The Travels of Eric and Lorna

We got up a little early, since we wanted to get the the Bangkok branch of the Thailand National Museum by 9:30 so we can take the weekly free English tour. It was raining on the way to the museum, and for a time while we were on the skytrain it was pouring. No matter, though, museums are perfect for rain days. We did have a minor setback on the way there; we took the river taxi to a dock a little north of the one we took the last day, and got off on N10, or Tha (pier, in Thai) Phran Nok ( see map here ), in the hopes that we could take a cross-river ferry and get to Tha Prachan, or at least Tha Makarat, both of which are a good bit closer to the museum. Unfortunately, the cross-river ferry took us back to N9, or Tha Chang, so we had a bit of a walk to the museum. No big deal, though, as we got to walk along the Sanam Luang , which is a big open area adjacent to the Grand Palace where various ceremonies take place. It's pretty much the only large open area in the part of B...

Today we decided to go see the Grand Palace and Wat Phra Kaew , which is inside the palace grounds. To get there, we rode our Skytrain line down to the end of the line, which is right at the river. We then got on the Chao Phraya river taxi. This was extremely enjoyable. The taxis stop at the many docks along the river to load and unload passengers. They are fast, however, and you can't dawdle. In some cases where only a person or two are getting on or off, they may literally stop for 5 seconds before they are off again. A woman with a little metal tube with change in it, that she shakes a lot so you can hear her, comes around to sell tickets. The trip up the river to the pier where the Grand Palace is located costs 15 baht, or about 45 cents. An unbeatable bargin, in my view. The river along the river is very nice; it's cool and pleasant. This is pretty much the best way to travel in BKK. Here's a short video of the ride. We get off at the North 9 dock. The do...