Bangkok

Had a good flight to Bangkok on Tuesday, but the 9+ hour flight was about 8 hours too long. We were picked up at the airport & driven to the Anantara Hotel, upgraded (so they said) to a bigger room on the 23rd floor. Pretty good view.
We had a substantial buffet breakfast this morning & caught the skytrain  down to the Chao Phraya River to the river boat public transport. It’s a very efficient system with a choice of stopping all stations, partial express (stopping most) & express which stops at fewer still. It takes about an hour from start to end on the partial express Cost 15 Baht, about A$0.55c.
We stopped off at The Wat Arun (Temple of Dawn). Really impressive and there are very steep steps partway up to a  great view. The final steps are probably about 70 deg, and everyone went down backwards. It has a very intricate mosaic facade. It is a Buddhist temple and was built in the 17th century.


We jumped back on a boat, well carefully stepped on it, while the driver held it against the wharf (boy is there work needed on their maritime structures) and went to the end of the line, to a place called Nonthaburi which seems to be a business/market town. I bought a genuine?? pair of Ray Ban sunnies for $3. We really enjoyed the breeze when the boat was moving, it was 35 deg and humid. On the boat for the full length of the route.
 
Passed under an impressive cable stayed bridge.
Back to the skytrain (makes a huge difference with the traffic gridlock) and on to the MBK shopping centre, 7 floors of stuff – 1 floor for camera stuff, one floor for mobile phones (never seen so many ‘phones in the one place), one floor for jewellery etc. Good food court with big selection for dinner.
Back to the hotel for a shower and to cool down.

Stay tuned…