Venice of the East

Our morning started very early today with a 6.50 departure on a traditional Thai long-tail boat. We first spent about an hour exploring the many canals that weave their way through the city and gave Bangkok the title of "Venice of the East", although the water is much dirtier and the way people live along these canals is a lot simpler than in Italy. From the canals you have a very good view into the Thai homes there...people in bare rustic homes preparing something in their kitchen, nursing a child or playing with a dog. It was a very unique view, away from what you'd typically see as a tourist. 

After the canals, the boat took us to two important and huge Buddhist temples in the city. The largest and most famous Buddhist temple here in Thailand is the Grand Palace, which houses the Emerald Buddha, an ancient statue carved out of a block of jade that is the palladium of the city of Bangkok, the sacred thing that keeps the city safe. It was nice to see all this, but there were so many fellow visitors around us plus the temperature was around 95 degrees and our visit was a bit of people and temple overdose.

We then took the boat to the Royal Barge Museum. The museum houses the gold-covered long tail boats that the royal family here uses on the Chao Phraya river for special ceremonies. Incredible boats..120 feet long all carved and gold plated...

After that, we continued our to in an air-conditioned van (thank god) and we were driven to a huge jewelry market where an army of pushy salespeople tried to talk us into buying expensive gifts. We left as quickly as we could...ran back to the Oriental Hotel and indulged in a 90-minute Ayurvedic massage-the highlight of our day so far.

Tomorrow...driving driving driving...out of Thailand, into Cambodia. Let's hope they cleared all the landmines. Take care!