The Royal Barge Procession – Dress Rehearsal - Photo Report

[Big Boy]

NB: I am still on the road a fair bit for a few days, so updates will not be daily - I will be away from my computer for short periods, so installments will not be as regular as usual.

Part 1

Background

Something I’ve wanted to do for many years is watch the Royal Barges go down the Chao Phraya. As soon as I heard it was going to happen, I just had to visit Bangkok to view it with my own eyes. I know the actual event will be very busy, so when I saw there were going to be a couple of dress rehearsals, I decided that would do for me. I am interested in seeing the boats. Of course, it would be nice to see the full event, but Bangkok will be very busy for that.

I needed a vantage point to watch from – somewhere that would be easy access for my wife in her wheelchair. I decided to book a hotel en-route of the procession with river access. The only suitable hotel I could find with availability was the Baan Wanglang Riverside, which I booked within hours of the dates being announced. Even then river view rooms had sold out. Baan Wanglang Riverside has a riverside coffee shop, a riverside restaurant and 2 riverside bars – all with potential viewing points.

Of course, when looking for our hotel, my focus was 100% on river location. Access to the hotel/car parking was not even a slight consideration. This was Bangkok, the Grand Metropolis – access and parking are a given.

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I then booked a taxi both ways, which was just as well because what I didn’t realise is the hotel did not normally receive vehicles. You are supposed to go to a meeting point and a courtesy tuk tuk will pick you up (nothing about that on the booking sites). Neither I nor the taxi driver were aware of this when we travelled. The hotel is in the middle of a series of very narrow streets, with market stalls thrown in on either side to make it even more difficult. I would not have fancied driving my truck through those streets. I think our driver was very nervous about it, but he somehow got us there.

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Day 1 - The journey

Shock, horror! My wife had a replacement knee operation 5 weeks ago. Such has been her rapid recovery, she opted to leave her wheelchair at home. I was just hoping this would not come back to bite me on the bum.

We left home at 10am, and the journey to Bangkok was fairly routine. Roadworks from Samut Sakhon slowed things down considerably. Once we got into Bangkok, it was a real crawl, but the driver got us there in about 3.5 hours, which was quite good, considering.

Day 1 - The Hotel

A nice little riverside hotel, and we went through the usual check-in procedure. Then the sting. We have a special offer today. You have booked a room with a city view. We can upgrade you to a river view for a special price. I asked how much that special price was, and I was told just 2,000฿ extra per night. I declined.

We were then taken to our room, and I soon realised that all rooms had to have a river view. Yes, if I looked left, there was the city, but if I looked straight ahead or right, I had a river view. The special upgrade was no more than a con. Apart from the 3 river facing rooms in the front of the hotel, which were very special, all rooms had a very similar view, Not the largest room in the world, but very well presented.

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I was delighted, especially when I saw that I had a balcony with a river view. That was a big 4,000฿ better off in my wallet than the hotel’s.

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Day 1 – Wat Arun

LOL – what a disaster. We had the afternoon to kill, and this is a Wat that I’ve always wanted to visit, but have never got around to. This was the perfect opportunity.

We were settled in our room, so off we set. We could see the river boat pier from the hotel – a 170 mtr walk according to Google Maps. My wife was up for it. We got downstairs and I said wait a minute, let me see the river from the coffee shop first. I stepped outside of the hotel, there was a loud clap of thunder, and the heavens opened. So that was Wat Arun postponed. We had a delicious slice of strawberry cheesecake and a hot latte instead.

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We returned to our room – rain had well and truly stopped play.

About 4:15, the rain stopped, and we were on our way again. We had to walk through the narrow market where the taxi had brought us. It was so narrow, I’ve no idea how he got his car out of there again.

Neither of us had been on a Bangkok River Boat before, so it was a new experience. We bought our tickets (40฿ each) and we were on our way. What a horrible way to travel – I love boats, but this was more like Hell. We were on a tourist hop on hop off service. It was so noisy – everybody seemed to be shouting. It was mayhem. We found out later that the hop on hop off service was expensive compared to regular ferries.

I got off the boat at Wat Arun, and was immediately hit with dual pricing. Thais were free, and foreigners had to pay 200฿. I’m not a stingy git (well, not too stingy), but I hate dual pricing, and this was extreme. I hadn’t even considered there would be an admission fee to get into a temple. I was tempted to get back on to the boat again, but as my wife had made the effort (her longest walk in many months), I thought I’d better pay the money.

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We got through the gate, another clap of thunder, and the heavens opened again. My wife isn’t allowed to get wet!!! I got her under shelter almost immediately, plus she had an umbrella with her.

I tried to look around the temple, which was packed, alone. It was quite nice, but the decoration was like bits of broken crockery – very strange. The weather was not conducive to taking photos, so I soon called it a day. A very expensive 200฿.

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Fortunately, I had my wife’s foul weather gear with me and got her into it. Then the biggest conundrum of the day. Catching the boat to Wat Arun was simple – everybody knows Wat Arun, and we had no trouble buying tickets. However, we didn’t have a clue where we had caught the boat in the first place. A pier that I could see out of the hotel window…………………….. oops. I was starting to think I was staying at Wat Arun for the night, so not too bad for 200฿. After a lot of negotiating between my wife and the ticket seller, between them they thought they knew where we had caught the boat. We paid our money, and sure enough, we were back at our starting point. The boat was just as chaotic/noisy though.

……………………… to be continued.

[STEVE G]

Neither of us had been on a Bangkok River Boat before, so it was a new experience. We bought our tickets (40฿ each) and we were on our way. What a horrible way to travel – I love boats, but this was more like Hell. We were on a tourist hop on hop off service. It was so noisy – everybody seemed to be shouting. It was mayhem. We found out later that the hop on hop off service was expensive compared to regular ferries

I've used the regular ferry, the river bus service in the past and what I remember about it was that you get about two seconds at each stop to get on or off.
The boat pulls into the pier, a guy throws a rope over a bollard to stop it, people jump on and off and he immediately blows a whistle and casts off.
Basically, don't try it if you're not both feeling sprightly!

[Big Boy]

Neither of us had been on a Bangkok River Boat before, so it was a new experience. We bought our tickets (40฿ each) and we were on our way. What a horrible way to travel – I love boats, but this was more like Hell. We were on a tourist hop on hop off service. It was so noisy – everybody seemed to be shouting. It was mayhem. We found out later that the hop on hop off service was expensive compared to regular ferries

I've used the regular ferry, the river bus service in the past and what I remember about it was that you get about two seconds at each stop to get on or off.
The boat pulls into the pier, a guy throws a rope over a bollard to stop it, people jump on and off and he immediately blows a whistle and casts off.
Basically, don't try it if you're not both feeling sprightly!

An advance preview of what is to come......

Getting off, my wife stepped ashore, and he was gone. I either had a 4 foot leap of faith, or stay put. I didn’t fancy the leap of faith/drowning, so I remained put. Max was quite riled at this, and went into reverse at high speed. Wow!!! Didn’t he put the arse end into the pier with intense power? The back end of the boat went down about 2’ and the jetty went up as he struck. His mooring mate jumped about 4’ up to the jetty, but I wasn’t budging. Eventually the boat stopped rocking violently, and I stepped ashore.

[Bamboo Grove]

Wat Arun is really nice. I've been there several times taking tourists there. I never felt bored seeing it, either from the river or walking around it. It used to be the royal temple of King Taksin.

[caller]

I know the area you are at BB, and I really like that market. All sorts of goodies at good prices and not aimed at tourists in any way.

The reason I know it, and taking you away from the main thrust of this thread, is because that's the area with all the pharmacies servicing the massive Siriraj public hospital, where the late King spent most of his last days. I get my meds from there, as they are significantly cheaper than elsewhere, I have mentioned this before in threads about meds/pharmacies. They are just a five minutes walk from you. They are centred along Wang Lang Road, towards the flyover away from the river end. The most well known is Fascino, which is huge, it even has public toilets! But we mainly use one that is independent, before reaching Fascino, if heading from the end of the road with the flyover. If you get time, it might be worth your while checking them out.

We haven't been there for a while, as Pam now orders direct and they deliver the same day via bike (in Bkk).

[Big Boy]

Yes, I saw the sign for the hospital, and asked Mrs BB if that was the place the King finished his days. I didn't realise the pharmacy connection though.

I loved the area, and you don't normally hear me say anything good about Bangkok. It certainly wasn't a hotel I'd have normally selected, but my selection criterion was river location rather than anything else. I didn't believe the road the taxi was driving on, especially the final right turn. I would not have even attempted that in my truck. The hotel itself was compact, but very nice. I could easily stay there again.

