Bangkok and visit to the Grand Palace - Exceptional - River Chao Praya.
A pleasant morning and the weather remains dry with a forecast hot day and low humidity.
Ken decides he will visit the Grand Palace as early as possible before it is too hot and the crowd numbers become extreme. Jeanette decides not to come and is comfortable around the hotel area.
He then departs the hotel and catches the Hilton Shuttle across the river to the Transit Centre at Sathorn then pays his fee for a daily fare on the hop on -hop off tourist ferry along the Chao Praya river and will alight at the stop closest to the Grand Palace. He reaches the stop at 9.55am , purchase some “elephant pants” then changes out of his shots at a toilet near the entrance.
The ticket queue is somewhat long and after some 20 minutes he gets his ticket at 10.20am and them walks to the new entry area, some 250 metres and joins a queues to enter. The gates then open at about 10.25am and there is a charge as people push and shove.
Ken has a map and knows the area well.
He spends almost 3 hours inside the religious shrine area, takes photos, drinks water and general has an enjoyable time viewing the stunning building and ornaments and the mirrors and gas’s finishes.
Simply stunning and Beautuful.
The above photos summarise the visit with thousands=sands of other people and the glorious artwork and displays.
After a long morning walking through these temples and associated religious buildings we eventually exited these areas and walked onto a lane way to the Grand Palace which remain s the home of the Thai King and his family..
It is a stunning building .
A wonderful morning at the Grand Palace was thoroughly enjoyable.
Then back to the Hilton via the Hop on Hop off ferry to the interchange at Sathorn and then the Hilton Ferry back to the Hilton Millenueum.
Then in the afternoon after a lunch of Salad and Fruit /ice creams Ken decided to enjoy the pool on level 4. Little was he prepared for the icy pool temperatures. He did swim for about 40 minutes then decided to dry off and lay in one of the large Bean bags overlooking the river.
We decided against dinner out and went to use the Executive lounge and enjoy nibbles and drinks for about 90 minutes again sitting outside initially on ther balcony area overlooking the busy river with the incessant ferry and barge traffic. After watching a spectacular sunset we moved inside into the air conditioned luxury of the Hotel before returning to our room.
