Bangkok classic :-)

So, here we are again! The day trip was really tiring. We only slept for about 4 hours at night (hello jet lag), the automatic wake-up call came at 6 o'clock. At 6:30 our suitcases had to be packed and placed outside the room door, and for us it was time for breakfast. The breakfast buffet at the Sheraton offers everything your heart desires, so I enjoyed a mix of English and Thai breakfast. However, sushi for breakfast is not really my thing, I found out ;-)

At 7:30 our Thai tour guide Deu picked us up. She spoke German very well and always laughed at her own jokes :D

After everyone was marked with stickers number 33, 22 of us boarded the "Zebra" tour bus. Our first destination was Wat Traimit (Wat means temple). The temple houses a large sitting Buddha made of gold. All temple grounds must be walked barefoot, which was quite pleasant, but since it was raining, we had to put our wet feet back into our shoes.

The next temple was Wat Pho. We really liked the complex, as we were there so early, there were no other tour groups except us. So we had the complex all to ourselves at the beginning. The highlight of this temple is a 43-meter long reclining Buddha. The rain was getting heavier and to make matters worse, Deu told us that we had to walk to the Grand Palace on foot. Yay. So we bought a tiny umbrella, in purple with little octopuses on it, for 300 Baht. However, our shirt, pants, and shoes were already completely wet.

The Grand Palace, well, what can I say. Not necessarily a highlight in the rain and especially flooded with tourists. We couldn't really capture the atmosphere there. Since Thailand's king died on October 13, 2016, and the whole country is in mourning, we had to wear long pants and covered shoulders. The mourning period lasts for a year. The king's body is still in the palace, as a crematorium is built specifically for each king, which is then demolished after the cremation.

Deu then informed us that we had to walk to the pier again to take a boat on the Chao Praya river to the restaurant. A very touristy restaurant. Lunch in buffet form and there I probably got a severe stomach upset, on Wednesday I spent the whole day in bed on the AIDA with severe diarrhea. Well, European stomach, hehe.

After lunch, the small boat took us back to the Sheraton where our Zebra bus was already waiting. We continued with the tourist program and whoosh, 20 minutes later we were at a jewelry factory. Since we were not really interested in gold jewelry, we enjoyed the welcome drink (Cola :D) and spent the remaining time (20 minutes) outside by the bus. Then it was another 2-hour bus ride to Laem Chabang port where the AIDAbella was docked. We used the boring bus ride to sleep ;-)

The check-in at AIDA went quickly and smoothly. The suitcases were already in our cabin and the journey could finally begin.

More from AIDA coming soon....

Spelling mistakes unfortunately happen, as we are currently blogging from our mobile phones. J :-)