The Mighty Chao Phraya River in Bangkok

by Bill Bradley
(Darwin Australia)

A Ball Point Sketch

Hi Aela, A nice site you have here. Keep it up you are doing a good job.

I'd like to tell you about my favourite location in Bangkok. It is without a doubt the Mighty Chao Phraya River and the marvellous Chao Phraya Express Boat service that use it.

These public ferry boats run up and down the river and it is convenient for tourists and locals alike to get away from the traffic in the city streets and take to the water. Stops seem to be near just about at all of the interesting places to visit and the fares are so cheap you'll be surprised.

WARNING, if you don't like hustle and bustle, smelly diesel fumes, sitting next to half a dozen Buddhist monks or twenty giggling school kids, if you get migraine when the skipper's offsider blasts his whistle in your ear then don't use the express boats to see Bangkok's attractions. Get a taxi, (but be prepared to wake the driver up now and again when the traffic does move).

I always travel with a sketch book just to remind of the places that I visit. When I look at the sketch above I can still hear the noises and smell the smells of the Chao Phraya. I was in a little cafe taking it easy after a morning visiting the temples that are within easy walking distance of the Tha Tien boat stop.

I was looking across the river and sketching the beautiful "Temple of the Dawn" and as the afternoon sun fell one of the waitresses pulled down a bamboo blind. No worries to a sketcher, I just finished it off through the gaps. Then I stuck one of the river boat tickets stubs to the top to give me another reminder of a great day in Bangkok.

If like me you get to love the travel on the river then you may like to take a longer day trip up river the one of Thailand's old capitals, Ayutthaya. But that's another story.