Mon 21 Jan

Last day in Bangkok and what a day it has been!
We had a very leisurely breakfast with Wendy and Andrew, threw the last minute things in our suitcases and checked out!
We hailed a taxi and headed for the Royal Palace. When we got there a man met us at the taxi to say that the palace was closed until 1pm as the Buddist monks were having a special prayer. So he ordered a tuktuk for us to see the reclining Buddah and the Thai Center for $20baht. Alarm bells should have been ringing but we decided to go anyway. Much too cheap at 20 baht. We went to the standing Buddah instead and there a gentleman said he'd tell us all about the Buddah for free...we listened for awhile and then said someone was waiting for us. Dont know what he was on about or after! The tuktuk driver took us to the Thai center...a jewelry shop. We said no to the tuktuk driver but he said even if we go in he will get a payment so we went in. Jan did find a lovely ring that she liked and reasonably priced. When we got back in the tuktuk he said he would take us to another shop and we said NO take us back to the Royal Palace which he did...our adventure for the morning! Had heard about such things happening but I guess we were over confident as nothing had happened so far!!
Back at the Royal Palace there was no special Buddhist prayer morning surprise, surprise! But what a beautiful place! The intricate designs are really something to see as are all the statues, big and small, all around the grounds. It took us ages to walk around everywhere!
Took another tuktuk to the reclining Buddah. We had seen one in Mae Sot in the Burmese style that was longer but this one was much nicer. We were going to have another foot massage in the grounds but there was almost an hours wait so we decided to go on a boat ride on the river instead. We took a long boat around the canals and on the river..such an interesting boat. They have this huge engine attached to the back of the boat. When the driver wants to turn the corner, he has to lean so far out of the boat to do so! Not a terribly exciting view in the canals but as it was 35C it was lovely and cool on the water!
Back to the hotel on the sky train to have something to eat at the shopping centre and then off to the airport to await our midnight flight.
So modes of transport today: lift, taxi, tuktuk, long boat, sky train, limousine, escalators, plenty of walking and shortly an airplane!
This is my last blog! Hope you have enjoyed our adventures and photos! I've really enjoyed taking the time to blog about our trip! Until next time! Thanks for reading,!!!