After meeting at a hostel, we started out on our Weird & Wacky Bangkok tour: myself, two KLM male flight attendants, and our guide. We were walking past the Old Customs House.

The bridge between two of the buildings.

In front of the Old Customs House, built 1880. It is now used as a firehouse and the firemen's and women's families live in the building.

On another tour, I was told that some very rich people in Thailand have bought these buildings and are going to renovate them into an upscale hotel.

Walking through an alley.

Food for sale.

We are going to take a boat from this pier.

DO NOT LITTER. 2,000 bhat (US$57) fine.

On the pier and one of the many types of boats on the Chao Phraya.

A rice barge, many of which are used as hotel shuttles.

Not our boat but the type of boat that we would be going on.

Inside our boat. Very crowded as it is a popular way to get around for both residents and tourists.

Passing waterfront houses.

A waterfront house.

Another.

More upscale.

More houses.

Another type of boat on the Chao Phraya.

A long boat. They have lawnmotor and similar engines.

The Guan Yu Shrine.

A wat (temple).

More of the temple.

An old fort.

Colorful boats.

A pagoda decoration on the boat.

Another wat.

Picture of the king and queen of Thailand.

Passing a Starbucks: "Deepening your love for all things coffee."

Waterfront houses.

Close-up.

At Siriraj Hospital.

A picture of probably Prince Mahidol, the father of both Rama VIII and Rama IX, Thai kings.

A statue of the prince.

We are the Songkran Niyomsan Forensic Museum in the hospital. No photos were allowed, but you can Google the museum and see many photos of it. It would be hard to describe what we saw in the museum, so I am glad that I don't have to explain it as it was both a very interesting but also very emotional experience. Think babies with congenital abnormalities, more than 2,000 real human organs, a mummy of a serial killer, among other not very delightful things.

The hospital's spirit house.

Another view.

Time to get on another boat.

The view of Bangkok from the pier.

Another boat along the Chao Phraya.

On the boat, my two tourmates. It was fun traveling with them for a day.

Our very sweet tour guide. This boat had few passengers.

The Rama VIII Bridge seen from the water.

Another wat.

Waterside living.

Waterside living.

A dock is here.

We got off the boat at another dock to eat lunch. The lunchroom.

View from our table.

Our lunch--a rice and shrimp dish. It was good.

Our guide picked up our lunch at one of the food vendors here.

Coconuts, 40 baht (U.S.$1.13).

A monk seen on our adventure.

We were, all of four us, including two very tall Dutchmen, going to ride in this tuk tuk--it was a very tight fit. The flight attendants were hesitant to go on the tuk tuk as they had heard that they were dangerous. I like tuk tuks and I thought it was funny that two guys who spend their days flying would be hesitant about traveling in one.

Not our canal boat but similar to the next boat we went on.

These boats are difficult to get on and also off. There is a cord that you grab onto and you then carefully step into the boat, but first you have to find an unoccupied part of a bench to put your feet on.

A man balances himself on the side of the boat to collect fares.

Along the canal--a picture of the Thai king.

On the canal.

Canal houses.

Canal house.

Canal houses.

More upscale.

Even more upscale.

We had to get off the boat as this was its last stop and then wait for a boat going further on. To get off, you first have to find part of a bench that is not occupied to stand on in order to catch the rope to hold onto to get onto the pier.

A boat not going in our direction.

Warnings are on a sign on the pier: "Do not wait on the pontoon, you may lose your balance as it is hit by waves."

"Avoid traveling by boat when carrying too much stuff."

"Crowded passengers on the pier may cause an accident."

"Get on/off boat one by one at a time to avoid the accident." We got on a boat going in the right direction, so again it was grab the rope and climb into the boat (with help) onto an empty seat. Then we got off the boat but had to get on another one going back in the direction we came from as we had missed our stop because there was no unoccupied bench on which to climb on in order to get off.

A jackfruit at our next stop.

We are at Chao Mae Tuptim Statue Shrine.

A close-up of the pottery.

Another close-up.

This is a phallic shrine located next to the Swissotel. A Thai businessman created it in the early 20th century.

There are over 100 phallus statues here. The phallus is a symbol of both good luck and a representation of fertility. The wooden statues also have special cosmic power.

Definitely a weird and wacky place.

Its spirit house.

Another view.

Another view.

Its garden.

Close-up.

Statues and a liquid offering.

We then walked to one of the megamalls in Bangkok (there are a number of them). Here, "Say no to plastic bags." Are they following the California plastic grocery ban here?"

We walked through this beautiful super-supermarket.

More of the super-supermarket. I could have spent an hour or more just looking at the displays.

It had a big fresh fruit section: here, star fruit.

Dragon fruit.

We took an escalator inside the mall to the Skytrain station. View from a pedestrian bridge.

At the station: self-serve Up2You Coffee.

The Skytrain station.

The Skytrain, an easy way to get around Bangkok.

Our next stop: at a zebra shrine located on a busy street. The zebras offer protection when crossing the street.

Close-up.

On its top.

Our last stop was at the denistry department at the Chulalongkorn University.

We visited the Museum of Human Body here. No photos were allowed. The museum has 14 dissected bodies from Japan and 130 spare parts. The nervous system, arteries, muscles, etc., are shown. Again, though we weren't allowed to take photos, there are plenty of photos of it on the internet. Google "Human Body Museum Bangkok" to see them. This was the end of our Weird & Wacky tour.