous - 11,000,000 people. As usual our driver handles it with ease only this time I noticed and our guide pointed out no horns honking. I don’t recall hearing 1 horn for the entire 8 hour tour. This was very unusual from our latest tours. About this time our guide informed us that we would not be seeing the Golden Buddha. Great! I was looking forward to seeing 5 ½ tons of solid gold in the shape of one of the world’s largest statues of the Buddha. She explained that a new temple was being built for it on the same site. A quick drive-by of this location and we could see it was almost finished. Driving through the Chinatown district we see at least a million flowers for sale. The sidewalks are crammed with umbrellas - underneath are small tables covered with flowers.
Wat Pra Keo - known as the Royal Chapel of the Emerald Buddha, this is one of Buddhism’s most magnificent monasteries and one of the most celebrated sites in all Thailand. Although it was about 95 degrees and 95% humidity it was being celebrated in abundance today. This is one of those places you have to see to believe. At the heart of the monastery is a chapel containing a Buddha carved from a single piece of emerald-green jasper, perched atop a gilded pedestal. To enter the chapel - no shorts - legs covered to within 5 inches of the ground ( they supplied tie-on skirts and shawls for those who were not covered enough ) - no hat - shoulders covered - and shoes removed. No pictures in the chapel. We could take pictures through a doorway from outside the entrance. I didn’t know if I would like digital cameras at first but after a few years using different ones they are great. I can set mine to an ISO of 3200, which I did and got a fairly good shot of Buddha and then entered the chapel. Next was the Grand Palace - we could not enter the palace. The king does not live here anymore but it is used for royal ceremonies and state occasions. The Wat and palace take up about a 2 city block area and armed guards are posted throughout. It is very difficult to describe this place in text. We spent about 2 hours here and just skimmed the surface.From there a short walk down the street and through a market to the river where we boarded a boat for our river cruise. Our boat was about 8 feet wide and 30 feet long - inboard engine. Some of the other boats on the river looked familiar - our guide said they were called the James Bond boats. One of the Bond movies was filmed here. These boats are about 20 feet long and narrow. What makes them different is the way they are steered and propelled. The engine, which most of the ones I saw were 4 cylinder turbocharged gas fueled, is mounted on a pivot near the stern above the hull. A long pipe is mounted forward that the driver holds for steering and throttle then behind the engine is a long shaft that terminates at the prop. Very fast - I had to shield my camera as we were splashed a couple of times. Heading south on the river we slowed and turned around at Wat Arun. Our guide gave us another history lesson - we took pictures and then we head north. Bangkok is hailed as the “Venice of the East” so up river about a ½ mile we turn into one of the canals. Our guide and her assistant start passing out pieces of bread and stating that it is not for us, although it smells very good and I getting hungry as it is about 1 o’clock now. Soon she says we are going to feed the catfish, but we can not feed them in front of the temple that is now on our left. As soon as we pass the temple she says “Now” and we all tear our bread into bits and through them in the water. The catfish are hungry - in about two seconds they are swarming on the bread. Turning around we head back to the river and continue north to the dock of the hotel where we have lunch.
Back on the bus we are heading for our last stop - the dreaded shopping, at least in my opinion. We pull into a parking lot that is gated and guarded and about the size of half a basketball court. There are marked places for about 30 cars - all full and in the middle 5 places for busses - all full. Pulling up to the door we exit the bus and are warmly greeted at the door which next to it is a uniformed guard with an AK-47. Inside we are individually assigned a personal shopping assistant. First I am led through the jewelry making factory of about 40 workers. On to the store. I’d guess about 15,000 sq. ft. it could easily be more. Sue always says “Diamonds and Gold” - that’s what I tell my personal assistant. Diamond aren’t big in Thailand so this department was small but that means not many choices. Couldn’t find anything that I thought she might like but out of curiosity I pointed to a piece I estimated at 3 to 4 hundred dollars. How much? For the forth time he tells me how cheap the labor is in Thailand and announces 2 thousand something. NO! Again he says labor is cheap while I look around to see at least 100 employees in this store and recall about 30 in the parking lot trying to keep traffic flowing ( most busses had to leave to be called back by guides when needed ). I thank him and ask “where is the exit”. He points. Now I am entering the cheap area - T-shirts trinkets etc.- evidently I was not the only one that did not care for the prices in the big store - I could not even see the floor. It took me 5 minutes to go 30 feet it was so crowded. I spent about 30 minutes outside till the rest of the group was finished shopping then the bus was called. Traveling a different route we arrived back at the port in about 2 hours. Overall a good day - some of it could be eliminated, but for $100 I didn’t expect it to be perfect.
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