I think we have been to all of the major sites in Bangkok, but each time we come, we revisit at least one of them (because they are pretty incredible). Nowadays, we aren't skint backpackers and could afford to hire a driver to take us places, but we still do these things the old way - as much as possible on public transport. We took the BTS to Saphan and walked to the river boat station at Sathorn. Strangely, we ran into one of David's old students from Japan! We then boarded a boat up the Chao Phraya river to Thewet. We had lunch on a scruffy deck overlooking the river. It was a sleepy Sunday afternoon in that part of town - and boiling hot (between rain showers). Vimanmek Palace didn't look too far to walk on the map and we could go via the flower market. The flower market was awesome - like a roadside garden centre really. I would love to have bought some orchids. It seemed a very long walk in the heat... and after an altercation with a chancer of a tuktuk driver, we briefly visited
Wat Benchamabophit, walked past the Dustit Throne Hall and eventually in the rain to the strange but beautiful Vimanmek Palace. The palace was built in 1900, is made of teak, and contains no nails. Inside are 72 rooms decorated in European style. We visitors could only view a few of them and we couldn't actually go into any rooms. Although this is a beautiful palace, the museum is a bit of a pain for visitors actually. We weren't allowed to wear shoes so we had to queue up in the rain and leave shoes in a smelly show room. We then had to got to another room to lock up our phones and cameras. We were then scanned and searched on the way in. As we walked around the palace, we were wedged between hideous loud and uncouth mainland Chinese tour groups. They behaved so poorly and, honestly, should not be allowed to travel.
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| River boat |
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| Dusit Throne Hall |
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| You aren't allowed to show your knees in the palace so David had to buy a sarong |
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