Cambodia & Thailand Day 7
Cambodia & Thailand
DAY 7 - December 2, 2003 - Bangkok
Our biological clocks are still a little off. We both were up before 6 AM, long before the alarm. We showered and went down for breakfast.
We had an early start at breakfast and sat with David and Sharon from Atlanta. Sharon is a retired 8th grade science teacher and David was a professor biology and physics at Georgia Tech. It was very interesting to compare our experiences in education and find out how similar they were.
After breakfast I downloaded the flash media for both Jim and Bob and charged some batteries for David who fried his recharge yesterday. We went down to the lobby to get on the bus and waited until Anya got a call from the driver.
He told her that he had just been in an accident with a taxi cab and was going to be delayed. So Anya modified our plans for the day and we walked a short distance to the city’s mass transit system, called the Sky Train and rode the train to the river port.
We boarded a long boat for a tour of the city along the tidal Chau Phray River. Along the river banks we saw hotels, restaurants, temples, gas stations for the boats, and many poor homes all intermingled.
There is no zoning laws in Bangkok. On the river there were taxis, barges, large ferries, tour boats like ours, long tailed speed boats as well as small fishing boats. We traveled past Chinatown and saw huge condominiums, Chinese temples and the large flower market we visited yesterday.
We got off the boat Wat Arun or the Temple of Dawn. The prang (large tower) is of Cambodian style, looking like an ear of corn. This temple is primarily decorated with pieces of broken pottery and china in many shapes and designs but they are usually flowers and geometric figures.
After going through another gauntlet of souvenir shops we got back on our boat and traveled on some of the narrower canals (klongs) through residential districts. Most of the houses are very poor and small but are decorated with potted plants for herbs and fresh vegetables.
We also saw larger and more affluent areas with homes made of teak wood which is highly polished and very well cared for. Their gardens and lawn statues are very impressive. Each of these houses has their own dock and small sampan which is a canoe like boat for local transportation.
The James Bond 007 movie, The Man with the Golden Gun was partially filmed in Thailand and the long tailed boat scene was shot right here on the canal (klongs) we traveled today.
We made a short stop at a canal side Buddhist temple bakery where Anya bought five loaves of fresh bread, a little for us, and a lot for the catfish in the canal. The catfish are protected by the monks of the temple so we could feed them bread but the locals cannot catch them and they grow to be huge.
Our next stop was at a local home where we had a traditional Thai cooking demonstration. Nancy and I volunteered to crush and mix the spices with a mortar and pestle and Bob fried the chicken, Thai sauce mixture, and green beans in a wok over an open flame.
Then our hosts cooked pork with various flavorings. He also cooked loofa, long green squash, with fried scrambled eggs. After eating our tasty Thai cuisine we got back onto our boat following the canal back to the main river where we stopped at the royal barge museum.
This huge warehouse is home to more than 50 ostentatious barges that were built beginning in 1438 by various kings of the Siamese and Thai kingdoms. Many of them have been refurbished in 1981.
They are now used for special occasions, outings, and water processions. From the museum, we were taken back to the city center by boat where we met the bus that took us back to the hotel in the mid-day traffic jams.
Once back at the hotel, I attempted to download Gennie’s pictures and somehow bent one of the pins and ruined all the pictures we had taken today. I am really doing well on this trip.
As Gennie folded our clothes that had been washed yesterday by the hotel, I ran across the way and bought another card reader for my computer. Fortunately, I was able to find a good one - 7 in 1 - for less than $30. My card had lost all the pictures so I went looking for friend to download theirs.
We all went out to dinner at COCA, a place that served Japanese food with Chinese items in Thai sauces. We cook our own food in boiling water right on the table. Interesting, but good.
We were going to go see the city lights, but it was already 9 PM and we had to use the internet to send this message and track the camera. So we decided to forgo the lights and go to the Emporium.
Accommodations: Imperial Impala Hotel
If you wish to travel with OAT Click Here.
To receive $50 per person off your first reservation with OAT, mention the following information when reserving your Overseas Adventure Travel Trip: Mr. Victor Garcia Customer #673062
Comments
Featured Journal
Day 13: Azores & Madeira: Portugal's Unspoiled Archipelagos
Day 13 - Saturday, April 22, 2022 - Depart for U.S.
The hotel prepared a box breakfast for us as we had to be in the lobby way before the breakfast room was open.
Last night we found out that our departure flight back to...
