The volcano eruptions on Sumatra finally settled down enough for our flight to take off from Bali to Bangkok. We had an amazing Thai adventure of canal tours, temples, markets, elephant riding, flying gibbons, and seeing friends.
After a long ride from the airport to our hotel, we finally checked in to our suite with an amazing view of the Chao Phraya River at the Royal Orchid Sheraton.
We loved the convenience as well as the beautiful view of the river, tasty food, and evening entertainment at the hotel restaurant, Thara Thong, that we ate there a couple of nights.
Our first full day in Bangkok, Jenny, our guide from Tong Tong tours took us on a guided private tour of some Bangkok sites. Our first stop was at the flower market, where we all learned how to fold lotus flowers.
After buying some lotus flowers as offerings at the Temples, we smushed into a tuk tuk, for a ride to the Grand Palace and The Royal Temple of The Emerald Buddha.
The Palace was gilded, shiny, sparkly, and colorful! The Royal Palace was built in 1782, by Rama I, as his residence and office, when he moved the capital of Thailand to Bangkok (from Thonburi). The king and his court was based at the Royal Palace until 1925. The Grand Palace is made up of numerous halls, pavilions, lawns, gardens, and courtyards. It feels a bit like walking around a shiny heaven. It’s so peaceful relative to the bustles outside the white walls.
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Just south of the Grand Palace, to Wat Pho, The Temple of the Reclining Buddha – the largest reclining Buddha in the world! It is 46 meters long and 15 meters high!
The kids loved getting the bucket of coins to make offerings at the Temple.
In an interesting twist, Wat Pho is also the home of Thai Massage. This is a Hindu phallus that was used to pray for fertility.
Wat Pho was founded in the 1500’s and expanded by Rama I in 1789. It is believed that Rama’s ashes are hidden in the base of a bronze Buddha in this Temple.
Asher particularly liked the Marco Polo statue!
And of course, no trip to Bangkok would be complete for Ben without a trip to the Snake Farm at the Bangkok Red Cross Institute.
Our next day, we went for a private Canal Tour of Bangkok with Pandan Tours.
After taking a taxi to the train, we met our tour guide and hopped into our wooden boat for an interesting ride down the polluted canals of Bangkok.
Our first stop was at the Watsai markets to sample some street food and some fun and exotic fruits, like rambutans and Durian.
Then, we hopped back into our boat to see some Wats. Our next stop was Wat Absornsawan, which was a more traditional wat, right next door to Wat Paknam Bhasicharoen, which felt like a modern white lego space building.
On our way to our next adventure, we had an unexpected treat, when a man in a cowboy hat came putting up to us in his wooden ice cream boat! Forget the ice cream truck, this is the way to go – where the ice cream comes to you in a boat!
We saw some interesting wildlife on our way to the Orchid farm.
Then we went for our last stop at the Klongbangluang Community for some lunch and fish feeding on the river, before we had to take the big ferry back to our hotel.
