At one time Bangkok was known as the Venice of the Far East because of its many canals that spanned the city. Today many have been paved over as streets and there are only a few to show what must have been like in the past. We started the day by doing a canal tour via long tail boat. Those of you who are James Bond fans will remember the Roger Moore movie that was filmed in Bangkok with a great long tail boat chase scene. Our pace was a little more sedate but very interesting. We headed up the river from our hotel a few km’s to the entrance to a canal where we promptly had to wait with several other boats for a lock to drop us down to the canal. Bangkok just like Venice is slowly sinking into the sea. The canal trip started going through an area with poor residences on stilts above the canal. Here the people bath, cook, fish and perform assorted other functions in the same water we were traveling through. Along with the low rent district housing we came across many very opulent homes and several Wats. We also had a stop at a floating market which was a little old lady in a small boat loaded with tourist souvenirs and beer. Janie and Richard didn’t care that it was 10:00 AM and had a beer. Each driver seems to have a specific little old lady they work with and obviously gets a kickback on the sales.

The canal ride ended with another lock passage back into the river where the driver dropped us off at the Temple of Dawn (Wat Arun), a magnificent stone and mosaic structure with imposingly steep steps to climb to the top. I was here a number of years ago and climbed to the top and stretched my hamstrings so badly I could barely walk the next day. I opted to do some good old pre ride stretches and only climbed up half way. The end results were much better. After this tour we took a short ferry ride across the river to the dock where we would catch our fast tourist ferry back to our hotel.

The day was not yet over as we jumped on the Sky Train to the Jim Thompson House (No not the ex governor of Illinois). This Jim Thompson, a New York architect, revived a cottage silk industry in Thailand after WWII and disappeared on Holiday in the mountain highlands of Malaysia. This beautiful house was constructed by moving six traditional Thai houses to the site and connecting them. As beautiful as the house was, the Oriental art collection it housed was even more stunning. Amazingly all the art was out where we could view it close up. No sealed cases, glass protectors etc were in front of these priceless art objects.

After a short nap our last stop for the day was dinner at Cabbages and Condoms a famous Bangkok restaurant. The owner has created a fund promoting safe sex to help quell the aids epidemic in Thailand and the rampant population growth it is experiencing. All profits from the gift shop go toward the owners foundation. Aside from being a cause related restaurant this was probably the best meal we had in Bangkok.

Tomorrow we start riding and we can’t wait.

Link to today’s photos

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