Marla and I dreamed of taking our oldest grandsons to Thailand, Singapore, and Bali, for ages. These are countries we explored for both business and personal pursuits for many years. After a year in planning, we finally made it happen. The image above is from our room at the Chatrium Hotel in Bangkok overlooking the majestic Chao Phraya River.

The boys were very excited to land in Bangkok. We flew a 10 1/2 hour direct flight to Tokyo’s Narita Airport from Denver and then a 6 1/2 hour flight to Bangkok. After checking into the Chatrium Hotel we happily went to bed at 2 am with a thirteen hour time change! We needed some sleep as our tour guide was meeting us a 9 AM the next day for our first tour. “Welcome to Thailand.”

All the major hotels on the Chao Phraya River have their own boats. The Chatrium boat runs every 20 minutes from the hotel to the Sathorn Pier, also known as “Central Pier.” The best way to experience the city is using public boats which make stops at important places along the river. Bangkok traffic can be horrendous.

Logan takes a picture of a Chinese style building on the way.

We passed “IconSiam”, Bangkok’s latest mega-luxury shopping mall. I’ll do a separate blog on some of the most amazing shopping malls you’ve ever seen in the months ahead.

Our first stop was the truly beautiful Grand Palace. Marla and I have visited the palace a few times before, and have taken our Wesco Fabrics’ designer tour groups there as well, and it never fails to amaze!

The glittering gold architecture is really spectacular!

The Boys were pretty jazzed to be in Bangkok. The paintings behind them depict the Ramayana story, an important part of the mythical culture in Thailand as well as in India and Indonesia.

The video of Thailand’s new king at the Grand Palace is fascinating.

Time for a quick break.

Wat Phra Kaew or the Temple of the Emerald Buddha is considered the most sacred Buddhist temple in Thailand.

Our guide explains the history of the Emerald Buddha.

Marla receives a blessing by dripping water on her head with a lotus flower.

Time for some fun!

We walked to Wat Pho, one of the oldest and most important temples in Bangkok, and home of the fabulous 150 foot long reclining Buddha.

What a wonderful day of explorations!

Our guide took us to many areas of Wat Pho we hadn’t seen before.

The temple complex houses the largest number of Buddha images in Thailand.

We hopped on a “long-tail”boat to explore some of the “klongs”, or canals, off the Chao Phraya River.

The many houses along the klongs are a hodgepodge of styles and condition. A number of small temples have their own small piers.

A “long-tail” boat passes swiftly by our side. Notice the floral decorations on the bow for good fortune.

Our last stop was a visit to the “flower market.” Most of the vendors produce flowers for the daily offerings to spirit houses. It’s a large market and wonderfully fragrant.

We took a cool afternoon dip in the Chatrium pool after the exhausting, but exhilarating day in Bangkok.

We finished our first day with dinner at the “Deck by Arun Residence”, across from the majestic “Wat Arun.” The name comes from the Hindu god “Aruna”, personifying the radiations of the rising sun. Sunset was around 6:45 PM so we reserved a good view table before arriving in Thailand. Check out the video below about Marla’s transformative spiritual episode in Wat Arun in 1995.

Watch for more adventures of the Decker brothers and Marla and Dick in the weeks ahead. The adventure is just beginning!

Photos: Dick Gentry. Not to be used without permission.