Bangkok Thursday 9 June

We both had a bit of jet lag last night. I know that jet lag hits hardest when you fly from the west towards the east, but why is it that its effect is that you want to go to sleep earlier and you wake up earlier? This seems to be the opposite to what you'd expect, but it resulted us both being wide awake at 4 am. However, we eventually got back to sleep and then only woke up just in time to check out the comprehensive buffet breakfast!

Added - Grand Temple

That done, we made for the Grand Temple and associated temples. It took a while for the taxi to battle through the late morning traffic (but at least the traffic moved, compared with later in the afternoon when we were in the skytrain and it was completely gridlocked). The first main temple you see is the Royal Monastery of the Emerald Buddha, and its associated terraces and other halls, galleries and structures. These are all extremely lavish and the handout you receive explains their significance and history. You then see (from the outside) the Borum Phiman mansion (used in the past occasionally as a royal residence and now used as a state guest house), followed by the Chakri Maha Prasat Hall (which contains a throne room and now used for purposes such as the reception of foreign ambassadors). You can then enter the Dusit Maha Prasat Throne Hall, used as lying-in-state place for royalty. Finally, there's an interesting museum. All in all, it's pretty impressive, and there's lots to see, although (perhaps understandably) you can't enter a number of the buildings.

Following this,  we thought we deserved some airconditioning, so we headed for the multi-storied MBK shopping complex. I spent a few minutes on one of the external pedestrian bridges. But then everyone was cleared off the main bridge and looking down, the street below was also completely clear – an amazing sight for Bangkok. The reason became clear when a convoy of official cars came along – apparently the Queen was going somewhere.

Back in the hotel, there seem to be some dark clouds brewing. It's coming to the end of the hot season and the wet season is due to start sometime soon. Perhaps we're in for a storm.!