There is a lot of geography I’m learning about, like something called the Bight of Bangkok, also known as the Bay of Bangkok. Never heard of it before. It is the northernmost part of the Gulf of Thailand into which the three major rivers of central Thailand empty their waters; the Bang Pa Kong, the Mae Klong, and the Chao Phraya River, which winds its way up to Bangkok and intertwines with the capital city. With a population of nearly 10 million, Bangkok is huge and bustling with choking traffic congestion that the locals accept with frustrated resignation.

I cannot think of Bangkok without remembering my former colleagues, Jim and E Sarasalin. This married couple, educated in the United States, were highly respected and talented artists for Hallmark Cards for some 15 years. They returned to their homeland and their culture to raise their daughter and be with loved ones. Jim and E were from privileged families in Bangkok, but clearly not all it’s residents enjoy that same level of comfort. Within the city, connected multi-roofed slums lay in squalor next to high rise buildings, luxury apartments, and Buddhist temples, in a jungle of contrasting and clashing styles.

We were treated to an evening at the luxury end of that spectrum. For those of us former “around the world” travelers (and there are about 170 of us left, about half of the original roster, I’m told), the ship hosted an extravagant event at the palatial Peninsula Hotel featuring cocktails on the riverside outdoor lawn to the lilting sound of a string trio. We then enjoyed a traditional multi-course Thai dinner in the grand ballroom, followed by beautiful, creamy, latte-skinned Thai dancers in colorful native silks and a performance of intricate and elaborate Thai puppets during dessert. A show of fireworks over the river ended our introduction to the city, known in Thai as simply Krung Thep.

This was an overnight port, so the next day I saw the city highlights, where there is much reverence for their royal family displayed in the form of large billboard sized framed photo portraits and shrines throughout the city and at their official residence since 1782, the Grand Palace, which is an elaborate walled complex of intricately decorated buildings in the heart of Bangkok. Think Yul Brenner as the King of Siam in “The King and I”, which was a portrayal of Thailand’s former King Rama IV.

There are ten first-grade Buddhist temples in Bangkok and among them is the cloistered complex of pagodas, courtyards, colonnades and elegant chapels of Wat Suthat Thep Wararam, built from 1807 to 1847. Tourists are allowed to enter, but shoes must be removed and respect paid to those worshippers inside. Filled with wall frescoes and intricately carved teak, these places exude a calmness, overseen by the giant golden figures of the Buddha, that penetrates the visitor whether or not a devotee. In the courtyards, families were preparing meals to be offered as nourishment for their deceased loved ones in heaven. Outside the walls of the temple is the towering red Giant Swing, where, to celebrate the end of the rice harvest, young men would ride the swing from the tall pillars and try to catch a bag of silver coins with their teeth.

In a city of so much, there is still just one word in the Thai language that uniquely expresses all universal salutations.

“Sawatdi” Bangkok.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.