We took a cab into the city to the central pier and hired a boat to take us down the Chao Phraya to a couple of spots: The Temple of Dawn and the an Orchid farm.
Both were fascinating, as would be expected, but the trip itself was an awesome way to see Bangkok. The river is a transportation thoroughfare, which has its own public transportation up and down the river. It even has an express boat for commuters. Bangkok also has a series of canals and we took one deeper west into the neighborhoods there. The peoples houses range from expensive newer houses in classic or updated classic Thai style made of beautiful wood or sometimes stone, to shacks created from whatever materials could be found, especially corrugated tin. Income differences are expected to be found everywhere, however what was interesting was the way they could be such a mix from house to house.
The more ramshackle places seemed to be habitated by people more or less living much like they did before the 20th century, still living a water culture of living off the land (or water i should say) and selling what they could find (fruit and fish) out of boats.
Saw the "sleeping Buddha" and ate some real deal pad thai. mmmmmm....
I took a lot of photos, a few are here but the rest are on here
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bruensk/sets/72157626755399887/
- check them out! Didn't have much time to sort/crop so it is what it is - keep in mind - i was on a boat when i took most of these.
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