3 DAYS IN THAILAND - Day 3, Chao Phraya River Tour

We were up at 4:00 in the morning on Saturday the 13th of June 2015. We finished packing our bags and at 5:15 left for the airport. By 6:50 we were in the air and on our way to Bangkok and our next big adventure. By the way, I highly recommend Bangkok Air, a great boutique airline. The attention and service were wonderful, and their in flight ad with the singing and dancing flight attendants is a riot!

Yes, the streets of Bangkok were just as busy as you see in the movies! We arrived at our hotel at 9:30 a.m., too early to check in, so we left our bags and headed out with our cabbie to see all we could of this beautiful city.

The driver suggested we go to the river and take a tour. We are so glad we did. The many different crafts on the river that ferried people back and forth and around were a sight to see.

This river is alive with commerce and Temples, schools, government buildings and homes. A great way to see the diversity of Bangkok.

As I said before, this is the low season for tourism so once again Darryl and I had an entire water taxi to ourselves.

Pictured below are just some of the structures we saw on the river and the canals. We also saw many Asian Carp (the nuisance fish that is taking over the Mississippi River) jumping out of the water. Many of the docks to schools, temples, etc. had quaint structures on them. This was going to a park.

A long tail boat speeding down the river.

A beautiful Catholic Church.

Enjoying the ride and the view.

One of the many, many temples you can visit in Thailand.

One of the newer apartment buildings we saw. If you can enlarge it you will see a very pronounced Greek influence in the architecture. 

Three more Buddhist Temples are pictured below.

A military Fort.

At the fort we turned north into one of the locks of the canals.

On the canal we were in a more residential area. 

Yes, the possible instability of some of the structures made me nervous. 

This was a beautiful School.

These homes were directly across from the school.

Some homes were quite lovely and modern, but then right across the river, or in this case, right next door, you would see......

a home like this one.  Seeing this just made me sad. I hope no one was actually living there. 

If you ever get the chance to visit Bangkok, I highly recommend taking a tour down the river. 

Our boat stopped at the Wat Arun (Temple of Dawn) and also at Wat Pho and the Grand Palace and the Wat Phra Kaew. I took literally hundreds of photos that I am currently sorting through. I will post the those pictures in a couple of different posts this week.  Check back on Tuesday or Wednesday for my next post. Until then, Click on the photos so they enlarge and enjoy. 

3 DAYS IN THAILAND - Day 2

Our second day in Krabi was our designated Beach Day! I realized I hadn't been swimming or to the beach in a couple of years, and I love to swim!
^^^^^

At 6:30-ish in the morning we went for a walk through town. They have some very interesting Stop light and Street light fixtures, as you can see.
I guess this one is because the the skeleton found in one of the nearby caves of a Cro-magnon Man.

Of course it is Thailand, so you must have elephants. . .

And Saber-Tooth Tigers.

We walked on to the big morning market where they had fish, meat, fruit, vegetables, packaged food and even clothes, housewares, etc.

A snack we decided not to try. The largest salted cockroaches I had ever seen!

All sorts of exoctic fruits - These  Rambutans were intersting. Inside is a white fruit with the texture of a peeled grape.

These  Rose Apples were like a cross between an apple and a pear. Darryl just called them Pearples.

Finally, it was time to grab our beach gear and catch a bus to Ao Nang and the beach!

We arrived about 10:00 in the morning. The beach was almost deserted and quite nice....

The water was unbelievably warm and the scenery was beautiful!

"Come on in, the water is fabulous!"

The beach was nice. I can't say great because to be truthful, we have been to nicer beaches, but it was sandy, warm and fun!

I splurged and got a foot scrub and foot and leg massage while I was relaxing.

We walked into the village for lunch. There were hundred of rental scooters lining the streets, seems to be how many tourists get around.

We went to an Indian restaurant and Darryl ordered the "Breaked Pineapple". No, I didn't misspell it, that's how it was advertised. It was delicious.

At 1:30 we took a bus to Railay beach where we caught a long tail boat to take us to our sailboat for our snorkeling and dinner cruise adventure.

Our sailing ship the Pla Luang. If you ever go to Krabi, Thailand, be sure to take Pla Luang Dinner Cruise.

It was cloudy and a little rainy when we started, but with temperatures in the mid 80s it was perfect for our excursion.

Our Captain, Michael, in black, and his crew.

During the high season this boat takes around 35 people out at a time. Since this was the low season we had a very comfortable 15 passengers. It made for a very pleasant time.

Our first stop was for snorkeling and walking along the beach at one of the many islands found in the Andaman Sea off the coast of southern Thailand.

The captain told us he would give a free beer to the first person who does a backflip off of the top deck. I was out snorkeling and looked up just in time to see Darryl do his first backflip.

He decided to do a second one, though he did turn down the beer.

I settled for just jumping in.

We stopped at 4 different islands and reefs to swim and snorkel. We fed the fish a little watermelon and they ate it right out of our hands and would nibble at our hands.

They call this island Chicken Island. Hmmm.. wonder why?

Drinks and snacks on the boat.

I saw my first big Pink Jellyfish while snorkeling by this Island, actually, I saw several, along with sea cucumbers, a barrel sponge, huge clams, a wide variety of fish and coral and more Long Spined Sea Urchins than I care to count.

As we were eating dinner the sun peeked out just as it was setting.

We headed back back to Railay and transferred to the longtail boat that took us for one last snorkeling excursion. Swimming with the Bioluminescent Organisms found there. It was amazing, like swimming in glitter and sparkles!

It was an absolutely marvelous time and I hope to do it again!