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weather in Buenos Aires!

We say goodbye to the coconut farm, and our guide leads the way to our waiting motor coach. We arrive at the longtail boat dock and see the strangest boats ever. Long, with a long propeller shaft as their tails, and the biggest engine you can imagine.

                   And there is our boat, waiting for us to board.                                     Look at that ENGINE! I’d like to see inside the gear box
                                                                                                                             that propeller shaft is connected to. Awesome performance.

I take a selfie, and then a shot ahead. At the moment the engine is sort of idling, and we are cruising slowly down the canal.

We saw lots of ancestral shrines along the way, very ornate and richly colored with lots of gold leaf. Ancestors get respect.

There were long stretches of canals where the boatman would put the throttle to max and we would be shot down the canal.

We saw lots of beautiful homes along the canals, and I’m not sure I’d want to live in any of them, due to constant boat noise.

We came to an area that could easily pass for a shopping mall, Bangkok style.

And what’s a shopping mall without a food court. Anyone for coconut pancakes? They’re hot and freshly made.

               I do believe this lady could serve up a 4 course meal.                   Ahead is where our longtail boat tour ends.

We disembark and find ourselves in a nice little shop with lots of souvenirs just waiting for the hapless tourist like us.

We go up to the second deck to get a birds eye view of what gridlock is like in the canals. This is a very popular place.

The longtail boats must be very careful with their long tails. A careless boatman could easily make kindling of these boats.

It takes a lot of cooperation and a bit of jostling to make your way through this throng of boats.

We will shortly be leaving this place and head for the Elephant Village. We are looking forward to that. The elephants were quite amazing. We could buy bananas to feed them. They would put a whole bunch of them in their mouth at the same time. Their mouthes are huge. I wondered how many bunches it would take to sustain the massive beasts.

          An earlier group returning from their trek through the jungle.                              Their trunks were like a hand, very tactile, and demanding.

Pete taking Joan’s camera so he could photograph them on the elephant.

One last minute photo before they leave, and then they’re off, jostling and swaying back and forth as the elephant rambles on.

                Thumbs up, so it must mean everything is very AOK.                And here comes another group. I don’t know how many
                                                                                                                                           elephants they have here, but there seems to be a lot.

Circuit complete. One thing they don’t tell you is just how uncomfortable it is to ride on the back of an elephant. And they even have their own elephant “car wash”.

         As you can see, Mik and Joan didn’t get attacked by natives.          Great smile Joan. Does that mean you are ready to go again?

That night, back at our hotel, Pete and I ate at the garden Thai restaurant. The chicken and beef satay were excellent.

During our meal some dancers came into the restaurant and entertained us with a native dance. It was very nice.

Tomorrow will be our last day in Bangkok, and it promises to be another very full day. We will tour Bangkok’s Grand Palace, and will venture through Bangkok’s Chinatown to Wat Po, known as the temple of the Reclining Buddha. We are nearing the end of this amazing adventure, and looking back, I can’t believe the range and scope of what we have experienced.