* Pictures noted are bottom to top
The flight to Bangkok was uneventful and very easy. Again, we couldn't stop commenting on just how large the Bangkok Airport was - the walkways seem to go on forever! (picture 1)
We arrived at our apartment hotel in the late afternoon. Our room/suite was on the 26th floor, beautifully appointed with full kitchen, modern bathroom, open living/dining/work area, and separate master bedroom overlooking the Bangkok skyline - just spectacular (picture 2).
Unfortunately Richard was finishing up a cold and Susan was getting one, so we decided to enjoy in-room delivery from the hotel restaurant, relaxed and opened a bottle of wine while we watched the twinkling city lights from our comfortable room.
Next day started leisurely enough with a taxi ride to the Grand Palace (picture 3) where we were approached by one of the many tuk tuk managers to inform us that the Palace was closed due to worship by the Royal Family until 2 pm (it was barely 11 am). He also informed us Susan would need to 'borrow' (for no charge) a shirt from the temple since she was wearing a sleeveless dress. He then took our map and circled a few places that his tuk tuk driver would take us for a set fee. The quoted price seemed reasonable and since we had time to kill, we reluctantly agreed (picture 4).
So away we went in heavy vehicular traffic to our first stop, the Golden Mountain. At this site we entered a peaceful white temple where we saw a large standing gold Buddha (picture 5). While gawking at it, a nice man next to us explained the background of the statue and how it was more than 700 years old. Since he seemed very knowledgeable and spoke wonderful English we asked him about the validity of the other stops proposed by the tuk tuk manager. He strongly agreed these were very good sites to see. He then introduced himself (and even had his passport as proof) as one of the Deputies of the Foreign Ministers for Thailand. He was visiting some of the major sites to gather ideas for an upcoming speech he was to make when he introduced the new Thailand Ambassador to the US in Washington, DC. He went on to stress the importance of the day in terms of our scheduled stop at the gem factory since the duty taxes were lifted and savings would be at their peak. He encouraged us to take advantage and purchase a royal blue sapphire which according to Buddhist belief brings good fortune not only to the recipient, but also the giver of the gift (story was also loosely depicted in the movie 'Titanic').
After thanking him for his time we proceeded to Wat Intharawihan where we saw the largest standing gold Buddha imaginable (picture 6). After walking around this monastery we went to the most 'dangerous' stop on our route - the gem store. What an amazing place! So many gems and beautiful pieces of jewelry. With the wonderful help of Kaleena we learned about many of the Thai-based gemstones and picked out a ring with a beautiful, deep royal blue sapphire, per the Foreign Minister's suggestion of good luck....and of course good price.
We returned into the heat to our waiting tuk tuk and proceeded to our last stop - the reclining Buddha at Wat Pho (pictures 7, 8). Not only was this Buddha all in gold, except the bottom of his feet which had designs of inlaid mother of pearl, but he was more than 200 feet long! Again, just amazing.
After finding our shoes outside the temple, the tuk tuk took us back to where we started in the morning - the 'mother of all temples' - the Grand Palace. After Susan borrowed a shirt, we walked in the 90+ degree heat through the buildings of the Grand Palace. The statues and buildings painted in gold leaf decorated with hand glazed ceramic tiles, gold, mirrored mosaic pieces and sparking gem-like stones were just blinding and breathtaking (pictures 9, 10). Pictures just can't replicate the opulence or magnitude of the beauty that surrounded us. Along our walk we stopped into the Royal Monastery on site - home to the Jade Buddha (picture 11). As we sat on the cool marble floor we were spellbound as we stared at the beautiful Buddha and the glowing gold, mirrors, gems around us.
Reluctantly we left the cool floor of the temple and returned to the heat to finish viewing the rest of the palace grounds including the mansion (picture 12), murals (picture 13), and subsidiary buildings (picture 14). Since it was the end of the day and we were beyond hot, we returned the borrowed shirt and found an air-conditioned taxi to return us to the sanctuary of our cool hotel room where we showered, relaxed and enjoyed a quiet night.
Next day we were off to discover the world along the klongs (canals) of the Chao Phraya River (picture 15). After the 1 hour ride on a long-tailed boat we got a taxi to take us to the famous Jim Thompson House.
This was a beautiful place built in teak, created out of original Thai buildings brought on site by Jim Thompson, a former American, architect and CIA operative (mysteriously disappeared in 1967) who developed this house and the Thai silk industry in the 1940-50's (picture 16). Very peaceful place with amazing artwork. On site, we enjoyed a light lunch of soft shell crab in chili lime sauce and some fruit smoothies, then took the convenient skyway (picture 17) back to the hotel.
Since it was very hot and late afternoon, we changed into our swimsuits and enjoyed a relaxing swim in the hotel's eternity pool overlooking the city (picture 18). We had a light dinner and returned to our room to pack for our early flight to Hong Kong the next morning.
