one night in bangkok...

I love Thailand. Love it. A lot. So we got into Bangkok and spent not just one night, but several there. It's not a pretty town, by any means, but it certainly has it's own charm. The sights, the sounds, the smog....it is a very vibrant city, always something going on.
Here's Josh enjoying his first Thai meal (mmmm, pad thai), quite amazed that it cost under $2.

And at the night market, where meals are even cheaper. And then we stuffed ourselves with dessert (sticky rice and mango!!!).

We wandered to the weekend market, Chatuchak Market. It is monstrous. Huge. You could get lost several times over. You might walk into a few boothes and not come out for days. No joke.
It was even divided up by products, ie, art, jewelry, books, furniture, etc. My favorite was the food. Of course.
Cupcakes!

Mmm...juice.


This is pulled tea. I think it's an art form. I kinda want to try it.

More food!

The crazy busy roads and miles of people.

We also spent some time doing cultural things, not just eating. :) There are a million temples in Bangkok, called wats. What, a wat? Heehee. We had fun taking combinations of the sky train, the subway, and the water taxis. It was a great time.
Here is Wat Pho, the Temple of the Reclining Buddha. He is a very large buddha. The temple itself is the oldest, largest, and most architecturally spectacular temple in Bangkok, at least according to my old guidebook.

Ahh, yes, grasshopper....

On the river taxi, a great view of the Wat Arun (Temple of the Dawn). The temple was named after Aruna, the Hindu god of dawn. It was built in the Ayutthaya period (1350-1782) and the building is inlaid with ceramic tiles and porcelain.

Then we stopped to look at Wat Kanlayanamit, a relatively newer temple built in the reign of King Rama III (1824 – 1851). It was Josh's favorite, and I think mine as well...no one else got off the boat then, and there were no other tourists around. It was cool to see a 'working' temple, with people praying and hitting gongs and bells, without tons of other tourists milling around.

Then of to the Wat Phra Kaew (Temple of the Emerald Buddha) and the Grand Palace. There's a cool bit about the Emerald Buddha (though he's actually made of jade). Legend has it that it was discovered in 1434, when lightening hit a pagoda (called a chedi in Thai) in a temple up in the north in Chiang Fai, and an abbot found a stucco Buddha inside. There was a crack in the stucco, and the Emerald Buddha was then found. It's believed to have been made waaaaay back in 43 BC in India, traveled around a bit, getting captured and finally ended up hidden in Thailand till it was found. Good stuff, huh? But you can't take pictures of it. Sorry.


The Grand Palace is in the same area. It's used for royal ceremonies now. It has very pretty grounds, lots of greenery and little bonsai trees.

Pretty temples...

The actual Palace.

The very rigid guards!

Walking back to the river taxi there was this sign (no idea, obviously, with what it actually said) with the case of dentures and partials...
Huh.

Josh looking cool and breezy.

We stopped in Siam Square, which is a crazy amount of people and shopping. My patience with that lasted only a short time, but the Royal Orchid show that was on in the shopping center made up for it! The whole place (which was mighty large, believe you me) was filled with flowers. Awesome.


One of the many things I love about Thailand is the abundance of fresh tropical fruit. These little beauties are called mangosteens, and they are unreal good. Yum. And a kilo costs about 70 cents.

Here are the yummy bits that you actually eat.

Sunset in the city.

And the saga of the naked guy....
So our hotel was on a side road, kind of a little alley. The first day we were walking out to the main road and up ahead of us is this naked guy, bending down, doing something at the corner. I was like, 'hey Josh, naked guy!' in a shushed voice. So naked guy straightens up, and blithely strides past us without a second glance. No pictures taken at that time. The next morning, same naked guy. This time he was walking in front of us, so I did have to take a picture. I wanted to follow him for a bit, to see where he was going, but we lost him. How does one lose a naked guy? I don't know. But it happened.

We went to the zoo, and on our walk there past Wat Benchamabophit, the Marble Temple. It was built in 1899 by Kind Chulalongkorn. The marble is Carrara marble, which came from Carrara in Italy. The courtyard inside is lined with 52 bronse Buddhas that represent styles from different periods. There were also some art students there sculpting, using the Buddhas as models. They were very good!

Hello, cute monk! This is the inside of the temple.

And close up of marble walls and statues.

Then we went to the zoo and wandered around. These was the acrobatic Kenya boys/elephant show. Good times.

It was strange to see these majestic animals hula hooping and doing other tricks, but they seemed to be well cared for and in good condition. They were all very cute.

Josh tipping the baby elephant.


Viper!
Tortoise!

Giraffes! Ostrich!

Another fun aspect of the country is the amount of motorbikes. These are used for family vehicles (I've seen 5 people on a scooter once, mom, dad and three kids...), taxis, transporting huge loads of things, usually towering over the driver's head...it's all very interesting!

Sign on the subway...please give up your seat to those in need--children, preggo ladies, the elderly...and monks!

Now off to the north!