Final Day in Bangkok!

Another hot and sunny day in Bangkok!  We left at 7:00 am to drive outside of Bangkok.  It was nice to get out of the city to see some of the countryside. We passed by large salt flats where they collect salt from the ocean water.  We stopped to get a close up look of the workers raking up the salt.  They were fully covered from head to foot, working out in that dreadful heat!  It made our jobs look pretty good!
We also stopped at a family owned coconut farm.  We saw how they use every part of the coconut, nothing goes to waste.  They were boiling the coconut in big vats over the fire, another job I wouldn't want.  We got to sample several coconut goodies and we each got to drink the juice and eat the flesh of a coconut.  We also got to go inside the home of the owners to see a typical Thai home.
From there we travelled to the Damnoen Saduak Floating Market. When we got to the area, we got into longboats and travelled up the canals to the market. The floating market is an amazing site to see.  The merchants have their boats loaded with goods and they move along the river selling their wares.  Some of the boats have food cooking for people to get their meal right there.  Along the side they have market stalls set up for the tourists.  It is quite a maze!  We had some free time to shop some more!!
When we got back on the bus to start heading back to Bangkok, our guide, Louis, served us numerous types of fruit from Thailand.  My favourites were the fried bananas and the coconut pancakes.  All we needed was some rum and we could have had a Piña Colada lunch!
Louis was a great guide. He was fun and very knowledgeable and he loved to sing.  On several occasions he started singing and we all joined in.  Bus karaoke!  I was happy because we sand "Country Roads" a couple of times!  He told me that he actually met John Denver in the US so now we are kindred spirits!!
We also stopped at the "Golden Pagoda", the world's largest Pagoda.  It is massive!  This Pagoda is often shown on the front of Thailand travel books, so I almost felt like I had been there before.

When we got back to Bangkok we stopped to see the "Golden Buddha".  This statue is huge and it is solid gold, worth a few dollars!!!!  Then we got to sit in the traffic again on our way back to the hotel.   I don't know hoe people deal with that traffic on a daily basis!!

We had two hours at the hotel to refresh and relax before leaving for dinner.  We were on our own for dinner so just our group walked to the "Cabbages and Condoms" restaurant.  This restaurant promotes family planning in Thailand.  It had very interesting decor with all kinds of things made from condoms.  As tacky as it sounds, the restaurant was actually quite classy and we had a nice meal.

When we returned to the hotel everyone headed upstairs to pack and get to bed as early as possible.  We had to leave the hotel at 3:50 am to go to the airport.  Our flight to Tokyo left at 7:00 am.  When we arrived in Tokyo  (this is where we are now)we discovered that our flight is delayed by two hours.
We don't have to worry about missing our flight in Vancouver because we have a 10 hour layover there.  Go Ahead has provided us with day rooms at the airport hotel, so that will make I easier to take.

That's it for this blog, hope you enjoyed sharing our adventures.  I will add pictures shortly, if the airport wifi continues to operate! Thanks for following our trip!