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Published: August 22nd 2004
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Fruit stands in Bangkok
The streets were beautiful with all of the brightly colored tropical fruits! Sawadee Krap/Ka!
The Huddleston family recently visited Japan. It was a lot of fun, but we decided that we needed a vacation afterwards. So…we went to Thailand! Spencer has a friend from high school who lives in Bangkok so we were able to stay at her family’s VIP guest penthouse (no really, that was the name of the floor). Other floors had a gym, massage parlor, travel agency, and a foreign luxury car dealership. The building was all family owned and operated, so we got the red carpet treatment.
Bangkok was definitely an experience. We couldn’t believe how different it was from Japan, while it was only a few hours away. There are definite, obvious social classes in Thailand. On the streets, there were many poor and homeless people who were selling anything they could find to sell. All over the streets were stands with fruit, clothes, pirated dvd’s and cd’s, lottery tickets, and religious figures and trinkets. Being a foreigner there attracted all kinds of attention. One of many examples was the time we crossed the street from the Grand Palace. About 30 people came rushing toward us trying to sell goods, food, or services. They wanted to
Island Paradise
This is Krabi...where we stayed for a couple of days. And these are the boats that took us to and from the island. know where we were from, where we were going, and how much would we pay them to show us around the city. If for some reason we did not need a tour around the city they continued to ask and follow us for several minutes until they found another target. This is also true for the taxi and tuk tuk drivers. Generally, there are not prices listed for transportation so you have to bargain. This is true for everything on the streets. When the Thai merchants see foreigners they ask for double the price that the locals pay. Once April was bargaining with a woman who began to cry and beg when she was not satisfied with April’s offer. Finally, she sorrowfully agreed to April’s price. As we were leaving, remarkably, her tears disappeared and a big grin covered her face as she exclaimed, “Thank you, bye bye!!!”
In Thailand, the king and queen are very important to the people. Everywhere you turn you see pictures of the royal family, even on the street vendor’s carts and the taxi cab’s dashboards. One afternoon when we were exhausted from walking around the city all day long, we decided to catch
enjoying relaxing times
Here we are with mom, Pam, Pete, and Boy at a Thai restaurant about to enjoy some very spicy food!! a movie. After the movie previews, music began playing and everyone instantly stood. On the screen it said, “Please stand and pay homage to The Royal Highness his Majesty the King.” Spencer immediately placed his right hand over his heart and began paying homage until he noticed he was the only one paying homage in this way. Discreetly, he removed his hand and looked at April who was trying to contain her laughter. On the screen was a short video of the king’s life and good deeds.
We spent a couple of days in a tropical paradise called Krabi. To get there, we had to take an overnight bus, motorcycle taxis, tuk tuks, and a boat. The entire journey took about 15 hours, but it was well worth it. Our island was very secluded with only about 100 people staying in the island bungalows. Once we woke up at about 8am to look for shells and we were the only people on the beach. Also on the beach, we got a one hour Thai massage for about $8. This is actually a little expensive. A good dinner costs around $3, our overnight bus was only $13, and a night of accommodation was $12. But even though it was so cheap, we still managed to spend all of our money.
After extending our trip from 4 days to 9 days, we finally had to come home. Now we are getting back into the daily Japanese routine and we’ll keep you posted…keep checking!
“Stay classy, America!”
* If you want to check out the rest of our Thailand pictures then click this hyperlink. If that does not work then cut and paste this link into your browser and then click on "View Photos."
http://www.ofoto.com/I.jsp?c=7ujdxmnd.a4fnoo41&x=0&y=-8m89ul April & Spencer
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chazlie
Charlie Jones
Say Hi to Phi Phi for me... :)