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River boats are one of the main means of mass transit in Bangkok besides busses, the skytrain and the new subway. There are slow boats that stop at every pier, and fast boats that skip some piers. Boat rides are quite fast and cheap, but it can be an adventure to get on or off the boat.

Actually, the Banglamphu and Grand Palace area are not connected to the other interesting sights in Bangkok by Skytrain or subway, so if you don't want to get overcharged by taxi or tuktuk drivers, you have either to study the bus network with station names in Thai characters, or take the boat to the Skytrain station at Thaksin bridge (a few stations downriver from this place).

As a side note, you may wonder why there is a bridge named for the former prime minister, but that bridge was already named the Thaksin bridge long before Thaksin got elected.