February 17, 2023
We docked at Laem Chaband, which is a industrial port about 60 miles from Bangkok. The bus ride into Bangkok was 2 ½ of crazy traffic but it provided a view of the countryside and the city. The thing that interested me was how all of their wires for electricity are still above ground. I wonder how they maintain electricity during their rainy season???? As we drove I wondered what all the young boys on R&R from Vietnam thought of this city.
Thailand was historically known as Siam. (Remember the movie Anna and the King of Siam?)
The Grand Palace is a complex of buildings in the heart of Bangkok that was used as the official residence of the Kings of Siam since 1782. The king, his court, and his royal government were based on the grounds of the palace until 1925. The Grand Palace is still used for official events, with several royal ceremonies and state functions are held within the walls of the palace every year.
The grounds of the palace are immense and very crowded. I wandered off from my group to take a picture and was in a bit of a panic when I couldn’t find them for a bit but I finally caught up with them…whew! The pictures do not come close to showing the elegance of the building. It is really hard to get pictures when there are so many people and you have less than an hour to experience it.
Our next adventure of the day was at the Wat Traimit temple. This temple has a 6.1 ton gold Buddha statue worth 40 million dollars that was almost thrown away. When it was first found it was completely covered in plaster and they brought in a crane to take it away. The crane wasn’t big enough so it got left outside overnight and it rained. The next morning the monks walking by noticed something shinning and the discovered it was solid gold.
We did lots of driving around the city so most of the city pictures are taken from a bus window, not my favorite way to show you the city but with the traffic we were not able to stop.
Interesting that the King who is 70 has pictures of him everywhere in his 30’s along with current pictures of his 4th wife who is in her 40’s.
Bangkok is a mix of the old and new. The old poor parts of the city still exist while they are trying to build a new modern city with all the challenges.
We headed back to the ship as the sun was setting…another long day of exploring!!!
