Well, New Year, new country to explore. This year the lucky recipient of our escape from the record cold winter of Boston is Thailand. It’s the other side of the world and I must admit to a few pangs of regret on the very long journey that we hadn’t chosen something a little closer. Still, flying Emirates almost made up for the tedium of eighteen long hours through multiple time zones until we touched down in Bangkok.

First impression is of the smog - it blankets the city and results in a perpetual haze over the skyline. Second is that it’s big - more than ten million people call this city home. Our hotel, the Ramada Riverside, is situated directly on the Chao Phrya river and sipping a drink in the warm evening air watching the boats go by, the snow and cold of Boston seems very far away.

The next day it’s time to negotiate the river for ourselves. We’re meeting up with an organized tour in a couple of days, but in the meantime we’re discovering Bangkok by ourselves. The Chao Phyra River is quite the working river. Public transport boats, longtail boats and boats full of garbage, presumably on their way to be disposed of, share this river. Our hotel’s water shuttle transported us over to the public pier where we hopped on the public tourist boat to our first destination of Wat Arun.

Wat means temple and there are lots of them in Bangkok and all over Thailand. We started with the the Wat Arun or the Temple of Dawn, one of the most important temples in Thailand. It is best known for its massive prang, a tower on the Chao Phyra River built in Khmer architectural style. It is decorated with millions of pieces of colorful Chinese porcelain. The ordination hall houses the principal Buddha image of Wat Arun. Around the central prang are four pavilions are four pavilions with Buddha images representing four important events in the life of Buddha.

Our next step across the river was Wat Pho, best known as the home of the Reclining Buddha. It also has the city’s largest collection of Buddha images in Thailand and though we didn’t visit it, it has a massage school which is known as the birthplace of Thai massage which you can visit for a massage and given the heat and the number of people in all these temples, it would certainly be a welcome respite. It is one of the largest and oldest wats in Bangkok and is home to more than one thousand Buddha images. It is a very large complex. The temple grounds contain 91 small cedis (stupas or mounds), four great chedis, two belfries, a number of halls and other buildings and gardens. (Thank you Wikipedia for filling in the details of what we saw!). There are lots and lots of people there, particularly in the Hall of the Reclining Buddha where there is a long line to take photographs in one of the few spots where the entire Buddha image can be seen.

Of note, the dress code is strict. Long pants for men and/or long skirts for women. Elephant pants (probably the most comfortable looking yoga-type pants) are available everywhere for the equivalent of about $10 and are worn by both men and women. If you’re not suitably dressed, they do have clothes you can rent.

And a note on the transportation system. Tourists boats are available on the Taksin Pier and for about $4 you can stop at many of the “must see” sights in Bangkok. They are very popular and can be crowded. They also are very serious about the hop on/hop off philosophy. Stops are quick and passengers have to be quick on their feet to exit the boat. It’s a very efficient system and the boat attendants announce each stop. Most attendants have some English and are helpful but busy.

All in all, a very good first day. Can’t wait to see what tomorrow brings!