Apr
We made some new friends at our cooking class on Monday: Jan and Kristina from Germany. After class was over, we all decided to take a boat tour of the Chao Phraya river and its many canals.
We boarded a beautiful long tail taxi boat at the Tha Sathon pier next to the Somdet Phrachao Tak Sin bridge and set sail.
About 230 years ago, during the early Rattanakosin period, Bangkok was established as the capital of what is now known as Thailand. The Chao Phraya river and its canals were the most important means of transportation and trading during that time, not unlike the canals of Venice. In fact, Bangkok was also known as the Venice of the East.
What better way to see Bangkok’s beautiful architecture, Buddhist temples and traditional way of life than along these winding waterways that have been left more untouched by modernization than the city core. The highlight was as we emerged from the canal tour back to the main river to see the sprawling Grand Palace, home of the Emerald Buddha.