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!

more bali

Our lovely two weeks in Bali is already gone! It was a great time of beaches, temples, surfing, sun, and beautiful scenery. Not to mention a great way to celebrate our first wedding anniversary!
So we had lots of good beach time... do you like the new hats?

Josh getting ready to surf on Kuta beach, which was just a nice little jaunt from our hotel. Kuta is very popular, and tons of people on the beach and out surfing. So many, in fact, that sometimes it was quite scary to see the collisions that could happen.

Here's Josh with some dudes who came up to him and wanted to have their photo taken with him. We saw this a few times on Kuta beach, and when we asked one of our taxi/tour guides about it, he said that those are usually folks from Java (the next island over), who don't see a lot of westerners. Funny, huh?

We also spent a while at another beach called Dreamland--now known as New Kuta beach. When I was here four years ago, it had a few shops and chairs and umbrellas...now it's a huge resort area. According to our driver, the guy who owns the whole area had spent some time in jail for corruption, and when he got out, all the building happened. It was kind of disappointing to see all the buildup, but I suppose gorgeous beaches like this don't stay remote for long.



We saw lots and lots of pretty sunsets...




And there are temples everywhere! We were told that Bali has a greater population of Hindus, while other Indonesian islands have more Muslims. Every family home has a temple, where they bring offerings three times a day, and every village has temples. You really can't go very far without seeing a temple.
Here's a little cutie at the entrance of a temple.

We took a tour to the Tanah Lot temple, a beautiful 15th century temple that is out on a rock island. During high tide (we were there at low tide) water surrounds the temple.
Another view.

Tanah Lot is just one of many temples in that area--here's another one on more pretty rocks.

Offerings of flowers, food, rice, and sometimes even cigarettes are found just about everywhere, both right in front of the temples, as well as just on the ground, on the beach, all over.

This is another temple called Uluwatu on the southwestern part of Bali. Very cool, just hanging out on a cliff. THis one was built in the 11th century, I think.

We also found some sea turtles! Kuta beach (the super busy one I mentioned above) is actually an area where the turtles lay their eggs. Because it's so busy, they've developed a program where they collect the turtle eggs, keep them safe till they hatch, and then let anyone who wants too help release them back into the water. So here's Josh and I with our cute little guys.

My turtle didn't want to go anywhere. So I got a chance to take a portrait. :)

Then we went on a little excursion where we took a glass bottomed boat (bit of a sham, though, it's just like two portions of plexiglass, about 1.5 feet x 8 inches on the bottom!), snorkeled, and went to 'Turtle Island,' which is actually a peninsula near Nusa Dua.
Here they have a bunch of different kinds of turtles, as well as other random animals...

Pucker up baby!

Here's Toucan Sam.

And this guy was my favorite--the fruit bat! They are HUGE! I want to take one home.

We hired a driver to take us up to Ubud, and on the way stopped to see the Barong dance.

Also stopped at a Batik factory, where they show you how all the very intricate designs are made. Erika and I actually made a batik piece when we were in Thailand, but ours weren't quite as cool. The idea is basically a series of dying and using wax to make designs.

Then we stopped at the Monkey forest. There are lots of cute monkeys who get fed a lot, so they aren't shy at all!

Baby monkey.

Pretty picture in Ubud.

We also went to see the Antonio Blanco Museum--he was this very eccentric artist (born of Spanish parents, in the Phillipines, and moved to Bali for most of his adult life, marrying a well known Balinese dancer who had been his muse) who built an elaborate studio/house/mueum complex, complete with all kinds of birds...

And golden Balinese dancers on the roof!

Then we saw these cuties practicing their dancing...so fun!

On our driving excursions, we also saw lots of the rice fields and terraces...very beautiful.


We had lunch at the beach...Josh found a REAL hotdog and he was more excited about that than I think anything we saw in Bali. :)

Oh! And this is just for my brother Boone. If we could have brought home a big canvas, I would have packed away the animals with fruit on their heads. Unfortunately, our packs can't fit them!


Now off to Thailand!