On the van at 0830 and off to the longboat. Twenty minutes in rush hour traffic and we arrived at the Pier. Travelling the Canal was fun. The boat had six rows of seats and was very stable considering the thin beam (nautical term meaning the width of the boat). The design of the boat was made for very shallow waters. A large engine, usually a V8 is on pivots and the propellor is at the end of a drive shaft that is about 60% out of the water at its deepest. The ‘driver’ raises and lowers the prop according to the depth of the water. Travelling at a speed high enough to produce ‘rooster-tails’ and a wake the passing boats rock very little in that wake.

Arriving at the first Temple – we visited three today, we soon discovered that the architecture is similar and there are plenty of people who pray and visit. We observed the necessary etiquette – modest dress and shoes off and entered these holy places. We were surprised by the commercial activity on the premises, plenty of things to buy and amazed by the colour of the buildings as well as the number of statues; most of Chinese design. The first Temple gave us an idea of the things we would be seeing, the third one was overkill even though it was the largest and most ornate. The third visit was a fill-in as we were supposed to visit the Imperial Palace but that was cancelled as the place was closed. The Queen Mother had died three days ago and the Country was in official mourning. 

The second Temple (Wat Muang) is the home of the “Big Buddha” wikiref here  – wikiquote: “Located at the Wat Muang temple in the Ang Thong Province, this statue stands 92 m (300 ft) high, and is 63 m (210 ft) wide. Construction commenced in 1990, and was completed in 2008. It is painted gold and made of concrete.The Buddha is in the seated posture called Maravijaya Attitude”. It was hard to find a place to take a good picture but they did provide a raised stand where you could see about 75% of the height. Back to the boat and on to Temple 3

Wat Pho wikiref here – the last Temple we saw today, was the largest and the home of “The Reclining Buddha” . This place was the most crowded and I think they all came to see the Reclining Buddha. This place also had many mini Temples and is the home of 396 Buddhas. We didn’t see them all but we did do the grounds, including the remarkable Crocodile Pond – no crocodiles but a very well laid pond and fountain display.

Leaving Wat Pho, we left the Canal and had to enter the river, but due to the extensive water control measures we had to wait for one of the control gates to be lifted. Just like the lock system we are familiar with we waited outside for the gate to lift. It did and we watched as the armada of longboats passed us before we could enter. The large river was crossed just missing many of the boats in the busy waterway we disembarked, this Pier was tricky as it was higher than the others. Us old folks felt good to be able to clamber over the side of the boat and get up the stairs in one piece without falling overboard. We then went for lunch. The guide steered us to a little resto down the street. Telling us “Lunch is paid for – pick one meal and you get  water, anything else is on you” and a mighty fine lunch it was too!

Remember how I told you all that we have strived to give each one of the group the opportunity to do one thing dear to their hearts? Well on of the group is an inveterate (some may call it compulsive) shopper. She wanted to buy Thai jewelry. So off to a large jewelry store but the bonus was that their was a huge souvenir store on the second floor which kept the rest of us busy for a while. Unfortunately the jewelry shopper was till taking too long. And even longer as the export paperwork was completed. Finally the day was over.