Cruise Lines

Last time I visited Bangkok I arrived on P&O Cruises' Aurora and we docked at Laem Chebang, from where it was a two-hour drive to the city (apparently we were lucky - it can take up to three hours if the traffic is bad).

However, Spirit of Adventure is a much smaller ship so it was able to sail up the Chao Praya river and park close to the city. I joined it straight from the airport on Wednesday and we stayed docked overnight so there was some time for sightseeing on Thursday.

Spirit of Adventure includes at least one excursion per port in the cruise price, which is very civilised. For Bangkok, there were two, one to the Temple of the Golden Buddha, the other to the Temple of the Reclining Buddha. Most of us chose the latter, which proved a good move.

The drive to the temple took us through the city's Indian town, past the flower market, where the pavements are packed stalls selling mainly yellow flowers - it's the colour of Buddha and of gold - and also through the very colourful Chinatown - all the more colourful as the streets are dressed up with red lanterns for the Chinese New Year on February 14.

"This is a very big area for buying gold," Oh, our guide, said (OK, it's a nickname but at least it's easy to spell).

I was more interested in the food stalls and shops, and really wished we could get out and wander for a while. But the big Buddha was waiting. And boy, was he big. Really stunning. We had time to walk around him and see the ladies dropping coins in the buckets along one side of the temple for good luck.

They are supposed to put a coin in each, but I noticed they were being selective, no doubt to save on the pennies. I guess that means the good luck will be selective as well!

"There are three seasons in Thailand - hot, hotter and hottest - and you are lucky because you have come during hot," Oh told us back on the coach. One man had collapsed while we were in the Ordination Hall, another attraction in the Temple of the Reclining Buddha, overcome with the heat, I suspect, and others were starting to moan and groan. I do wonder what they expected the weather to be like in Thailand.

Next stop was the Marble Temple, which was beautiful but disappointing after the grandeur Reclining Buddha, and then on to the inevitable shopping stop.

Oh did her best to dress it up by explaining how the government had encouraged local crafts during a previous economic downturn and at this stop we would see local jewellery being made, but at the end of the day it was just a shopping opportunity with highly-priced goods and Rottweiler sales staff.

"I was just going to walk through but I ended up buying a ring," one woman told me later. She was not the only one who had been "grabbed". Happily they completely ignored me as I walked through, realised the prices were way out of my league and went to watch the parking attendants trying to manage the coaches and mini buses coming in and out bringing hordes of unwitting tourists, which was a lot more fun (and shows how boring the shop was).

At 4pm that day, Spirit of Adventure's ropes were cast and we set sail down river for our next stop, Ko Kood, an island on the way to Cambodia. It's just a beach stop so a day off from the intellectual stuff, but that all starts again tomorrow when we visit Sihanoukville.

I'll see you there.