A Day Tour of Bangkok, Bangkok, Thailand

Bangkok, home to 8 million people, is the capitol and most populous city of Thailand. It was once a small trading post during the Ayutthaya Kingdom in the 15th century and grew with the modernization of Siam, now called Thailand. Now the financial city of Thailand, Bangkok is also a popular tourist destination.

My tour guide, Rat, met me at the airport last night and dropped me at my hotel, the Pathumwan Princess. Guards and a barricade blocked the driveway. I had to pass through a metal detector at the doorway and a guard scanned my bag. I thought Thailand was supposed to be safe?!? The hotel was lovely. At check in, the front desk greeted me with some sort of punch and issued me a very nice room on a high floor. I had a great view of the city and of the ladies doing laps in the outdoor pool this morning.

Rat picked me up at 8am to start my tour around Bangkok on a hot and humid day. I was careful to dress appropriately for custom. Unfortunately clothes that covered the knees and shoulders were not the best choice for the weather.

Our first stop was the Grand Palace. Apparently all the tour companies wanted to beat the heat as we did. Approximately 1,000 Chinese tourists that traveled in groups of fifty and I toured the Grand Palace together. One group followed their leader carrying a pole with a teddy bear hanging from it so they wouldn’t get lost. It reminded me of a marathon pace setter running with a time placard pole. ...... (follow the instructions below for accessing the rest of this article).