Thailand - Bangkok

Canals - Bangkok

Bangkok - what can one say? It's a city that everybody should visit at least once.
It's a blend of old and new, strange smells, street food vendors, traffic and extreme heat!

Siamotif Hotel on a Bangkok Canal!

Our first adventure (if one can call it that) was a trip into from the river into the canals.
Some of the houses were very basic, others quite posh but all built in water. This was an interesting trip for us given that we have explored the "backwaters" in Alleppy, India. Those backwaters in India were truly alive and totally fascinating - there seemed to be more life around than in Bangkok but perhaps folk were all out at work. There are many tourist boats around so it's a popular spot to visit.

Electrical Wires everywhere!

Next up was a city tour - the city is a mixture of old and new with very ornate government buildings & temples plus old city grime. Scooters and tuk-tuks are everywhere, as is usual in the East, yellow T-Shirts were very much in evidence in support of the new king. Street sweepers are very much in evidence so the streets are clean yet look mucky due to the old pavements. Chinatown drove me out very fast due to horrid biting flies! Never experienced that anywhere else thank goodness.

Bangkok

At the traffic lights near our hotel there was a sign " Beware of Snatch Thief" aimed at scooter passengers. We clung to our camera's but all was OK, thank goodness. I just loved the scooter guys laden with boxes, doing deliveries.

While having our supper at a restaurant on the canal below our hotel, we saw a young lady selling fish food. I don't think I would like to eat fish caught there as the smell of the water was rather off putting. This young lady left her young son to look after the stall while she took the baby home. While everybody appears to have some sort of basic income, poverty is real and sad here. Traditions are very evident in Thailand and we watched a chap praying at the bridge before scattering his fish food purchase to the fish. Rather special to watch.

Chao Praya River Bangkok

The Chao Praya River is very much part of the city so we headed off on foot to catch a boat ride to see the sights from the river. Passing through the grounds of Thammasat University where students were about their studies, we spotted their slogan - "Where we learn to love the people" That's different!

It's a lovely ride on the river offering views of temples, modern buildings, fancy hotels and the back of China Town. Unfortunately, the ticket office gave us incorrect information which led to an argument and extremely aggressive behaviour from the Thai staff. It was very unpleasant and not in the spirit of "The Land of Smiles" As they also forced us to get off the boat on the other side of the river, we were stranded and had to catch a taxi who also ripped us off with a huge fare.

A rather sad ending to our stay in Bangkok so I can't say that I fell in love with the city...but an interesting sojourn nonetheless.

 

Street Sweepers are everywhere - Bangkok is clean in the most part.

Riding the Canals Bangkok

Transport - Bangkok!

Dejected in Bangkok!!

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