Day 10: Cruising Bangkok's canals via river boat

Most tourists who visit Bangkok are of course aware of the Chao Phraya river, where a lot of Bangkok’s attractions and hotels are located, but less have explored the complex and intricate network of small rivers and canals criss cross the city.

After the Grand Palace, our guide hailed a river boat and we hopped on to it. I was very surprised how low the boat was, it felt like we were almost touching the water. But fortunately, the waters are quite calm. The river boat operator took us along the Chao Phraya river, but then ducked into a canal (Bangkok Noi) and soon we were exploring a side of Bangkok I have never seen before.

We passed through old communities along the canal banks where life seemed peaceful and far away from the bustling city. We also saw several temples, including one next to a statue of the Buddha where we could feed the catfish by throwing scraps of bread to the water. We also passed through the Royal Barges National Museum พิพิธภัณฑสถานแห่งชาติ เรือพระราชพิธี.

This video is a glimpse of what the river journey is like: