On the hotel boat to the Skytrain station, passing the ferris wheel at Asiatique. It had rained early in the morning and hopefully it wouldn't return this day.

Modern buildings on the Chao Phraya.

I met my two tour guides at the station: the owner of the tour company on the right, an ex-pat Brit, and a guide in training on the left. The tour was called East Meets West: Bang Rak District Walking Tour in Bangkok. I was the only one on the tour, so it turned out to be a private tour.

The Bang Rok District is a study in contrasts: some of it modern, some of it very old, and with at least three religions represented. This is a photo of the Ban Oou Mosque, dating back to the 18th century. It was the first registered mosque in Bangkok--1948--after the land title was cleared.

One of the entrances to the mosque. Muslims make up about 6% of Thailand's population.

A sign in the mosque's cemetery: "Peace be upon you, people of the grave, both of believers and people who accept God. By Allah's will. We will follow and be with you. Oh IAllah, please grants [sic] excellent health to us and all of you."

The graveyard, not an ordinary looking one.

Walking past the mosque.

A Muslim woman out shopping.

A food market selling mutton and fish among other items.

Now we are in a market with a Buddhist shrine.

My tour guide has bought marigolds to place on the shrine and is praying before he places them. I was hoping that he prayed that the rain of the morning wouldn't come back while we were on the tour.

He is putting the marigolds on the shrine.

Pink and blue eggs for sale in the market.

A sewing shop is here.

On the street: a mixture of new, old, and brightly colored buildings.

We are now in an alleyway. This pretty woman let me take her photo.

Farther along in the alleyway. Inside the sheds on the right are stores, shops, and people's living quarters.

A beauty parlor in one of the sheds.

Someone's living area, open to view.

Another living area, also open for anyone to view..

Farther down the alley.

Greenery at the alley's end.

The modern building is State Tower. Part of the movie Hangover Part II was filmed at the open-air Sky Bar at the top of the building.

Walking down another alley.

To a Buddhist monastery with a stupa. The Buddhist population of Thailand is 93%.

A temple at the monastery.

From the side.

Painting on its side.

Another painting on its side.

On its roof.

A monk having his photo taken.

A woman praying at the temple.

Another monk.

The gate from the temple.

Outside the monastery, an old wooden Thai house.

On a main street, Oh My K-BAB restaurant: %100 Original Turkish Donar Kebab.

The Catholic Assumption College.

The Assumption Cathedral is on the college's grounds. It was consecrated in 1919. The Christian population of Thailand is less than 1%.

Closer-up.

A statue outside the cathedral.

Inside the cathedral--very beautiful.

Inside the cathedral.

Inside the cathedral.

Inside the cathedral.

Next, catching a boat at this pier to our next stop.

The Old East Asiatic Company headquarters, built 1884. The company ran passenger and freight lines between Denmark and Bangkok and to the Far East and to the Baltic and Black Seas.

An anchor is on top of the building, which has been bought by a rich Thai who is making it into office space.

The side of the building.

Walking past the land entrance to the Mandarian Oriental Hotel that faces the Chao Phraya. It was built 140 years ago and is ranked as one of the best of the world's hotels.

A spirit house next door to the hotel.

The O.P. Place Shopping Center.

We took a break inside it.

And then it started raining at our next stop: the Old Customs House, where I had been two days earlier. This is the front of one of the customs house buildings. The whole complex has been bought by some rich Thais who are going to renovate it into an upscale hotel. It now serves as a fire station.

The building from the side.

The main building of the complex, now with firemen's families living in it.

It is going to need quite a lot of renovation.

Before reaching the Haroon Mosque, one of the busiest mosques in the city, we had to take shelter from heavier rain.

The mosques graveyard. I don't know who is buried in these specail graves.

You can see in the photo that it has rained.

Walking through a gate.

To the Grand Postal Building.

In front of it is a great statue of Field Marshal Prince Bhanurangsi savangwongse, the Prince Banubandhu Vongsevorade, the founder of the Thai postal system. It was raining so heavily now that we agreed to end the tour.

My younger guide went out in the pouring rain to find me a taxi which took me back to my hotel. The streets back were a strange sight: no vendors or people on the street in the pouring rain, almost eerie.This is the first time I noticed this sign at my hotel: DURIAN is prohibited within the hotel premises. Durain, the king of fruits, has a very bad odor. Maybe someone brought a durian inside, cut it open, and smelled up the hotel.