the boys went out last night and bought "Ralex" watches ... they work ... often! they reckon that they have saved US$10,000 by buying them here, so are now in "credit"!
0800 - Oh Oh (guide) picks us up and takes us down to the Chao Phraya River ... We jump on our own boat and take a trip along the river and into the canals. The river is 380 kms long - from Chiang Mai in the North down to the Indian Ocean.
The canals are wonderful. The rich & the poor live side by side. Many houses were built on dry land but erosion forced them to rebuild their homes on stilts. We just had such a lovely time waving at people and seeing "ice cream" or "coffee" delivery boats!
a puppy says "hello"!
It is illegal to fish near a Temple so that's where the catfish live! It is NOT illegal to feed them so we did - with loaves of bread - it was a veritable frenzy! excellent to watch! 
first up, "wat arun" - "the temple of dawn". 67 metres high. it's one of the most beautiful buildings in Bangkok. this side of the city was originally the "capital" but because of annual flooding, was moved over the other side of the river.
Next up, "wat pho" - home of the an amazing golden reclining Buddha. It's 46 metres long and 15 metres high. the soles of the feet are inlaid with mother of pearl. also on the 24 acre site, 95 chedis (pagodas) - shrines. "wat pho" is regarded as Thailand's first university ... and specialises in Thai massage and complimentary medicine.
another statue
a massage ... ten minutes of heaven!
the Golden Mount ... built in the Ayutthaua period ... 1350 to 1767. We climbed and climbed ... and reached he top of the Holiest Shrine in Thailand.
Fragments of bones from Lord Buddha himself are in here ....
Paae ... the monk came for a chat ... talked about his time in Wimbledon, took us up to the golden pagoda and bought us orange juice!
the pagoda ...
Next up, Temple of The Golden Buddha and one of the remarkable things things we have ever filmed. In 1939, a temple was built and a couple of years later, a HUGE golden Buddha - made of cement and covered in gold paint was bought from another part of Thailand here. On May 25th 1955 there was a HUGE rainstorm and the cement cracked. A monk found, under the cement, an 18 carat, 5 metre tall, weighing 5.5 tons pure gold Buddha. It is made of 9 separate pieces of gold. It has recently been rehoused and opens to the public on December 23rd. We are the first film crew to be allowed to film in the new building.
We had a very private viewing ... it was humbling ... and totally amazing!!!!
Finally to James Fashion ... the ultimate Bangkok tailor. Arun Kumar Sachdev was at hand to measure me, advise me on fabrics & colours. We spent an excellent three hours talking clothes and I bought some ... more on that on Thursday. It was a perfect day.
Song of the Day: Perfect - Fairground Attraction
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=873Fg42j6i4
Weather: Warm and happy!
