Excursions into the city are not unusual. The most obvious reason for visiting downtown Bangkok is to change money where the exchange rate is considerably better than at the airport or at local banks. However, from the residence, it is often the best part of an hour to reach the centre from about 15 kilometres out in the suburbs. Therefore it makes sense to combine business with excursions. On this occasion I’ve covered two separate days adding a number of sites that are now recorded on this website. While I’ve purposely not set out to cover this vast city, at least these excursions give a flavour on what Bangkok has to offer. From a tourist point of view, there are so many reasons to visit the capitol. For many, the cuisine, the night life, the atmosphere and the friendliness of the people are enough, added to which there are almost limitless attractions. What seems strange, however, is that Bangkok is a modern city, created around 250 years ago and the area to the east of the Chao Phraya river has only ever known one dynasty, the Rattanakosin with it’s centre located in a small area known as Rattanakosin Island. On the 6th December we visited some of the original settlements dating back to the foundation of the city. The tour on the 9th December, however, took us back a little further to the time of King Taksin the Great who reunified the country after the fall of Ayutthaya in 1767. This day ended strangely with one of the most modern attractions, Asiatique, just three year old at the time of our visit. Accounting for the time in between would be a monumental task. I can only dip in and out as time permits as I go tracing civilisations from a much earlier period.