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Holiday greetings everyone! We're sending our wishes for a very Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all.
Especially at this time of year we miss sharing time with friends and family back in the States.

We feel comfortable with our new city and enjoy living here and learning the subtleties of Thai culture. The people are so kind and considerate. We're settled in a one bedroom furnished condo. It's centrally located and a short walk to the skytrain or the subway. We're really enjoying the food. From restaurants, to food courts to the noodle guy on the street, it's all really very good. We're pretty good at getting around the city and we're always finding something to entertain us.

Nancy joined the American Women's Club and met some really nice people including one woman who invited us to celebrate the launch of her daughter's book, Thai Folk Wisdom, which is a collection by various artists illustrating old Thai proverbs. The daughter is an alumna of Massachusetts College of Art in Boston. The reception and exhibit were held at the Bangkok Art and Cultural Center and the Thai prime minister was present to speak briefly about the artists. It was really fun to see the high society side of Bangkok with lots of great food, drinks, and everyone dressed for the event.

We also made a weekend trip to visit the WWII bridge over the river Kwai at Kanchanaburi, a 3 hour train trip from Bangkok. It is part of a 415km small gauge railway built by Allied prisoners and Asian laborers through mountainous jungle terrain at the cost of about 20,000 Allied prisoners and 100,000 Asians lives. Once in Kanchanaburi, we then took the 2 hour train to the end of the line at Nam Tok crossing some rickety wooden trestles and a number of bridges along the way. Here is a link to a video Dennis took on the train from Kanchanabui to the end of the line in Nam Tok. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SBlvYmDDd10
The round sections on the bridge at Kanchanaburi are part of the original bridge and the two different sections are replacements for the sections bombed by the Americans.

Thanks again to all of you who wished us well on our adventure and helped send us off without a hitch.

Hope you enjoy the random photos of the sights in and around Bangkok. Have a very Happy New Year!

Nancy & Dennis

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