Bangkok Day Four

Our last day of touring before heading home tomorrow. It's been an extraordinary trip. Suzie picked us up at 8 to take us to the Summer Palace. This is another property that the current queen decided to open to the public. This one was well worth seeing. It had many buildings in a huge area. It was all beautifully landscaped with ponds and fountains and lots of trees. There were also topiaries, which were fun.

The first building was the residence. I put my skirt on to enter. Suzie had to put a skirt on over her slacks because pants are not allowed on women. One of the customs that drove me crazy. The other was the bowing. When we entered the hotel lobby, everyone in the lobby bowed to us! Irritating. Anyway, the palace had a beautiful throne room as well as waiting rooms, all we were allowed to see. We next went to the Chinese building. It also had a throne room. In the back was a room for the concubines to wait to be summoned by the king. There was a back staircase for them to use, interesting custom. When we went out, I wanted to shop the few stands set up. Suzie bought some food from one of the vendors. She had us try a chili sauce, giving us each a little bit on the end of a stick. Now I love Tabasco, so hot doesn't bother me. This stuff was not only incredibly hot but tasted vile. Awful for a mid morning snack! She then bought some "tacos". They were small, thin pancakes that they put a marshmallow fluff type stuff on then yellow or orange strings of something. The yellow were sweet, the orange salty. I ate all the yellow ones then gave the orange ones to Suzie, awful. I've never really liked Thai food, the food in Thailand was no exception!!!

We next went to the ruins of a temple. It was quite large and interesting. The Kingdom of Siam was on our itinerary but Suzie explained that there are only low walls left at that ruins, these were more interesting. Probably right, but seeing Siam would have been interesting also. I was in The King and I as a kid, as were Kevin, Mel's son, and Brigitte when she was little. We'd seen pictures of the young prince in the wooden palace in Bangkok. Oh well, a ruin is a ruin! One very interesting thing at this particular location was a Buddha head that was encased by tree roots. They said it is rising about 2" yearly. Very cool looking.

Our next stop was another ruin. Some lady got in our face and took our pictures when we first got there, that was odd. By this time is was so hot and humid that I felt like I couldn't breathe. We were walking in the direct sun to see the place. It was interesting, another ruin. When we headed back to the van, the picture taking lady approached us with souvenir plates with our pictures on them! I had a look on my face like "why the heck are you talking my picture", Mel just looked goofy. Too bad they didn't tell us so we could have been together on one plate. I bought them anyway since they were only $3 for both! Very funky.

We drove about an hr to a boat dock. We boarded a very nice boat for lunch. The boat belonged to the Shangra La Hotel which is a very elegant hotel. The lunch was quite a spread. Mel enjoyed it, especially the lamb. I ate a lot of dessert. The ride was nice but way too long. They only had the tables and chairs, no comfortable chairs to sit in to watch the scenery. It was interesting seeing Bangkok from the water. At one time, that was the main mode of transportation. When we arrived at the hotel, the owners daughter was getting married that evening, so the lobby was bustling with activity..There was a HUGE chandelier of all flowers on a balcony, just gorgeous.

The day we arrived in Bangkok, we told Suzie that we needed to buy a suitcase and possibly a knock off watch for a friend. She kept saying Monday would be the day, our last day. We walked thru the hotel out to the street. There right in front of the hotel were several shops filled with suitcases. We met up with someone who took us up some back stairs to see knock offs, kind of like Canal Street in NYC!  Their handbags and watches were more expensive than we'd seen in Hong Kong and China. Made us wish we'd looked in Hong Kong, but everyone has always said that Bangkok has the best shopping, so there we were. Mel didn't find the watch he wanted but we did find a large duffel to put our excess items in. From there Suzie took us to another shop with a hidden door behind which were gorgeous handbags. Mel found his watch and I bought a purse, really nice.

Suzie was to pick us up to take us to the airport the next day. Our flight wasn't until 2:30, so she said we still  had time to see the Golden Buddha and the Reclining Buddha. We both felt like we'd seen enough Buddhas and I didn't want to arrive at the airport feeling hot a sticky for our flight home. I think she was put off that we were content not seeing those last 2 Buddhas. Oh well, maybe next time.

We pretty much finished our packing then had dinner in the concierge lounge. We then headed out to the corner by our hotel. There was a Buddha where people came to give offerings. It was packed! The incense was a bit overwhelming but the flowers were beautiful. Some young women were dressed in the traditional costumes and did a dance which was nice. We did some window shopping on our way back to the hotel, then finished packing. Tomorrow we'd be heading home.