1/29/2007 ~ Bangkok: Chao Phraya River

On the Rio: Kenny Wayne Shepherd ~ I Don't Live Today

I came to Bangkok, Thailand, for a short holiday and to meet my Chinese 30 day visa requirement. I arrived on Sunday, took a walk around the neighborhood, enjoying the tropical weather of 88 degrees.

Bangkok is a city of approximately 10 million people. It is quite a "hip" town, lots of clubs, restaurants, bars, and several red light districts. Sort of an Asian Amsterdam.

Of course I tried the local, popular beer, Singha.

For my evening entertainment I went on a dinner cruise on the Chao Phraya River - River of Kings. While waiting to embark on my boat, I watched the scene along the river. This is a water taxi.

This is the dinner boat.

There were only enough people to sit on the top deck. The cruise was 2.5 hours, and we were served really delicious Thai food: stir fried rice with shrimp; spring rolls, green curry, a chicken satay, a seafood salad, a really spicy cucumber salad (almost too hot for me to eat), a pasta dish, lots of fruit, and ice cream.

We had some entertainment of traditional Thai dance.

My table neighbors were from Hungary. There were lots of eastern Europeans and Russians on the cruise. Everyone was dancing and having a good time.

We passed several attractions along the way. This is Wat Arun (Temple of Dawn). It consists of a massive elongated prang (Khmer-style tower), and is surrounded by four smaller prangs. The prang is described by the Tourism Authority of Thailand as 104m high. It is decorated by bits of porcelain which had previously been used as ballast by boats coming to Bangkok from China, a hallmark of the reign of King Rama III.

We also passed by the Grand Palace. There will be more on that later, but here is the dome at night.

A very good first day in Bangkok!