The market was just another market to me (I hate shopping of any kind), but it did look very Thai orientated.

[STEVE G]

Neither of us had been on a Bangkok River Boat before, so it was a new experience. We bought our tickets (40฿ each) and we were on our way. What a horrible way to travel – I love boats, but this was more like Hell. We were on a tourist hop on hop off service. It was so noisy – everybody seemed to be shouting. It was mayhem. We found out later that the hop on hop off service was expensive compared to regular ferries

I've used the regular ferry, the river bus service in the past and what I remember about it was that you get about two seconds at each stop to get on or off.
The boat pulls into the pier, a guy throws a rope over a bollard to stop it, people jump on and off and he immediately blows a whistle and casts off.
Basically, don't try it if you're not both feeling sprightly!

An advance preview of what is to come......

Getting off, my wife stepped ashore, and he was gone. I either had a 4 foot leap of faith, or stay put. I didn’t fancy the leap of faith/drowning, so I remained put. Max was quite riled at this, and went into reverse at high speed. Wow!!! Didn’t he put the arse end into the pier with intense power? The back end of the boat went down about 2’ and the jetty went up as he struck. His mooring mate jumped about 4’ up to the jetty, but I wasn’t budging. Eventually the boat stopped rocking violently, and I stepped ashore.

Yep, that's exactly how I remember it!

[Big Boy]

Part 2

Day 1 – evening

We got to our room, and it was a hot shower for both of us……………. or was it? The power on the shower wouldn’t stay on for more than 2 seconds. So cold showers and then down complain to reception. The shower was broken, but was fixed within an hour.

We then thought we’d use the Ton Makok Restaurant for our evening meal. It was raining, so we didn’t want to go outside to eat. We walk in, and it was packed – not a seat to be had. They told us to use the coffee shop downstairs – we’d looked at their menu earlier, and didn’t fancy that. Plan C took us to the 5 Floor Bar – 342 Bar. The food was acceptable. However, the views from up there were incredible. It was like doing a Bangkok River Cruise all from a bar stool. Everything we saw on the cruise was there – absolutely fantastic.

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This was our River Boat pier

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I was like a kid in a sweetshop photographing the Dinner Cruise boats as they went past.

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Beer prices were astronomical (190฿ for a small Singha), but I don’t drink much anyway – especially when its Singha.

This was a bar that I’d never get fed up with, and I could sit and watch the world sail by every night. I loved it. If this was my vantage point for tomorrow’s procession, I wouldn’t be disappointed.


……………………… to be continued (probably Saturday pm).

[Big Boy]

Part 3

Day 2 – Breakfast was in the Ton Makok Restaurant, where we had failed to eat the evening before. A pretty good breakfast, with a mixture of buffet and a la carte - the main meals (you could choose 2) were a la carte, and everything else was help yourself. The setting was fantastic – 2nd floor overlooking the Chao Phraya with the full-size windows open. Just like being afloat, without the motion.

Even at this early stage, there was a massive river clean up going on. The equivalent of river road sweepers was out in force.

Royal Barges in the background

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There was actually a huge Naval and Police presence on the river today. Mind you, the Naval craft were not exactly frightening. Frogmen were checking piers, etc. for what I presume were bombs. Security was very high.

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Day 2 – Asiatique – at least that was the plan. As we left the hotel, the girl on reception asked where we were going to, and we answered that we were going to try the river boats again. She warned us that services would be suspended from midday because of the procession. We thanked her for the heads up and walked to the pier again, and tried to buy tickets. Asiatique please – not today. Many boats had been cancelled because of the Royal Barge Procession. Thinking on my feet – Icon Siam please. That’ll be 16฿ each. We paid our money and took a seat.

One thing I’d noticed with the river, during the day it looked quite choppy. Overnight when the majority of boat activity had stopped, it was almost flat calm.

Today’s boat was a lot smaller, and the driver thought he was Max Verstappen. So fast! It was a great platform for taking photos, and quite a long trip as well.

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I though this was some original street art

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Getting off, my wife stepped ashore, and he was gone. I either had a 4 foot leap of faith, or stay put. I didn’t fancy the leap of faith/drowning option, so I remained put. Max was quite riled at this, and went into reverse at high speed. Wow!!! Didn’t he put the arse end into the pier with intense power? The back end of the boat went down about 2’ and the jetty went up as he struck. His mooring mate had to jump about 4’ up to the jetty, but I wasn’t budging. Eventually the boat stopped rocking violently, and I stepped ashore. Off he went as if his life depended upon it. I think he was a Grab (read Uber Eats) driver in a past life. Driving like that, I’m sure boat driving will be a past life soon as well.

