We took a long boat ride on the Chao Phraya River through the canals of Thonbon on the east side.

You have to wait at locks pending the tide of the river to reopen.

We were met with a floating market.

There’s is such a vast difference between wealth and poverty in Thailand. Literally just feet apart. But both have beauty and contentment.

Beautiful sail away sunset. Leaving Thailand and headed to Vietnam

We got off the Long Boat and got on another boat to cross the river for dinner at the Peninsula Bangkok

Our epic meal began at the bar.

Which has these gorgeous orchids

Their cocktail napkins are made of linen and embroidered. Fancy!



They bring you this lovely selection of nuts: candied walnuts, chocolate dusted almonds and spicy peanuts.

Cheers!

The restaurant, Thiptara, was on the river and just stunning. Its website describes it better than I can:

“Thiptara is a feast for all the senses. Surrounded by majestic banyan trees and lush tropical gardens, this is a unique dining experience by the riverside. The legendary Thai lifestyle of days gone by is restored in all its glory at Thiptara, not only through its elegant décor but also in its cuisine.”

The meal began with pumpkin chips brought to the table with sauce. We didn’t order this, it was brought like bread and was very good

The table itself was beautiful and the service is incredible. They bring you individual clip on lamps so you can see the menu better

And these beautiful etched lamps

And these gorgeous ladies who happily posed when I asked if I could take their picture

I ordered the house specialty drink and they make it tableside. It was beautiful and delicious

We began the food portion of the program with chicken satay. I could drink both sauces. Sooo good!

For the entrees, Gregg got beef and rice

Patra got crispy chicken and cashews

And I got Pad Thai with egg as the protein

I had to order a Mai Tai as my next drink as the Mai Tai originated in Bangkok

For dessert we got fried bananas with house made coconut ice cream

We explored The Peninsula afterwards. It was all decorated for Christmas including this huge and adorable advent calendar. When you open door 9, as it was the 9th of December when we were there, there was candy inside you could take 😃

And it wouldn’t be Christmas in a hot and humid environment without palm trees with Christmas lights on them

Our first stop for food in Thailand and also, my actual first time trying Thai food! Lunch was included in our tour and the meal was preset so we didn’t select what we ate but it included a very nice variety. The restaurant was called Sala Rattanakosin and it was inside a hotel with lovely views of the river.

They met us with some cold washcloths. That was a lovely gesture as we were quite hot and sweaty after our morning of touring

Gregg started with a Thai beer, which was is very strong. 12% alcohol. And I got the energizer. Patra stuck with good old refreshing water as we had probably sweated out our body weight in that Thai humidity..

We started with a duck salad

And soup

Next was a meat dish that was quite spicy for me, which probably means it was normal spicy

Then they brought out this beautiful veggie dish that also had fish in it. Not sure what the fish was but the veggies were delicious

The meal ended with this gorgeous plate of fruit

And this is what Thai baht looks like. It is currently valued at about 30 cents on the dollar.

The Christmas elves were busy last night. Woke up to this…

Regent does Afternoon Tea every day at 4pm. It’s my favorite time of day on board because trivia is right after. In my many years of sailing on Regent, I have enjoyed many tea time themes including cupcakes, flambé and chocolate extravaganzas. Today was a first… donuts! And the pastry chef outdid himself.

The donuts ranged from Creme brûlée, to key lime pie, to vanilla popcorn, to apple pie, and everything else in between

Afternoon tea also always includes cookies, tea sandwiches, other pastries, and two types of scones with all the fixings.

I had the vanilla popcorn because it sounded so unusual. It was great!

We got out first glimpse of Thailand this morning sailing in to Ko Samui

Started our day with Regent’s Champagne and Caviar breakfast. I don’t like caviar but I do enjoy me some champs

We will be doing the “Ancient Temples and Monkees” excursion in Ko Samui. These are working monkees so I do hope they are wearing bow ties.

Took a beautiful walk around the jogging deck. Sun was just starting to break through the clouds.

Pool is reopened after being closed all day yesterday with the high seas and deck chairs are back out.

Here are some pix from the top deck’s sports area. There are tennis courts, a golf putting area, croquet and shuffleboard. 7 laps around the jogging track is a mile.

From a distance, Ko Samui sure looks like it will be beautiful!

The House of Versace makes exclusive china for Regent. The older ships, the Navigator, Mariner and Voyager (which I’m on now) have blue colors

The newer ships, the Explorer and soon to have its inaugural season, the Splendor, have beige. I took these pix last year when I was on the Explorer

And some food porn of the meals we’ve had to date

We boarded the Regent Seven Seas Voyager around noon. Super easy check in. One of the many reasons I love Regent is there are never any lines. This ship holds about 700 people so it’s very small compared to the main stream lines. We were greeted with champagne and went up to the pool deck for lunch.

Our rooms were ready within the hour. We are in a Penthouse Suite A and it’s very nice and includes a butler who we haven’t met yet. But a bottle of champagne and petit fours awaited us.

The room comes with this cute little teddy bear and kit of emergency supplies like Shout, hand sanitizer and ear plugs.

Personalized stationery is another nice little touch

We have a nice little balcony

There is also a pillow menu and I hope to try every kind of pillow to find a favorite. They all sound nice!

The bathroom carries Guerlain and L’Occitane amenities including a separate men’s kit with shaving lotion and male scented lotions.

And this is our itinerary for the cruise. All places I’ve never been before.