around Bangkok by foot, ferry and skytrain

Finally having recovered from the great car robbery trauma, here I am dipping my toe back into the world of travel. It was hard to resist the 360 dollar return ticket, brisbane to Bangkok. I did discover that for that price you have to expect no in-flight entertainment etc etc, but it got me there. Although I did worry when the plane suddenly dropped a metre and twisted sideways as we sent through turbulence. But we survived. 

Got a bus that dropped  me only a block from my very cheap hotel, found it and went to bed.

Predictably up with the sun  so up and off exploring. A lovely time to do it, cool, quiet and full of wildlife. Saw two squirrels(?) running around on the electricity wires and later a huge monitor lizard, must have been two metres. It was just sitting in a garden. I walked 7 kms across the river and through a lovely old neighbourhood of old timber, waterside houses and lots of greenery. And the ubiquitous little and sometimes huge, shrines. The place really reminded me of Cairo in its juxtaposition of the traditional and ramshackle, with the modern. I thought the new bridge was stunning with the early sun on it.

After a quick rest back at the hotel, I decided to take a trip on the river. I was fascinated by the efficient but dangerous docking technique, that saw the ferryman jump ashore throw a rope over the sanction and then, while the boat was moving off, unhook the rope. I did wonder how often someone ends up with a squashed hand. We passed a barge with workers collecting rubbish from the river. It was obvious pretty quickly that Bangkok is a lot more rubbish conscious than Cairo. 

Next I took the elevated train to close to jim Thompson's house, a highly recommended tourist attraction. Once I got there and found out you can only enter in guided groups, I gave it a miss. I'm terrible at listening to tour guides, and at staying with the group. Plus, I was really enjoying just taking in all the little oddities. Like Christmas decorations in a Buddhist country, finding a brisbane coffee chain and wrecked cars turned into little gardens. I guess it wasn't really an oddity to find out that people who graffiti don't like the p.o..ice anymore here than anywhere else!

The highlight of the day was definitely the way I discovered while wandering the canal. It is older than most others here, dating back to the 15th century, but with a lot of renovations. I loved the mist enshrouded statuary but the best thing was the diorama telling the story of how the wat took on the role of charge house early in the 19th century during a cholera outbreak. The bodies were piled up here to be cremated but they couldn't  keep up with the death toll. As a result, vultures took up residence and got to feast on the newly dead bodies. Gruesome but interesting.

Photos are here:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/n6r7EhG4KqMR6yYc7