Time to explore our local
surrounds!!! We walked to the Sky Train through the back streets to Ratchadamri
station and bought our Rabbit cards.
These top-upable cards are far superior to Melbourne’s Myki cards with which
we have had endless problems! We alighted
at Sapham Taksin station next to the Chao Praya River where we bought an all
day ferry ticket (150 Baht each). The
ferries were crowded and safety standards at a minimum especially as they
whistled and bumped into the piers along the river with little regard to much
at all. The river traffic was varied as
were the buildings along the banks.
Constant contrast between swanky hotels and dilapidated dwellings.
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Chao Praya River, Bangkok
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| More river traffic |
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| Charming in so many ways. |
Our first stop was Pier 6
which led us to a flower market and many street stalls. We tried street food and the kids loved the
fried chicken whilst I loved the sticky rice in banana leaves and Karl stuck to
rambutans and chocolate milk! We braved
the traffic as we merged with a flower cart vendor and wandered around a small
temple courtyard. The glittering gold
and beautiful mosaics are astounding.
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| Rambutans |
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| Dragon Fruit |
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| ....and knives?! |
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| Magnificent Thai Orchids |
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| Gnawing on Fried Chicken,much better than KFC! |
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| These gorgeous flowers look like huge roses but are not!! |
We went back to the pier and
squeezed on to the next ferry and hopped off at Pier 9 and walked towards the
Grand Palace. The big kids needed to queue
for "appropriate covering" clothes as they were wearing shorts and by the time they had done all that, Karl decided it
was too late to go in…so back they went to hand in their clothes….grumble
grumble…indeed it was disappointing and hot and we were all tired. However, after walking around the perimeter
of the Palace we discovered Wat Pho, also known as the Temple of the Reclining
Buddha. We ventured in as we had a few hours until closing time. Free water was available on our
tickets which was a Godsend and revived us all.
So it was shoes off and guard your valuables to walk past the enormous Reclining Buddha with inlaid mother of pearl on the soles of its feet! The clinking noise we could hear was people
dropping coins into a row of copper dishes which had a musical effect!
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| What 7 year old can resist donging a gong? | |
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| Which way around do I upload the Reclining Buddha? |
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| Some most amazing ornate mosaics | |
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