Friday, December 1

Yesterday was a camera free day as well. I got up late in the morning and went to explore Siam Square which is made up of huge shopping malls. I ate lunch at the food court there which has an amazing selection of varieties including USA fast food brands…McDonalds, Burger King, KFC & Subway….. as well as local Thai favorites and other asian foods such as Japanese and Chinese. I viewed the Ferrari, Lamborghini, Maserati, BMW and Porsche showrooms. I only bought a pair of fast drying nylon hiking cargo mid-length shorts as I am sweating through the 2 pair of shorts that I brought.

Then I went back to the hotel and before dinner had a 90 minute Thai massage which was terrific, relaxing and refreshing.

Today, I took the Skytrain to the river and hopped on the boat to visit the National Museum. This also required a walk through some interesting neighborhood sidewalks that were filled with tourists and hawkers of various items with people bargaining and inspecting the merchandise looking for fakes. After the Museum I got a Tuk-tuk ride to go back to the boat pier to eat a late lunch at a restaurant I remembered I liked from last year. However the driver didn’t want to take me to that pier and took me to the pier 2 stops further up the river where there, indeed, was a boat pier but no restaurant. Tuk-tuk drivers often take you where they want you to go, not where you want to go. Luckily he didn’t take me to a tailor or gem shop. So I finally got lunch and am relaxing at the hotel until dinnertime….late at about 9pm.

Photos of today will follow if I can find a faster internet access....

Here they are:

First some young Monks on the public riverboat:
A longtailed boat speeding up the Chao Phraya River:

And a child of a vendor. The children were everywhere as the vendors apparently brought them with them:

A vendor who has set up her wares to sell to passers by: