OK, OK ... I know it's the broken record again. This was our second visit to Bang Pa In so, if you want to see the pictures from the first visit in 1994 click here.

Bang Pa In, the Summer Palace, dates to the 17th century when King Prasat Thong (1629-1656) constructed a palace on Bang Pa In Island in the Chao Phraya River. The King founded the Wat Chumphon Nikayaram monastery on land owned by his mother. He then dug a pond and built a palace south of that monastery. Historical records record only the name of a single building, the Aisawan Thiphaya-art Royal Residence, constructed in 1632. It's not known how long the palace was in use, however, by 1807 the site was completely overgrown and neglected.

The Chakri Dynasty's King Rama IV, known as King Mongkut (1851-1868) to westerners, built a temporary residence on an outer island that became the site of the Wat Niwet Thamprawat monastery, which was built by his son and heir, King Chulalongkorn (Rama V).

The present-day royal palace dates from the reign of King Chulalongkorn (1868-1910). Most of the buildings standing today were constructed during his reign between 1872-1889.

Today the palace is used occasionally by Their Majesties King Bhumibol Adulyadej (Rama IX) and Queen Sirikit as a residence and for holding receptions and banquets

After our full day tour to Ayutthaya and Bang Pa In we were pretty much exhausted, but we managed to meet our friend Derek for dinner. This would be our last opportunity to see him as the next day would be our last full day in Bangkok and the GCT group was scheduled to have another farewell dinner that evening. We, of course, enjoyed the few hours we got to spend with him knowing it might be years before we meet again.

The next morning Anne and I decided to forego the optional tours and just bum around. We spent the day shopping and learning how to take the Sky Train around Bangkok. I must say we did pretty good. We managed to get to our destination, the Shangri La Hotel, and back without any mistakes or mishaps. We were probably both surprised. We couldn't help but feel a bit of sadness knowing that this was the last day of our trip. Tomorrow morning we'd be boarding our flight for home and it would all be a memory.

For our last night GCT hosted a farewell dinner at the Hilton's restaurant. It was buffet style and very good. The time had come to bid farewell to the new friends we'd made and, unfortunately, to pack the last time and set the bags outside the room for pickup. We had an extremely early flight, 6:00 a.m., and we were up at 2 and left the hotel at 3 for the airport. This would prove to be a horrendous travel day. No nothing went wrong and the flights were pretty much on time, it was just a long one. Six hours to Tokyo, three hour layover there, another 12 hours to Minneapolis, three hours there and then two and a half more hours home. Needless to say we were all exhausted by the time we arrived home. Everyone but my sister Carol.

During our Yangtze River cruise Carol and I, along with several other people on the tour, caught colds that we ended up fighting the rest of the way. Carol's unfortunately didn't get better. By the time we hit Bangkok she was running on fumes and ended up skipping a couple of the things we did to rest. Her flight home was longer and more miserable because of the way she felt. As soon as she arrived home she went to the hospital where she was admitted with pneumonia. She remained there for the next five days recuperating. We all felt sorry for her and hoped that it didn't dampen the memories of the trip for her. She said it didn't.

It was hard then to realize our trip was over and hard now to realize I've once again come to the end of a fabulous vacation to a wonderful place. Anne and I hope you enjoyed your visit to our China 2001 album. As we told our fellow travelers when we parted ... maybe we'll cross paths again in some beautiful and far off place. Until then happy voyages!!!