On our trip to Eire in December 2014, we stopped over in Bangkok for a couple of nights. This gave us one full day in Bangkok, and there is so much to see and to do. Our hotel was very nice, old traditional “Shanhai Maison” in Chinatown – very central and close to everything we wanted to visit. The atmosphere in the hallways was quite lovely, not to mention the salubrious 4 poster bed
We chose to explore the Royal Palace and associated temple. To get there we used the river ferries – better than taxis and super fast. If we had more time we would have hired one of the little personal boats to explore the canals in the old part of Bangkok.
At the grand palace, a retired school teacher offered a guiding service and we were glad of his running commentary on the walk through – so many stories – the one that sticks the most is that Siam changed its name to Thailand because Thailand means FreeLand – never been subject to foreign rule. Amazing.
Then we explored the temple of the reclining Bhudda and around the temple grounds.
We followed that up with a walk along the banks of the rivers and there was one of the little barges we could hire. We then walked through the streets and into Chinatown market – wall to wall people.
And we finished our day off with a meal at the Baiyoke Sky Tower Restaurant 82 stories above ground level – after going to the 84th level to experience the outside view.
Kceeimages 