CHINA

CHINA
Starting this trip with some sightseeing in Bangkok. Gave myself a couple of quiet days to adjust to time zone and plan days ahead with guide Mint. Thailand is normally 7 hours ahead but for some reason they do not have BST here so currently only 6 hours ahead.

First evening I am taken to a Lao restaurant by Mint with 2 friends, Dee and Li. A live band and dancers plus good food make this a very pleasant start to my holiday.
Second evening we go to the Bangkok House of Rock. A brilliant 7 piece band belts out Beatles to Pink while I eat fried chicken and chips (yes chips, sorry). I really like this music but I think Mint finds it a bit loud.

First tour day starts with 5 hours in National Museum. Could have spent considerably more time here there is so much to see. One building charts the history of Thailand with its kings and wars, all very well presented in Thai and English. The main building is an old palace comprising a maze of rooms, each dedicated to a class of exhibits. The ivory room has many beautifully carved tusks, some huge, very sad for the elephants of course but a striking art form nonetheless.
Another building, like a large barn, contains chariots used by kings and royalty for carrying urns containing the ashes of cremated royalty through the city in funeral processions. Two of the chariots are an incredible size, multi-tiered in pyramid shape with big wheels and reaching up to the very high ceiling, they are 15 metres long and over 11 m high. Very impressive structures.

Next on to Wat Pho, a giant Buddha lying down on his side, covered in gold he must be 50 m long and 10 m high at the head. It chucks it down with rain while we are in here creating a moat all around temple, have to wait for rain to stop then take shoes off and roll up trousers to paddle back to street.

A very late lunch is in a roadside establishment, basically a tarp over scaffolding frame with a lady cooking in a sort of trolley. I have rice, chicken and other stuff in a bowl, it is very hot and tasty. It is raining again while we are in here, they are poking the roof to dislodge water collecting in it.

Now we take ferry across the main river through Bangkok to see another temple and take silly photos where you put your face through a hole in the back of a figure with colourful costume painted on the front.

Back on the ferry to visit a Buddhist shrine, buying flowers with candles and incense sticks for offering to Buddha and making wishes.

Now we are walking for a mile or so and get caught in prolonged heavy rain. We are very wet when we reach canal ferry 'bus stop'. The ferry boat is like our canal barges about the same size and dimensions but with a big motor. What a trip this is - pouring with rain in a fast barge packed with about 100 commuters going home, rocking and rolling as we pass others going the opposite way in these narrow canals, around corners and under bridges, stopping at 'stations' where some passengers leap out but ever more squeeze in, it's a miracle no-one falls into the water. I get glimpses of shack-like homes along the edges of the canals with muli-storey blocks towering above them, but can't see much due to canvas side sheets hauled up by the nearest passenger to try to keep the rain out. Incredibly there is a Muslim lady in her pure white robes with Thai men doing their best to keep her and the rest of us moderately dry (although we are already soaked). A memorable experience that I would like to repeat on a dry day when I would see more.

This evening I am taken to a real Thai restaurant. A large scaffolding structure with sheeting keeps most of the rain out (yes it is raining again). Mints cousin Mam works here, she runs up and is obviously delighted to see us. A single performer with a guitar on a very dodgy looking stage is singing Thai songs. The food is superb. I especially enjoy the soup with seaweed and all sorts of stuff in it. Delicious.

Tonight I sleep like a baby.
All the Best to you all,
John