Jet lag was real this morning so it took a couple cups of coffee before I could start my day’s sightseeing. The agenda included taking the ferry upriver to Wat Arun, the Temple of Dawn. This is a Hindu temple from 1851 and it “symbolizes Mount Meru from Hindu cosmology which is considered to be the center of all physical, metaphysical, and spiritual universes.”

Well, it was also the center of tourism! Already teeming with people at 9:15am, many of them were dressed up in traditional Thai silk costumes and had hired professional photographers to capture their Instagram moments. This created a bit of a minefield for us mere tourists, having to dodge the posing models and not walk into their photos.

Another interesting fact from the internet: “The spires are decorated by shells of tropical sea snails and pieces of porcelain, which were previously used as ballast by trading Chinese sailing junks, visiting local ports, many centuries ago”. It was actually hard to see the detail, so overwhelming was the overall effect.

Not having a guide nor reference book I just wandered at will and took pictures of interesting things (and people).

At 10:15am I crossed over to the right bank of the river to meet up with my 11am tour: a 2 hour longtail boat ride thru the canals of the Thonburi neighborhood.

Thonburi being back on the left bank, with the canal system pretty much adjacent to Wat Arun! The lock, which stops the Chao Praya River from flooding this area, dropped us down about 4 feet and we cruised into a fading bit of history: old wooden shacks lining the canals are remnants of old Bangkok, back when there were no roads and everything happened by water.

There were plenty of modern buildings interspersed with the old, lots of temples (600 in the city!), even a humongous gold buddha, appropriately named Big Buddha. We stopped at an artist colony/tourist shops created out of a row of old wooden shacks for a looksee, then powered our way back to the big city.

Our tour ran a bit late, then a huge crowd of tourists overwhelmed the ferry dock so I had to wait for the 3rd ferry heading south to get back home, and I was a wilting blossom by the time I found the food court at the IconSiam. A nice shrimp pad thai restored my spirits and gave me the energy to explore this fancy dancy shopping mall.

Dried fruits, exotic meats on a stick, scorpions and insects, glistening fruit, scrumptious soups, perfectly hand-rolled dumplings and noodles, treats and sweets and more. Foods from all regions of Thailand were presented in the most gorgeous food court imaginable. My few pics did not do the place justice so I’ll try again tomorrow. Here’s just one…

It was after 4pm by the time I finished ogling the offerings and had no energy left to explore the rest of the mall so I caught the shuttle boat back to my hotel to enjoy a rest and afternoon tea.