We arrived at our apartment hotel in the late afternoon. Our room/suite was on the 26th floor, beautifully appointed with full kitchen, modern bathroom, open living/dining/work area, and separate master bedroom overlooking the Bangkok skyline - just spectacular (picture 2).
Unfortunately Richard was finishing up a cold and Susan was getting one, so we decided to enjoy in-room delivery from the hotel restaurant, relaxed and opened a bottle of wine while we watched the twinkling city lights from our comfortable room.
Next day started leisurely enough with a taxi ride to the Grand Palace (picture 3) where we were approached by one of the many tuk tuk managers to inform us that the Palace was closed due to worship by the Royal Family until 2 pm (it was barely 11 am). He also informed us Susan would need to 'borrow' (for no charge) a shirt from the temple since she was wearing a sleeveless dress. He then took our map and circled a few places that his tuk tuk driver would take us for a set fee. The quoted price seemed reasonable and since we had time to kill, we reluctantly agreed (picture 4).
So away we went in heavy vehicular traffic to our first stop, the Golden Mountain. At this site we entered a peaceful white temple where we saw a large standing gold Buddha (picture 5). While gawking at it, a nice man next to us explained the background of the statue and how it was more than 700 years old. Since he seemed very knowledgeable and spoke wonderful English we asked him about the validity of the other stops proposed by the tuk tuk manager. He strongly agreed these were very good sites to see. He then introduced himself (and even had his passport as proof) as one of the Deputies of the Foreign Ministers for Thailand. He was visiting some of the major sites to gather ideas for an upcoming speech he was to make when he introduced the new Thailand Ambassador to the US in Washington, DC. He went on to stress the importance of the day in terms of our scheduled stop at the gem factory since the duty taxes were lifted and savings would be at their peak. He encouraged us to take advantage and purchase a royal blue sapphire which according to Buddhist belief brings good fortune not only to the recipient, but also the giver of the gift (story was also loosely depicted in the movie 'Titanic').
After thanking him for his time we proceeded to Wat Intharawihan where we saw the largest standing gold Buddha imaginable (picture 6). After walking around this monastery we went to the most 'dangerous' stop on our route - the gem store. What an amazing place! So many gems and beautiful pieces of jewelry. With the wonderful help of Kaleena we learned about many of the Thai-based gemstones and picked out a ring with a beautiful, deep royal blue sapphire, per the Foreign Minister's suggestion of good luck....and of course good price.
We returned into the heat to our waiting tuk tuk and proceeded to our last stop - the reclining Buddha at Wat Pho (pictures 7, 8). Not only was this Buddha all in gold, except the bottom of his feet which had designs of inlaid mother of pearl, but he was more than 200 feet long! Again, just amazing.
After finding our shoes outside the temple, the tuk tuk took us back to where we started in the morning - the 'mother of all temples' - the Grand Palace. After Susan borrowed a shirt, we walked in the 90+ degree heat through the buildings of the Grand Palace. The statues and buildings painted in gold leaf decorated with hand glazed ceramic tiles, gold, mirrored mosaic pieces and sparking gem-like stones were just blinding and breathtaking (pictures 9, 10). Pictures just can't replicate the opulence or magnitude of the beauty that surrounded us. Along our walk we stopped into the Royal Monastery on site - home to the Jade Buddha (picture 11). As we sat on the cool marble floor we were spellbound as we stared at the beautiful Buddha and the glowing gold, mirrors, gems around us.
Reluctantly we left the cool floor of the temple and returned to the heat to finish viewing the rest of the palace grounds including the mansion (picture 12), murals (picture 13), and subsidiary buildings (picture 14). Since it was the end of the day and we were beyond hot, we returned the borrowed shirt and found an air-conditioned taxi to return us to the sanctuary of our cool hotel room where we showered, relaxed and enjoyed a quiet night.
Next day we were off to discover the world along the klongs (canals) of the Chao Phraya River (picture 15). After the 1 hour ride on a long-tailed boat we got a taxi to take us to the famous Jim Thompson House.
This was a beautiful place built in teak, created out of original Thai buildings brought on site by Jim Thompson, a former American, architect and CIA operative (mysteriously disappeared in 1967) who developed this house and the Thai silk industry in the 1940-50's (picture 16). Very peaceful place with amazing artwork. On site, we enjoyed a light lunch of soft shell crab in chili lime sauce and some fruit smoothies, then took the convenient skyway (picture 17) back to the hotel.
Since it was very hot and late afternoon, we changed into our swimsuits and enjoyed a relaxing swim in the hotel's eternity pool overlooking the city (picture 18). We had a light dinner and returned to our room to pack for our early flight to Hong Kong the next morning.
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