We docked in Laem Chabang, which is a port 2 hours drive from Bangkok. Our ship is two large to go down the river to Bangkok so we have to dock in the container port. Smaller ships can dock in Bangkok which would have been much more convenient.
Anyways, two hour drive on the left side of the road, and the traffic is crazy with many toll gates to slow you down. Bangkok is a city of 12 million people with, as they claim, 2% unemployment. The country is 95% Buddhist and the preponderance of temples is ample evidence. Muslims make up the difference with less than 1% Christian. Thailand (former Siam) is a major manufacturer of cars, Toyota, Chevrolet, etc. and at the port there are huge outdoor parking lots with vehicles awaiting export. Many people use the motorcycle or moped as the mode of transportation as they navigate traffic between the rows of traffic as much faster. Farming is also, very big, with rice, of course, being the largest crop and a big export item.
We saw several temples with sitting, laying, standing and walking Buddhas. The ornate ness of these temples is over the top, gold, diamonds, and gems everywhere. We saw one sitting Buddha, who at 5500 kg solid gold calculates out to $250 million. In all cases, the monks look after the temples and can start to be a monk apprentice at 7 years old. The parents, in that case would bring the boy to the local temple to dedicate him as a monk and he would be looked after and cared for. The kings built many of these temples to be their tombs. More opulence was evident at the Royal Palace which is a huge complex of buildings and courtyards with gold Buddhas everywhere. There were several thousand people here, lots of rude Chinese, and the entrance fee brings in a few million dollars every day.
The country is ruled by a king. The current king is Rama 10, who in the last year took over for his deceased father, Rama 9. The governing body of the country tho, is a military dictator. The king is much revered but not sure of the dictator although, the people seem very content in every day life.
This Guy was thrilled to pose with the girls.
We ate lunch at a restaurant by the river with local Thai dishes chosen by the tour guide and the food was excellent with a few very spicy. Thai beer was also very good and reasonable.
The highlight of this day was the boat ride down the huge matrix of channels in the city. The boat of choice is the Thai longboat that is narrow enough to navigate narrow channels and is powered by a Ford F-150 engine with a flywheel to a long shafted propeller. Noisy and good for calm waters and very quick. The drivers are skilled for sure and can seek out there wife on a sampan on a remote channel to sell you a beer, very cold, at that. We saw many monitor lizards, 6 to 8 feet long, people feeding catfish, naked boys swimming and affluent houses next to hovels falling apart, which is more the norm. The nicer houses have built sea walls to protect their land but the hovels have no land as the river has eroded the soil and the buildings are on rotting stilts. These people are very poor as their houses are worthless.
A long ride back to the ship in rush hour but it is hard to distinguish busy traffic times there. The 2nd busiest traffic city in the world, we are told, behind Mexico City.
Our second day was a shorter excursion to a coastal city named Pattaya with 300,000 people. The former fishing village is now a tourist and retirement area with the typical tourist activities of golf, zoos and botanical gardens. Our tour took us out to a winery and more Buddha’s.
We had lunch here and liked their wine, so bought a couple of bottles to take back to the ship. They would not let me take them on board but held the wine until the end of the cruise and we enjoyed it in Hong Kong
This 300 foot Buddha is lazored into the rock known as the Khao Cheejan Mountain.
We also stopped at a Chinese War Museum with all sorts of Chinese History and valuable statues and artifacts. The Thai Government donated the land to the Chinese so they like to boast and build something grand.
Terry and Catherine were off to a tiger zoo where they had close ups with tigers. They zoo claimed that the tigers were not drugged, probably were, but they had fun as long as you are not an animal activist. I think Terry only got yelled at once by a lady for the shirt he bought with a picture of them posing with their tiger .
Great job, great pics!