Saturday, January 19- Koh Samui
Tender in to the island on an overcast morning, bus pick up, cute little tour guide who speaks hard-to-decipher English but it’s fine, Giant Buddha & lots of elephant pants shops, second stop group of many temples, some Chinese (dragons) and some Thai (elephants), skies open up and it starts to pour, bus to third stop a small but impressive red temple in the Sri Lankan style with elaborate carvings, fourth stop is a mummified monk with sunglasses on where many locals are praying for the health and well-being of their loved ones, back to the pier, long line for tender, pouring pouring pouring on the boat ride back, my skirt is so soaked it’s see-through so I have to take my rain coat off and tie it around my waist to stay modest, warm pasta lunch, hit the gym, hit the hydropool, then the steam room, free AAA dinner at Pinnacle Grill restaurant was fantastic (beef carpaccio, cioppino, raspberry cheesecake), catch the tail end of the comedy show, watch the first set of the R&B Band in the BB King Lounge (so good!), roll back to the room, pack for our overnight excursion tomorrow morning, trying to get through my Tudors book (love it but it’s sooo long!)
January 20 & 21- Bangkok
Sunday, January 20
Depart the ship early and drive about 2.5 hours from Laem Chabang into Bangkok. Our tour guide, Rio, is an absolute hoot. Love him immediately which always sets up for a good experience. First stop is Wat Po complex which holds a gigantic golden Reclining Buddha. The complex also has fabulous shires holding the ashes of Ramas I – IV (Kings) of Thailand. It was busy but truly a spectacular place. Others get easily tired of going to multiple temples, but I just love them all and soak up every last detail.
Next, we all jump (well some of us…) onto canal boat to explore the canals (klongs) of the city. The chaos of the boat traffic reminds me of the scooter traffic of Vietnam any goes! Our first stop is the Royal Barge Museum which was fascinating and I enjoyed it much more than I anticipated. However, you had to pay extra to take photos so forget it.
Back on our boat and we go to lunch at a restaurant on the canal. Nice break from the heat as it was about 95 degrees the entire day. Rio toured us up and down the canals a bit more, showing us homes, temples, and giant lizards that eat small children.
Final stop of the day was Wat Arun, Temple of Dawn, an iconic Bangkok landmark right on the canal. It’s covered in ceramic tile and is just an masterpiece. I loved it, except for how overrun it is with mostly Chinese tourists taking tons of selfies.
We take our sweaty-selves to the Sheraton where Mama and I had a lovely river view suite. The shower felt marvelous and we each downed a 2-for-1 white wine before we went to dinner and a traditional Thai dance/fighting presentation at the Mandarin Oriental. It was a magnificent evening.
Monday, January 21
Six AM wake-up call, free (huge) breakfast buffet at the Sheraton, and Rio had us first in line to go view the Grand Palace. It’s a huge complex of buildings with a gold mosaic shrine, a series of intricate buildings and one that houses the famous Emerald Buddha, a 15th century sacred idol carved from one piece of jade. We made it through quicker than he expected, so we then went to lunch at barely 11AM. It was really good though and had lots of healthy options. Then a 2.5 hour ride back to the ship!
Where's Lindsey? 