Can you tell how hot we are??? It's about 90 degrees with 80% humidity. . . Ryan had to 'borrow' long pants to go into the Grand Palace hence his blue pajama bottoms! We arrived in Bangkok, found our guest house ($10 a night) and then set out to see the city. We took a water taxi down the river and saw many of the high end hotels, then we took the metro to a shopping center and got lost in a good book store. It was quite a relief to walk into the air conditioned mall that we spent some good time walking around, they even had a movie theatre with movies in English, tempting, but we decided to check out the night market instead. We went to the night market which was huge, it had a beer garden, live band, and every kind of Thai food imaginable. . . plus your usual trinkets, silks, fake purses etc. The next day we set out early to see the Grand Palace and the Wat Po. After two people stopped us on the street to tell us we couldn't go into the Grand Palace with shorts we were close to aborting the mission but then realized that Ryan could just 'rent pants' to see the Grand Palace, so we pressed on in the heat! The Grand Palace was amazing, so beautiful and full of so much history. This is a photo of us just outside the gates. We did the audio tour which always gives you more information than they have printed anywhere. After the Grand Palace we walked to the Wat Po to see the reclining Buddha. . . it was amazing. We took some great photos and stood in awe for awhile. We also put coins (20 baht) into the 180 pots that surround the reclining Buddha for "good luck".
We returned to our guesthouse in hopes of meeting up with our friends from Travel to Teach who were passing through Bangkok. We found them there and enjoying hearing all that went on in Nong Khai after we left. . . The Belgiums (Lotte and Katrijin) are off to Bali and Joyce and Prig (Joyce is from the Netherlands and works for Travel to Teach and Prig is a University student in Nong Khai) are off to Cambodia so we shared travel stories over a few Tiger beers and enjoyed each other's company.
Thailand is a wonderful country, so welcoming and warm to travelers. We truly enjoyed our experience and our travels through out this country. We loved seeing so much of it, from Udon Thani, Nong Khai, Chiang Mai, Surat Thani, Ko Samui, Ko Phangnan to Bangkok it is really an amazing country and one worth visiting!
We're off to Beijing!
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Hi Ryan and Julie! You must be in Beijing already. You looked cool in your photos but the mere mention of 80% humidity wilts me! We have a gauge in Kawaihae and when the humidity hits 70% we sit by a fan, go swimming or back to Waimea.
ReplyDeleteOur mixed doubles team won our match today--2-1. Unfortunately, my partner, Mike, and I lost 4-6, 6-2, and the tie break was 10-8. It was fun and we had many great points.
Aloha,
Kathy and Bob
P.S. Girl in the blue tank top looks kind of chummy, don't you think, Julie????!!!!!
Rented pants? Well you've done it all! Sounds like the audio tour was a hit and I hope you got some great pictures of the reclining Buddha - maybe I'll put one in Mia's room! Crazy to go from such heat to snow?
ReplyDeleteJulie and Ryan,
ReplyDeleteWow, what an extreme change in temp. you've had! Funny that Jimmy and Cecilia didn't know about it or forget to mention it. Too cold to walk?!!! Do they have skiing nearby? That and making shave ice (snow cones)are the only value I see in such wintry conditions :-) You both write well and it's such fun to read about all of your adventures! What wonderful memories you are making! Malama pono, Aunty Kathy, Uncle Bob, and Malu, Lono, and Imiola