After a huge thunder and lightning storm throughout the night, Queen Mary 2 arrived at Thailand's capital, Bangkok, a bustling old city, still full of the charming and crazy habits of the past but with modern business and transportation dropped on top. We had been warned about how busy the city was but we were unprepared for our 3 hour coach journey through the traffic jams to reach our drop off point at the Asia Hotel, from where we could start to explore on our own.

The coach was very ornate with draped curtains, our tour guide Ong, gave us maps and suggested transport for us to take but we had arrived late so we only had 5 hours to see as much as we could. Stuart had already made a list of the must sees. The weather was raining unfortunately, but it didn't stop us and at least it gave us a break from the high humidity. Our route to the city we passed by people living in poor conditions in the suburbs and by the river before it changed to expensive high rises and fancy houses.

We headed to the MTR at Siam station, sort of like a suspended subway train that runs around the city, high above the traffic jams, perfect for us. The MTR is super modern, very clean and although the Malaysian alphabet is impossible for us, the translations gave us a clue to where we had to go. At Saphan Taksin the station is by the riverside and we took a 20 minute river boat cruise up the Chao Phraya River to the Grand Palace. The riverbank was filled with temples and beautiful ornate buildings but also the poorer housing. We also saw the long tail boats fighting for space on a river that seemed as busy as the roads.

The Grand Palace was very ornate and detailed but we only had a short time to explore this huge area. We hired a Tuk Tuk for a speedy and bumpy ride to the Wat Pho Temple to see a huge reclining Buddha. It was the most impressive Buddha we had seen so far. Another Tuk Tuk ride and about 20 minutes later we were in the middle of the bustle of Chinatown for a quick look around. We bought some drinks and nibbles and before we knew it time had gone by and we had to take a taxi back to the Asia Hotel for our coach ride back to the ship.

We know there is much more to see and do in Bangkok but we just didn't have enough time, now another destination for us to come back and enjoy! Strangely we have to move our clocks forward one hour tonight for our visit to Singapore on Friday, we're going backwards!