rloke

The last stop of the tour was at a government-approved "jewelry factory" before we were driven back to Sriracha. By then, we were deep in the crazy rush hour traffic...so it was a long slog, almost 3 hours, back to the ship...

Some snapshots of the Palace...

There was a special event and we were not allowed to enter the building to get a closer look at the statue... Did not have my long zoom lens with me, so had to make do with the following heavily cropped photo...

The building that houses the national treasure...the Emerald Buddha...

A few more snapshots...

Some snapshots of the Grand Palace temple buildings...

After the fabulous lunch, we were bussed to the Grand Palace. Approaching the Grand Palace... It was a short 5 minute walk from where the tour bus dropped us off. The dress code is very strict here and there were some vendors along the way that sell long trousers and cover-ups at around USD3-5 I believe...the tour guide did a headcount of those who needed them and transacted with the vendor...

Thanks @liptastic Just something for us to look back on...

After Wat Arun, the river boat cruise ended with lunch at the Royal Orchid Sheraton. A very nice buffet with a good mix of traditional Thai as well as western dishes including a carving station and made-to-order pasta…

Not "the" Emerald Buddha...but emerald-ish nonetheless...

One is allowed to climb up to the top but be forewarned that the steps are steep...very steep...

Some snapshots...

Wat Arun is one of the most beautiful temple. Small pieces of colored glass and ceramics were used in its intricate designs. The Emerald Buddha, which is considered a national treasure, used to be housed here. The statue had been moved to the Grand Palace.

Regent was punted from the Laem Chabang Port due to port congestion. We were redirected to the Sriracha deep sea harbor instead. We took the upcharge excursion "Bangkok in a day". After a long drive into Bangkok, which thankfully included a quick rest stop by the highway where we saw lots of Celebrity cruise tour bus as well, our first stop was at the River City mall to board a river boat. Very impressive, big, noisy turbo Nissan diesel engines on these boats. A quick cruise into the canals to observe some local houses by the canal edge. The next stop was Wat Arun. Near the Wat Arun pier, we were given bread to feed the fish, tons of catfish, I believe, which were, of course waiting for the meal...

Thanks @venicecruiser...hope you had or will be having a good trip...😀

Before driving back to the port, we had a brief stop at the Vinh Trang pagoda...

It was lunch time after a short boat ride to an adjacent island. A good selection of traditional Vietnamese dishes...with soup, grilled pork, spring rolls, rice balls, shrimps and the "famous" elephant ear fish... Thankfully, the server removed the meat from the fish and wrapped it, along with lettuce and vermicelli, with rice paper for us... And that concluded our Mekong River boat tour. On the boat ride back to the pier, we were treated to a refreshing coconut drink...

After that, we were treated to some fruits while enjoying some traditional Vietnamese music and folk songs... Next, it was a short "sampan" trip down a narrow canal. After the boat ride, we visited a coconut candy shop where we saw how some of the candies were made...lots of candies for sale here...

We boarded the boat and headed off to Unicorn Island... Visited a farm with an apriary where we get to enjoy some tea with honey and lime, and local dried fruits as well as the precious royal jelly. All available for purchase, of course...royal jelly was US$10 per jar of about 2-3oz IIRC...

On the second day in Saigon, we took the Mekong River Delta tour. It was about an hour and a bit of drive to the river port. Traffic wasn't too bad and some interesting views along the way...especially this one...

After having a quick dinner at the buffet, we headed out on the evening tour to a folkloric show. It was held at the rooftop of the historic Majestic Hotel overlooking the river…the drive there was much better as the traffic had subsided quite a bit. Just about a half hour ride… The view out to the river from our table at the hotel… Some of the performers from the show…

La Veranda was transformed into an Asian Buffet while we overnighted at Saigon. Very nice buffet with excellent Asian themed food and dessert… The wasabi crusted flank steak was fantastic along with the various curries and soups and so were the desserts…

Roundabout in Saigon… IMG_3122.MOV

The brief final stop was at the market which used to be where the locals shop for groceries. That is not the case anymore...it had "transformed" to more of a tourist souvenir shopping site. It was then a slog back to the ship during evening rush hour...

We were next given some free time to explore the area around the city hall. Many fantastic French influenced heritage buildings...and some high end branded stores and hotels. The opera house for example...