Icon Siam was closed. However, they were putting up the same Christmas decorations that had been up when we visited last year. It was as if we hadn’t been away.

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With nothing to do there, we went to the ticket office to get a boat back, and there was a notice saying all boats cancelled (this was at 9:45 – river was due to close at 12 for the procession). They were turning people away. We got there, and were told no boats (we could actually see one flying its orange flag coming down the river). We said yes there were as we’d just arrived on one. It worked, they let us through, and called the boat in for us.

A much safer driver this time, and more photo opportunities on the way back (some photos may be duplicated because I took them in both directions).

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I took this one as it was the last dinner cruise vessel we used.

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Our stop was N10. Just before N9 a Naval craft tried to turn us back, but our driver simply ignored him.

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It was chaos on the river at that point with every other boat emptying out at N9.

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If we’d got off the boat at N9, despite being able to see our hotel just a few hundred feet away, we’d have been stranded on the wrong side of the river with the hundreds of other passengers being forced to alight.

So close, but so far

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I knew the chances of getting a taxi back were very remote. Firstly we’d have been in a queue with hundreds of other stranded bods, and secondly, Bangkok taxi drivers would most likely have known our hotel was not reachable by road. We just acted dumb, and sat there. Sure enough, our driver went through another Naval Blockade to drop us at N10, and we got back to our hotel safely.

……………………… to be continued.

[Big Boy]

Part 4

Day 2 – The Procession – Getting Ready

VERY COINCIDENTAL, BUT THE BOATS IN THE PHOTOS THAT ARE CONTAINED WITHIN THIS REPORT WILL BE STRUTTING THEIR STUFF IN THE ACTUAL EVENT LATER TODAY.

The main event started at 3pm, and the current time was midday. Our room hadn’t been made up yet despite putting the ‘make up room’ notice on the door, so we had to get out of the room. Apparently, it is greener to make rooms up between 2pm and 5pm (never heard of that one to prevent Global Warming before), but I didn’t find that notice until our last day.

I’d noticed an ice cream parlour in the market, so it was time for a cheeky banana split. That wasted about 20 minutes, and what I hadn’t realised was my wife had been told not to go back to the room until after 2pm if we wanted the room made up.

We were stuck for something to do, so it was back to the hotel, where the public areas were no-go areas because of the procession. My wife said let’s go riverside, which we had been told was a definite no earlier in the morning. We just walked past the guards, and out to the riverside. On our way, we saw people sitting in the coffee shop. I immediately said we should go in for a latte.

In we went, and sat at a table – we were ignored (I noticed everybody was wearing little yellow stickers, just like Covid days when you had passed the temperature check). My wife went up to the counter, ordered and paid for coffee. That is when the fight started…………………

Actually, a member of staff approached her and said residents were not allowed in the coffee shop. We had to go to the Ton Manok Restaurant, which was a better vantage point for barge watching anyway (we had no plans for taking our procession positions just yet, but as we couldn’t return to our room until 2, we went for it). They said our coffee would be served there. We were then escorted to the restaurant, where they never had a table for us. The restaurant was set out beautifully for visitors who had booked meals weeks ago, and they had all of the prime viewing spots.

They brought in a table and 2 chairs for us, and we sat there with our latte, whilst the rest of the guests ate their slap-up meals. I did order a 2nd latte while we were there. I soon concluded that I would have a much better view of the river from my ‘city view’ room. However, our room was out of bounds for the next 2 hours.

We weren’t sat there long when the navy started moving barges into position – brilliant, and I wasn’t expecting this bonus. The boats with crews were being towed to the procession starting point (a couple of miles along the river). As each boat passed, I left my table, and found a much better vantage point to take photos. I was most likely blocking the view of those who had booked their ‘prime view’ table weeks ago, but they were too busy stuffing their faces to worry about a small obstruction like me. At least, that is what I told myself, and Thais hate confrontation anyway. I think I got some decent photos whilst we were there.

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The Asura Vuyapak Barge and the AsuraPaksee Barge. These two barges were first built in the reign of King Rama I, and rebuilt in King Rama IV.

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The Asura Vuyapak Barge or the AsuraPaksee Barge. These two barges were first built in the reign of King Rama I, and rebuilt in King Rama IV.

