Tuesday, December 30 2014 Last Day in Bangkok

Today is my last day in Bangkok. And the goal is to see the Vimanmek Palace, a former royal palace of King Rama V, and the world’s largest golden teakwood mansion. It was built in 1900, and after the current Grand Palace was built, became a storage facility for the royal household. In 1982, on the bicentennial of the founding of Bangkok, Her Majesty Queen Sirikit asked permission of His Majesty the King (Rama IX) to renovate the mansion for use as a museum to commemorate King Rama V by displaying his personal collection of art, antiques, his furniture, and porcelain.

But first, breakfast! And it was a very western breakfast.It is nice to have something familiar when far from home. The coffee is Thai coffee, and really, really good.

I saw on the web site that the Vimanmek it opened at 8:30, and left the hotel at 8:00. With light traffic outbound from central Bangkok, I was at the Vimanmek before 8:30 and waited outside. When the gates were opened, I learned that the gates open at 8:30, tickets go on sale at 9:00, and the grounds are opened at 9:30. Soon, many busses began to arrive, and it became clear that this is a very popular place for tourists. Most of the groups were asian, no surprise, as there are many Chinese tourists in Thailand in the weeks leading up to Chinese New Year.

While waiting for the ticket booth to open, I enjoyed strolling around and seeing some of the exhibits outside the mansion area including this display of cannon,

and the Chinese Octogonal Dragon Pavilion which was presented to the current king in 1996.

Just like at the Jim Thompson House Museum, photographs are not allowed in the buildings at the Vimanmek. And this is a very large building. When it was finally opened, I was quite amazed with how beautiful the collection was, and how beautifully built the mansion was.

Near the Vimanmek Palace, and part of the grounds is the Abhisek Dusit Thone Hall, where King Rama V held large meetings. This has been restored as a museum showcasing arts and crafts supported by the foundations of the Queen.

Back to the hotel by taxi, not a bad ride, but Bangkok traffic is a challenge, and inbound traffic at this time of day is very slow.

I had requested a late check-out of 1 PM, and was back from Vimanmek before noon. Showered, completed packing (including my camera so no pictures of the trip to Chiang Mai), and headed on a bit of an adventure. Coming in to Bangkok very late at night, I had arranged with the hotel to have someone pick me up. Not cheap, at about $75-80, but safe and expedient (and the trains do not run that late). From the hotel, it appeared that I could take the sky train to the Phaya Thai station, transfer to the Airport Rail Link, and go right into Suvarnabhumi airport. The sky train from Chit Lom station (right outside the InterContinental) to Phaya Thai station was 25 THB or less than 1 dollar. And the Airport Rail Link from Phaya Thai station to Suvarnabhumi airport was 50 THB, or less than 2 dollars, for a total of less than 3 dollars.

The trains are fast, and I was at the airport 2 and a half hours before my flight. Being a domestic flight, I was unsure whether they would let me check in, but they did. So after a bit of a wait chatting with fellow passengers, we were off to Chiang Mai.

Next: First Day in Chiang Mai