On our first day, we had a half day tour with our guide Photjaman (Air) Reamsan, and our driver. We started with a walk through Or Tor Kor market, one of the best in the world. It is very clean but our guide said it was more expensive than her supermarket. We saw many different fruits and vegetables including some we have eaten in this trip like bitter melon (aka luffa when it is dried!) We were interested in the paper funeral items that were designed ceremonial burning - including a set with a paper Rolex and iPhone.

We lunched at a small restaurant, Laap Paak, which served simple, tasty but not pricey food. We had pad Thai, wrapped in a thin omelet. We couldn't have beer because it was Election Day.

Then we drove to Jim Thompson house and wandered the lush and exotic garden until our tour time. The house (actually six houses combined) is all teak and traditionally designed and filled with antiques including broken Buddhas. Evidently these were donated to Thompson by Thais who would not keep broken stuff. Thompson is a bit of an enigma. An American entrepreneur who encouraged the silk trade after WW 2, he disappeared in 1967 and is presumed dead. Evidently at one point he was a spy, so lots of good movie potential!

Then we walked along the klong (canal) to a boat stop. Getting on is challenging. You have to grab the rope that is along the top of the boat, step on the railing and swing in. We rode a few stops standing up and holding on to ropes that are looped through the boat, sort of like hand grips on a bus or street car.

We got off near Golden Mount where a nearby stadium was being used by protestors but it all seemed quiet. Golden Mount pagoda is part of the Wat Saket temple and is up 300 odd stairs. As we went, loudspeakers with a preacher or reader exhorting us and periodically there were landings with chimes and a gong you could strike. At the top, there was a building with statues and further stairs to “Heaven" for beautiful views of the city. Right below us was a well kept monastery for the 300 monks and a school for novices. Evidently they will take in homeless children.

Then we headed back to the ship through a shopping area. We had had enough heat and relished the cool air conditioning in the van. And the cool cloths and bottles of water from the driver!

The next day, our 21 day cruise was over and we left the ship after an early breakfast. We met our guide Air and the eight of us tourists set out. It was hot even then and got hotter: high 30's plus humidity.

First we checked into our hotel and then met with the others. Our hotel, the Chatrium Riverside, is upscale, lovely and our room on the 25th floor had a river view.

We all set off for a drive through Chinatown which is big, bustling with lots of businesses and narrow alleys. Then our group swapped the van for three tuk-tuks for a drive to the Grand Palace. The ride was a bit scary but exhilarating.

The palace was stupendous! We spent about two hours visiting the various buildings including a temple with the a jade Buddha (called the Emerald Buddha) in his summer regalia and the building where dead kings are laid in state for one year. Fans of the “King and I” will be interested in this - large parts of the palace were built by the son of the king in that story. And even more interesting: all versions of the King and I are banned in Thailand as insulting to the king.

But the richness of the decoration, the gold and mosaics and the ceramic floral decorations! We have never seen anything like it before. So much to see and amazing.

If you should visit you can't wear shorts or culottes. You can rent big cotton pants to pull over your clothes. Frances was fine with her just-above knee skirt but no calf length pants allowed. Go figure!

After that we went to lunch near the palace, Khun Kung Kitchen which was very good and cheap. Two mains for us plus a plate of broccoli and beer and an ice cream cup for $15.

We walked through a market area close to Wat Arun and took a long tail boat ride along the canals to feed some sacred catfish - sacred because they are in front of a temple. Most of the houses are built on stilts and some are quite dilapidated. However it is mixed, some quite posh and this hodgepodge is normal according to our guide.

Once we were back on land, we visited Wat Arun. A few of us didn't go in - Richard did and he says it was intricately carved and needs a lot of upkeep. Recently repaired, there are already weed trees growing on it.

Then we took a cross-river ferry to the Arun Residence hotel where some fellow cruisers were staying. We decided we had enough touring and had cold beers instead!

We had dinner outdoors at Sala Arun, overlooking the river and Wat Arun with our group from the cruise. It was lovely to see the sunset and the glow on Wat Arun increase as the sun set.

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The next day, we and two other couples from our cruise had a day trip to Ayutthaya, ancient capital of Thailand. Air was our guide again.

Our first stop after the expressway ride out of the city was a Buddhist temple that is designed in European style. In 1878, King Rama V ordered the construction of Wat Niwet Thammaprawat in the architectural style of a Western cathedral.To get to the island, we took a small four wheeled cable car, operated by a monk. This is a centre for education and we saw student monks as well as a full fledged monk who blessed us as we sat in front of him.

Then we took a long tail boat about 45 minutes up the river. On the enjoyable ride, we passed some working boats, some upscale teak homes on stilts as well as some "house boats" and shacks. Parts of the river are challenging to navigate because of water hyacinths and we had to detour to get through.

Further on, we landed at another temple dock and were just in time for a ceremony of dressing the Buddha. The monks toss down lengths of orange cloth from up high near the Buddha’s head. We participated with the rest of the crowd by pulling the cloth over our heads. This ceremony is repeated several times a day and the faithful pay a fee for “their” cloth to be included.

We also saw people shaking sticks to get their fortune and Air showed us a heavy elephant statue that women must pick up by their ring finger for a yes answer to their question. A man uses his little finger.

We had lunch at Pae Krung Kao where we had quite a spread including sea bass, morning glory shoots and about a dozen other dishes. We had a Tiger beer this time. A nice restaurant on a covered deck beside the river and periodically river water cascaded over the roof to cool it down.

Then we drove to Ayutthaya Historical Park to see temple and other ruins from the 13th or 14th century and on. When it was destroyed in 1767, the capital moved to Bangkok.

The buildings are amazing: huge stupas, high platforms, and Buddha remnants. We saw an ancient reclining Buddha that predates the one in Bangkok. It was really hot though, even with our umbrellas, sunscreen and cool drinks. Air treated us to ice creams - Richard had durian! We saw three or four complexes, moving between them by van. Our driver provided cool moist towels for us again. Wonderful!

On our last day in Bangkok, we were on our own. We took the hotel launch to central pier and then the local ferry to the stop closest to Chinatown. The ticket seller jingled her money box to alert passengers who needed to buy tickets. Then she shouted at everyone to move down and make room for more passengers. When Frances told her that we needed to get off at stop 5, again she shouted for everyone to let us through. An experience!

We wandered through alleyways and small streets for an hour or so, stopping in a 7/11 just to enjoy the air conditioning. We did buy a frozen treat each!

We found a small Buddhist temple near the big Chinatown gates. We now know what's expected - hats off everyone; shoes off (some places have bags due to shoe theft); don’t step in the wood threshold - step across. If you sit, don't put your feet towards the Buddha. And no PDA - public displays of affection. Handholding is okay!

We chatted with a guy in uniform who said he worked at the Chinese traditional medicine hospital next door and he set us up with a tuk-tuk driver to go to a shrine and to two shops - his suggestions based on our requests. The tuk-tuk driver drove us to the Golden Buddha that we wanted to see and waited for us. The gold Buddha is supposed to be solid gold. It is a seated Buddha. Previously I had never really thought about the different poses - lying, standing, seated.

Then we went to a shop that the guard had recommended for a silk robe but Tom's made to measure clothing was a better bet for men’s clothing. We got talked into ordering some made-to-measure shirts and trousers for Richard. And they were done, delivered to our hotel within three hours!

We took an overnight Thai Airways flight from Bangkok to Narita (Tokyo). It was a very comfortable flight of about 5 1/2 hours.