South East Asia

Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam and Hong Kong

We embarked on another Viking Cruise Lines trip to South East Asia. We spent a few days in Bangkok prior to boarding our ship, Viking Orion. Then we sailed to ports in Cambodia, Vietnam and Hong Kong. At each port we went on extensive excursions in every country. Here’s an account of the voyage.

Note: None of my images include AI generated content.

Bangkok Thailand

Travel to Bangkok from Phoenix involved 22 hours of time in the air and, with layovers, a total of 28 hours of actual travel.

We had arranged our flights to arrive in Bangkok early in the afternoon with the intent that we’d have some time to get out in the evening and explore. When we landed, however, we were so wiped out that by the time we got to the hotel we just collapsed.

I managed to take only one photograph that day. This image is of the Chao Phraya River from our hotel room at the Shangri-La in Bangkok.

The following day we had tours planned but before they started, we took a few minutes to walk around the streets near our hotel. We only had an hour or so but had a nice walk and then breakfast back at the hotel. The photos below are a few phone snapshots from that walk before the start of our first tour.

Later, after a nice breakfast at the hotel, we boarded buses for our first tour: the compound containing the Royal Palace and the temple of the Emerald Buddha (called Wat Phro Kaeo - “Wat” means “temple”).

Since it was a large group tour, we had to move along quickly. It was difficult finding shots that didn't involve a bunch of people or that captured a panoramic kind of scene of any part of the complex.

This first shot is the skyline of the entire complex as we arrived. The roofs of the various buildings are largely covered in porcelain tiles that reflect the sun.

I used a polarizing filter for the shot to reduce the glare on the roof tiles. I wanted to show detail but since my orientation to the buildings did not put me at right angles to the sun, the filter didn't eliminate all of the reflected glare.

I think that's OK because although I wanted to keep some detail in the roofs I do think that the sparkle of the roof tiles is important to the story of the place. So the balance I achieved in the initial photograph seems right to me.

Entering the Royal Palace and temple complex in Bangkok is not simple. There is a massive underground entrance foyer where people line up and show tickets. We moved through there quickly since it wasn't particularly busy and we were with the group tour.

Anyway, once we entered I took the following photograph showing the front of Wat Phro Kaeo. Since the wall of the compound was close to the temple on the right I didn't have the option to photograph it direct on but I think this angled shot in the first image works well.

It shows the front of the temple (with the red roof) and one of the three white Prangs (also called pagodas or stupas) arranged around the temple. These represent Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva from Hinduism (which has largely merged into Theravada Buddhism).

You can also see the stone guardian warriors arranged around the temple grounds. These are called "Chinese Attendants" or Jin Siang. They guard the temple as symbols of protection and stability.

These statues came to Thailand as ballast in Chinese trading ships in the 18th and 19th centuries. Thus the statues also represent foreign trade and cultural exchange.

They are human figures as opposed to demons and are often represented as general, scholars or court officials. Subsequent images give more details from around the temple

After that we wandered the area around the temple. It was very impressive. I took a lot of photos even though the conditions where challenging. Here are samples…