Wednesday at the Museum

We set out at about 9:30 for a silk store that was supposed to be a couple of blocks away. After hiking over there and asking around it turned out that the shop had moved. We called the owner to find the new location, but decided it was farther than we wanted to go - and it was already 92 deg and sweltering.

So we headed for our second destination, the National Museum by train and boat. We're getting good at this. There was a lot of chop on the river -the current is heading south and the wind was out of the south. There was a lot more tweeting going on from the stern to tell the driver which way to go at the piers. I am determined to get pictures of the whole process. Today I got the guy holding the rope as we approached the pier.

The pier near the Grand Palace and the museum has a sort of mini-market with a lot of vendors for food, clothing, shoes, souvenirs, etc. It's busy and crowded.

We decided to try to find lunch before going to the museum. The streets are lined with people trying to sell you fans, postcards, etc. We saw a small Thai restaurant and an Au Bon Pain - the rule was it had to be air conditioned. We decided to go with the ABP, just to see what it was like.

You fill out a slip of paper with your choice. One side English,the other in Thai. The menu is similar to that in the US and you can make your own sandwich. But the decor is totally different. They were selling books and other items and the seating was a lot more comfortable with padded wicker furniture. And they have green tea lattes that Dick decided to try - ice or no ice.

Then we headed down the street to the museum. It's not that large and there was no A/C. Bummer. We picked a few rooms that we wanted to see. It looked like the buildings used to be a wat - same roof, colors. Later we found out it used to be the residence of a Vice King. Who knew there were Vice Kings? There was a temple, but we decided to pass - tired of the shoes off ritual.

The first area had some really early history and archaeological artifacts. Michael decided this was not his cup of tea and bowed out. The rest of us plowed on. There was an interesting exhibit of contemporary artists attempting to recreate some of the old crafts. This one caught our eye - especially when we saw the label.

We decided to look at textiles, wood carving, and the gold, but we got side tracked by a room with musical instruments.

We eventually wandered through most of the rooms, including weaponry and ceramics. We were surprised at how little info there was - at least in English - about each item. Usually just a label and a rough time frame. This guy was very impressive.

Most of the textiles were printed, or painted. This one was the only ikat I saw. Reflections were a challenge. I took this by putting the iPhone against the glass.

We called it quits at about 2:15, checked out the Museum Shop and tried to find a cab. The first one refused to drive out to Sukhumvit, the second wanted BT200 - almost twice the going rate. It was beginning to feel like NYC at 5 PM. So we headed back to the river. Oops, this is the afternoon for the exercises with the royal barges. They canceled Monday because of the current and we assumed they would cancel today as well. Nope. So no boats are running. Back through the market to find a cab. This one wanted BT300, but Dick got him to accept 250. Took an hour to get to the hotel - which is why the taxis don't want to come out here and don't want to use the meter.

More wash. Trying to get everything washed before we leave for Bhutan on Friday AM. Having the washer and dryer has been a huge help.