Day 84 – April 9 – Bangkok, Thailand – Overnight off the Ship

We were supposed to arrive in Laem Chabang, Thailand, which is the port for Bangkok at 10:00am.  However, the Captain got is in at 8:30am.  Since the ship had to be cleared and all the embarking passengers were first in line to get their passports and be cleared to disembark, we were afraid it would be very late before we could meet our private guide and driver.  However, the Executive Concierge very kindly went into the immigration room, retrieved our passports and got them stamped by the officials so we could be off by 10:30am.  We really appreciated her efforts on our behalf.

We met our guide, Emy, and driver (who never heard his name) just outside the terminal.  The van was brand new, large and very comfortable.  We had arranged to go to the Ancient City of Ayutthaya.  This was the Sacred City and Capital of Thailand for more than 400 years from the 1300’s to the mid-1700’s.  It covers thousands of acres on an island between three large rivers. 

We first had lunch at a pretty restaurant on one of the rivers.  The food was good and typical Vietnamese, i.e. a shrimp soup in coconut milk with a mild spicy flavor, a pork and vegetable stir-fry, a chicken fried with garlic, a dish of vegetables, a fish dish, and steamed rice.  After lunch, we took a one hour boat ride around the island where we could see the local houses on stilts, some of the new temples, and some of the ancient temples, most of which are in ruins.  We passed the restaurant where we had had lunch and we enjoyed the cool breeze on the river since it was very hot and humid.

After the boat ride, we went to visit some of the most important ruined temples.  The city was destroyed in 1745 by the Burmese.  They sacked then burned the town.  All of the statues of Buddha were beheaded they think looking for valuables inside.   One of the temples was the largest of the city and the most important.  Fred was really feeling the heat so he found a very nice shady spot to rest while Jan explored with our guide.  One of interesting things she saw was a stone Buddha head that had been tossed aside and a tree had grown up around it.  It looked like the tree roots were cradling Buddha’s head in a soft embrace.

We drove in one other temple where there was a very large reclining Buddha in the open area.  After driving around a few more of the areas on the ruined city, it was time to head to Bangkok.

We arrived at the Shangri-La hotel around 6:00pm.  We met Jim and Pepper for a drink at the Long Bar and then decided we had all had enough Thai food for the day.  No one really wanted to go back outside in the heat, so we had Italian food at the hotel. 

Jim and Pepper had cancelled their early morning bus trip out to the Floating Market and didn’t really know what they were going to do for the second day.  Fred invited them to join us for our second day and they accepted.