The last stop for us on our honeymoon cruise aboard the Diamond Princess in 2008 was Bangkok, Thailand. We would be flying out from there on the evening of our arrival but we had a full day’s excursion booked to see us through in the meantime. We said goodbye to our cabin on the ship (a sad moment for any cruiser), boarded a coach, and set off into the city. As the port was quite some way from where we needed to be there was a brief stop on the capital’s outskirts to allow people to use the toilet and stretch their legs. The combination of American franchises alongside local stores and the humidity were both as we’d come to expect on the latter part of our Asian holiday.
Wat Ratchanatdaram
Our first proper photo stop was at Wat Ratchanatdaram, a Buddhist temple complex which included in its interior Loha Prasat, the iron castle or monastery with 37 black spires to represent the virtues needed to reach enlightenment. I’ve not looked into what those virtues are but if I had to hazard a guess I’d say I’m around 37 short of the magic number required to transcend.
Outside the Buddhist temple area we had to wait for our coach to come around to pick us up; it was possibly stuck in traffic. This gave me a little opportunity to take some photos of the surrounding area and people passing by. A person riding a motorbike while wearing an orange skull mask was certainly something you don’t see every day on the roads in Britain but for all I know this is perfectly normal. I might have gripped my camera equipment a little tighter as he went past because I’m a naturally cautious person.
Wat Phra Kaew
The next stop on our Bangkok tour was Wat Phra Kaew, regarded as the most sacred Buddhist temple in Thailand and known in English as The Temple of the Emerald Buddha. This was an incredibly colourful place, with golden and ornate buildings as far as the eye could see. If anyone visits Bangkok then they’re very likely going to come back with dozens of photographs of this temple complex and it would be hard to blame them.
As is typically the case with cruise ship excursions there was a guided part to this tour followed by some free time to look around, shop for souvenirs, or take a look at the Emerald Buddha. I didn’t actually go in to see the Emerald Buddha (named for its colour, not the material, which is jade) as you had to take off backpacks and shoes and I was hot enough without wanting to cram in with hundreds of tourists, many of whom I suspected would have feet as whiffy as I imagined mine to be. My wife did go in and returned from the experience stating that yes, it was quite nice.
After exiting Wat Phra Kaew we walked as a group towards the riverfront and through a large street market area where we would be catching a boat for a ride for the next part of our Bangkok tour. The smells here were fabulous, as I’m sure you can imagine.
