We arrived in Thailand on late Friday night, August 18th, after a five hour flight from Beijing. Our first impression of Bangkok was a city of the night! Although close to 11.00 p.m. the streets were in full swing, the markets were all open as well as all of the stores that we seemed to pass on the way to the hotel.

We only had three nights and two days in Bangkok before moving on to a more leisurely pace to the tropical island of Koh Samui. Our travel agent had recommended us to stay at the Sheraton Royal Orchid Hotel directly on the Chao Phraya River in Bangkok and his choice was perfect. The river is like a lifeline feeding the the city and already from the early morning, the boats, ferries, and rice barges were plowing the water outside of our hotel.

We took a guide for an afternoon tour of the water canals, together with the Grand Palace and the Temple of the Emerald Buddha. The guide first ferried us out onto the typical Thai “longboats” that have a small mounted car engine on the back with a long propeller which not only drives the boat but also acts as the rudder of the boat. These engines are dirty, polluting, diesel driven motors that are surprisingly quite fast and nimble as they make their way through the canals and rivers of Bangkok.

The houses along the canals were simple shacks and with it being the weekend, there were loads of kids playing at the edge of the canals. Our guide stressed, that although they may not have enjoyed our level of material wealth, they were all happy and their small shacks were kept spotlessly clean. Our children were happy to be looking at the scenes along the canal from a respectful distance.

We continued our boat ride to the Grand Palace of the King which is right in the middle of Bangkok along the riverfront. The first thing to strike you upon entering the grounds was the meticulously restored buildings. The colors were very vibrant and lively and the collection of different temples on the one sight was most unusual compared to the temples we had seen in Beijing.

The strict dress code was enforced and Margaret had to purchase a wrap around skirt to put on before entering the Grand Palace. After having spent the better part of a week in China checking out the Great Wall, temples and palaces, etc, our children were in that dull sort of “overkill” mode – which basically translates into that they were simply “templed out”. This was one of the reasons we splurged for the private guide who was very attuned to the needs of the kids as well. All explanations and descriptions were kept to a minimum and we simply visited the main sites such as the Temple of the Emerald Buddha among others.

There was another reason as well – the rain clouds had begun building up over our heads and we were not in the mood to have a repeat of our visit to the Forbidden City where we all got absolutely drenched! We made to the awaiting taxi just as it started spitting and belong the rain was pouring down. We didn’t bother as out tour now became a classic city tour from the comforts of our air-conditioned taxi.

With nothing else to do our guide brought us to the exposition hall of Classic Gems – reportedly the largest jewellery store in the world!? Now we all had to laugh, because “Anna” our guide had no idea that I sold jewellery back in Switzerland and the least of our interests would be to buy anything here in Thailand! However we played along and I was interested to see how they organized the entire “factory tour” with its large showroom at the end.

We made our way back to the hotel with our wallets still intact and plans for us all to enjoy a Spa the following day. Of course you couldn’t be in Bangkok and not find your way to the shops! Bangkok encourages its reputation as the “shopping capital of Asia” and you can find whatever your heart desires. We were on the hunt for some woodcarvings, furniture or paintings to have shipped back to Switzerland, but could not find anything in the short time we had there! Nevertheless we found plenty of shops with everything else under the sun!

After our two very intense days in Bangkok, we flew ot the island of Koh Samui to relax on the beach for a while. The weather had been atrocious before we arrived, but broke the day before we got there and stayed pleasant throughout the week. We chose a resort type hotel on the famous and busiest beach – Chaewong Beach on the eastern side of the island. The beaches were those picturesque ones lined with palm trees and coconuts. This was truly an enjoyable place to wind down for the last part of our trip. I turned my mobile phone off, put my TravelTec into the hotel safe and simply chilled out with my family for the rest of the week!