You don’t have to worry cause you have no money, people on the river are happy to give

(This is me on a klong tour in Bangkok in 2004.  This is officially the first picture of me I've put on this blog.)

I took what is called a klong boat tour when I was in Bangkok. This is a long tail boat that takes you for a few hours around the city on the Chao Phraya river.

In looking through the pictures, it amazes me how Bangkok, maybe out of necessity or maybe out of ingenuity, utilizes the rivers & canals around it. The back porches of people's homes are the river. They keep boats off the back porch, and that is how they get from place to place, tying up their boats along the river and going shopping. Some older women actually will row around to different market sites or work sites and cook lunch for the construction workers, kind of a floating fast food restaurant.

There are regular boats that are part of the public transportation for the city. Instead of taking the bus, you take the boat, and it is usually much faster than the bus. Traffic congestion in Bangkok is horrible.

The river is an important part of Thailand’s history. Barges have been for centuries to carry sacred images of the Buddha from place to place, or to bring the current ruler into an area. On the klong boat tour, there is a stop off at the Royal Barge Museum, and it is breathtaking the craftsmanship that has gone into these Royal Barges. On the Chao Phraya river, they do have the Royal Barge Procession. 15 of these processions have taken place during the reign of the current king, King Rama IX, or King Bhumibol.  A version of the procession has been happening in Thailand for 700 years.

This will be another activity my nephew & I will do while we are in Bangkok for those first 4 days.