Jan 27 Arrive Bangkok

Sailed up the Chao Phraya River to the center of Bangkok. Another example of small ship flexibility. We're docked at Khlong Toey. The trip up the river was beautiful and diverse. We saw tankers and tugboats, small fishing boats, naval ships (who knew Thailand had a navy?), river ferries and barges full of rice.

It's warm (high 80's) and muggy. It's also a little overcast or smoggy, we're not sure.
The stilt houses by the side of the river are built on cement filled 5 gallon pails stacked into pilings. It was suggested that if we get invited to a local stilt home we should take the life jacket from our stateroom.

There are temples everywhere on both sides of the river. Bob said he feels like he's back in Florida, "a church on every corner".

We all plan to take the shuttle bus to the center of Bangkok later and check it out. Tomorrow we have an early tour to the Grand Palace, former home of the King of Siam (King and I king), and the next day to the Floating Market.
So the trip to the center of Bangkok was hot and long. The traffic is incredible, it took 45 minutes to make a 30 minute trip, then it took 1 1/2 hours to return to the ship. From the dropoff point we walked through an outdoor market, mostly clothes and mostly for teens. we were in the shopping district, not really our thing but it's still amazing to think we're in Thailand. Back to the ship for an early night for an early tomorrow.