Tour Group Route Map

My Gate 1 tour group met this morning for an orientation. There are about 32 on the tour from different states. Gate 1 is an American tour operator, hence, most people on their tours are Americans. All this time. There was a California contingent of 8, a New Jersey one of 9, and others from Seattle, Denver, Boston, Washington, DC, Texas, and some other states. It turned out to be a very good group to travel with.

We followed the route on this map but we also went to the infamous Golden Triangle (for younger readers, why it is infamous will be explained later) to make short visits to Myanmar (Burma) and Laos. About half of the group continued on to Cambodia to see the Angkor temples in Siem Reap. I didn’t as I had been there two years ago.

I had two friends, Joyce and Dave, on the tour that I had met on the Russian river cruise that I took in 2012. This was the first time that I knew anyone on an escorted tour beforehand. It was a fun experience.

Our Great Tour Manager Nu

We got to spend the next 9 1/2 (or more) enjoyable days with Nu. He took good care of us and answered all our numerous questions. He was quite knowledgeable and always in a good mood. We were lucky to have him as our tour manager.

The rest of the Gate 1 crew consisted of our bus driver and also a bus boy. Excellent driving and also excellent bus boy. We were also treated to a very comfortable Volvo bus.

Bangkok City Tour

After orientation, we took a city tour on our bus. This photo shows one of Bangkok’s remaining canals. It originally had many more of them but many have been paved over for infrastructure such as for the sky train. You can see modern Bangkok in the distance. We didn’t see much of it as the tourist sites were located in the older sections.

Bangkok City Tour

Almost everywhere you go in Bangkok and also in all of Thailand, there are numerous street vendors selling fruit, cooked food, clothing, etc. I don’t know how the street vending system works but what is very impressive is that there was only 0.07 percent unemployment in Thailand in 2013, with almost 60% of the people being self–employed. As Nu said, “everyone works.” A very good example of very free enterprise. I imagine, with the right location, a very good cook could gain enough of a following to make a decent living. Nu said that the Thais eat most of their meals out. There is also little difference between the food eaten at breakfast, lunch, and dinner by the Thais, so a vendor could make just one or a few dishes.

This photo was taken in Chinatown.

Bangkok City Tour

Also on the city tour was the Old City where many beautiful old buildings remain.

Bangkok City Tour

We ran into several protest areas on a drive around the city. Here is one in the photo. We weren’t affected by the protests except by the traffic congestion that they caused.

Bangkok City Tour

In front of the king’s palace. I have put my photos of the city tour on a slideshow: Go directly to

http://www.peggysphotos.com/bangkok–city–tour/

or to Slide Shows, Asia, Thailand, “Bangkok: City Tour.”

Wat Po–the Temple with the Reclining Buddha

Wat Po is a very large Buddhist temple, one of the largest in Bangkok. We went here to view the golden reclining Buddha and also other parts of the temple. You could spend many hours here as everywhere you looked there was something new to see. The temple has 91 stupas and 394 Buddha statues. There are also comical Chinese statues that were once used for ballasts on ships.

Wat Po was the first public university in Thailand, specializing in religion, science, and literature. It has added traditional massage and medicine as subjects and is the leading school of massage in Thailand and you can get a massage here.

The Golden Reclining Buddha

The golden reclining Buddha is 151 feet long (40 m) and 49 feet tall (15 m).

The Golden Reclining Buddha–Movie

The reclining Buddha is too long and also blocked by posts to take a full photo of it. So I took a movie of it instead.

I have put my photos of Wat Po on a slideshow: Go directly to

http://www.peggysphotos.com/bangkok–wat–po/

or to Slide Shows, Asia, Thailand, “Bangkok: Wat Po.”

Siam Niramit Show & Dinner

I went on an optional tour this evening to the Siam Niramit Show & Dinner. The show portrays the Thai cultural heritage in three acts: Journey Back into History, Journey Beyond Imagination, and Journey Through Joyous Festivals. The dancers wore elaborate costumes and the show is entertaining.

Siam Niramit Show & Dinner

Elephants on Parade at its entrance.

Siam Niramit Show & Dinner

You could ride an elephant here.

Siam Niramit Show & Dinner

Exotic costumes to take photos of before our dinner.

Siam Niramit Show & Dinner

And photos to be taken of statues in a pond. Nu came down from the dining room to get me––I was missing, just too many good photos to take before dinner. I think this is when I realized that he was asked by Joyce and Dave to keep an eye on me. Joyce and Dave were on my Russia trip when I got completely separated from my tour group at the Hermitage museum, in fact, so separated that the tour group left without me and they had to send a taxi and one of the tour helpers back from the ship to rescue me. It worked out well, except for the embarrassment, as I got to eat dinner on the main St. Petersburg street, Nevsky Prospekt, while everyone else had to eat on the ship. But some things are never lived down and Joyce and Dave hadn’t forgotten. With both of them plus Nu, I didn’t get lost on the tour and I do thank them.

Siam Niramit Show & Dinner

There was a buffet dinner. The soup was good.

Siam Niramit Show & Dinner

The description that Nu gave of the papaya salad sounded good so I filled part of my plate with it. Doesn’t that look like a tomato in the photo. I thought it was and greatly suffered when I ate the whole thing––it was a very hot red pepper. Caring Joyce brought me a big plate of rice. That with water, wine, and time got rid of a burning mouth. I was careful of red things in Thai food after that.

Siam Niramit Show & Dinner

The show, after dinner, was outside. I took movies of some of the dancing and you can find them under Movies, Thailand, page 2. I took some photos of the dancers as well. The dancers with the big heads were fun to watch.

Siam Niramit Show & Dinner

Pretty female dancers.

Siam Niramit Show & Dinner

The dancers.

Siam Niramit Show & Dinner

An exotic dancer.

Siam Niramit Show & Dinner

Another photo of her.

Siam Niramit Show & Dinner

And another. She made for a very pretty photo.

Siam Niramit Show & Dinner

The male doing a dance with her.

Siam Niramit Show & Dinner

If you didn’t want to watch the show, you could get a massage here.

Siam Niramit Show & Dinner

More elephants seen on the way out after the show.