River cruise- Chao Phraya River

We board our large river cruise boat for our 3hr tour and immediately see the large food spread on a long table. Lunch is ready to go as soon as we pick our seating places. I’m looking for a table right next to a window for the best view. Left or right side, or should I say starboard or port, is always the question for the better views. I want to see every everything this cruise has to offer.

This river cruise is part of the large full day tour I booked through Viator with the Tour East Thailand operator called Thailand’s Ayutthaya Temples and River Cruise from Bangkok and is a White Orchid River cruise boat.

Originally I was planning on doing the self-guided river cruise tour I saw on Bangkokfoodtours.com. But this all inclusive full day tour I booked covered so much I though it was a good value for time, money, and logistics. If you have more time in Bangkok then a self-guided river cruise will get you hop-on-off visits to the riverside sites. Whereas the full tour river cruise you just sit back and view from the river.

After the delicious lunch it’s time to sit on the bow for unobstructed view of both river banks. There enough of a cooling breezed to make this quite pleasant to sit, relax and enjoy.

I couldn’t help but wonder what this building shaped liked lotus leaves was. There’s no information on this one.

Wat Daeng Thammachat Temple features a large Buddha statue for people born on a Saturday to pay respect to the Great Buddha Sheltered by Naga Hood.

The Rama VIII Bridge is an impressive looking cable-stayed bridge crossing the Chao Phraya River in Bangkok, Thailand. It was built to alleviate traffic congestion on the nearby Phra Pinklao Bridge and opened in 2002.

Wat Arun “temple of Dawn” is located on the Western bank of the Chao Phraya River. At 79 meters high it’s richly decorated with Over a million pieces of porcelain it has a Cambodian influence. Because King Taksin the great stopped in front of this temple one early morning, the king named it “Temple of Dawn”.

The river side scenery transitions as you get closer to the center of Bangkok from rural-like villages to a bustling city center with 5-Star hotels and shopping malls.

We are dropped off at the River City shopping complex for our rides back to our hotels. It was quite a full day of touring and this river cruise was the second half of the day. I thought it was good value for the money overall at $65 for the full day tour with the distances we traveled and lunch included.