After our enjoyable visit to some of Bangkok’s temples we boarded a boat for a ride up the Chao Phraya, the river that meanders through the heart of Thailand‘s capital city. The river was murky and the humidity was naturally higher than what we were already suffering with in the city but there was enough of a breeze to make the trip a pleasant one.
I always like being on or near the water (hence my love of cruises). Taking a river boat, even one through a city you know or have been through, gives a completely different outlook on the place. We found it interesting to see the opulence of the temples contrasting with the apparent poverty of some of the houses along the side of the Chao Phraya river
As you can see from the photos, it would be fair to say that I’ve seen clearer rivers than this one in Bangkok. When you see water this shade of brown your first thought is that it’s dirty and that may indeed be true but it’s also possible that the problem was one of a generally shallow basin and a lot of disturbed riverbed either along the stretch we cruised or farther upstream, or potentially run-off from dirt banks due to recent rain. I confess to not being an expert on rivers at this point and if you’ve found this page while looking for an analysis of the Chao Phraya in Thailand then I can only apologise for a wasted journey.
Our guided trip down Bangkok’s river took us initially southwards from where we’d embarked before turning around and heading north.
We stopped by a shrine at one point where bread was thrown into the river for the fish. This was something undertaken not just by us but by other boats too and was to bring luck. Or get rid of stale bread. The size of the fish showed that despite its murky colour the Chao Phraya seemed fairly healthy or the mud was full of growth hormones. Never rule anything out.
Our disembarkation point from our river boat ride was just on the north side of the Rama VIII bridge in Bangkok (that we had to travel under) which was fairly distinctive in appearance – and attractive to me – due to an asymmetrical design.