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The Asura Vuyapak Barge or the AsuraPaksee Barge. These two barges were first built in the reign of King Rama I, and rebuilt in King Rama IV.

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Ekkachai Hoen Hao or Ekkachai Lao Thong. These barges are mentioned in the account of the reign of King Narai the Great (reigned 1656 - 1688) of the Ayutthaya Kingdom.

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Ekkachai Hoen Hao or Ekkachai Lao Thong. These barges are mentioned in the account of the reign of King Narai the Great (reigned 1656 - 1688) of the Ayutthaya Kingdom.

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Ekkachai Hoen Hao or Ekkachai Lao Thong. These barges are mentioned in the account of the reign of King Narai the Great (reigned 1656 - 1688) of the Ayutthaya Kingdom.

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The Royal Barge Anekchat Bhuchong. Built during the reign of King Rama V.

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The Royal Barge Anekchat Bhuchong. Built during the reign of King Rama V.

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The Royal Barge Anantanakarat. First used on 14 April 1914,

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The Royal Barge Narai Song Subhan of King Rama IX. Built as a tribute to His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyade the Great (Rama IX) on the occassion of his Golden Jubilee in 1996.

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The Royal Barge Suphannakong. Completed in 1911

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The Royal Barge Suphannakong. Completed in 1911

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……………………… to be continued.

[KanDoo]

Well . . . . good on ya I guess. Guys in weird hats and longish boats. We'll see what happens next.

[Big Boy]

Well . . . . good on ya I guess. Guys in weird hats and longish boats. We'll see what happens next.

As a prelude to tomorrow's edition, this is a short video of what was coming when I went out onto my 'city view' balcony.

[Big Boy]

I think the Thai Navy must have employed Michael Fish. In a statement afterwards, they said they had been monitoring the weather carefully, and there was definitely no prolonged rain forecast.

Sorry Michael, my Mk 1 eyeball works better than your sophisticated weather radars

[Big Boy]

I’m back on the road early tomorrow, so I’ve decided to publish the 5th part of this report early to ease pressure on myself in the morning.

Part 5 – The Procession

At 2:15, we returned to our room, and I set up my camera on its tripod outside on the balcony in readiness. It was a while before the main event, so I lay on my bed and rested while I waited. My bed had the perfect view down the river where the parade would be coming from – a beautiful city view.

Just after 3, I could see activity beyond the bridge, so moved outside to my camera. The elephant in the room was staring at me. In the far distance I could make out barges moving around, but beyond the barges was Hell. There was the biggest thunder storm I’ve seen in a while brewing behind the barges – it would be a race which got to me first. The storm won.

Some people may have thought the storm/rain bomb was an absolute disaster, but hey, this is Thailand, anything can happen. Because I got the great photo opportunities that I wanted before and after the main event, this little extra just made everything real, and I actually enjoyed it a lot.

As you will see, visibility started quite good, with barges being visible beyond the bridge.

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As the procession approached, it was barely visible through the rain. I had come all of this way to watch silhouettes on the river – this wasn’t the plan. I could hear the chanting on the boats, but the silhouettes looked quite eerie through rain.

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The rain did ease, but by that time I think the boats had taken on too much water. The event had been washed out.

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Loads of boats went past, and then I could make out a silhouette, which having done my homework, I knew was the Royal Barge Anantanakarat. This 110 year old barge was one of the main craft, and I could make out it was moving very erratically. It was as if the rudder had failed (do these barges have rudders? That wasn’t part of my homework), or certainly one of the 2 guys who ride on the back wasn’t doing their job properly. It was going to crash into this morning’s river boat pier – or was it this morning’s crazy ferry driver chancing his hand at a bit of barge driving? Whatever, it hit the pier with a bit of a bang.

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There was a gap in the trees beneath me, and I could see the crew using anything they could get their hands on, which initially included ceremonial headgear before buckets arrived) to bail the barge out. It was quite funny to watch – a bit of excitement right beneath my vantage point.





A rigid raider pulled up to the Anantanakarat, and seemed to take the (what I presume were the) officers off, leaving the rest of the crew to save the barge alone, which they did.

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We saw other rigid raiders carrying officers from other boats later.

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Full marks to all of those drenched sailors who continued through the worst of conditions. Most definitely going above and beyond.

……………………… to be continued.

[Dannie Boy]

Great shame about the weather but full marks to everyone!!