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Published: January 1st 2007
Greetings from Bangkok and Happy New Year.
The fireworks here in Bangkok were much more than anyone expected! Unfortunately we did not learn about the bombs that went off until after midnight when we got back to the hotel. We were a little slow on the uptake.
We are staying in an area called Ploenchit which is near the World Center where the last bomb went off. I was out in early evening after the first 6 bombs were detonated and was surprised to see traffic being diverted off of the main road going past World Center. I thought it was being diverted as part of the huge celebration that was going to take place there at midnight. We went out to dinner and when we came back we went over to that area to take in the scene. It is about 4-5 blocks from where we are staying, . There were only a few people milling around and everything was shut down. We didn't know what to think so we walked back to a bar near our place and had a drink. As it turns out the big celebration at World Center was canceled after the first bombs
went off.
We got to the bar, The Diplomat (right across the street from the US Embassy among others) at about 5 minutes before midnight. Little did we know that at right about that time another bomb went off on the street we had just walked down. We missed it by about 10 minutes.
Anyway we are fine and planning our next move. I think it is a good time to leave Bangkok. I had been concerned about the political situation here since the coup a few months ago. I was worried about demonstrations, though, not bombs. I think we are going to head down to the beaches south of Phuket and get some diving in.
We came via Seoul. We had about a 14 hour layover there. We arrived at about 5:30 am and left at 8:30 pm. We rented a room near the Inchon airport which is about an hour away from downtown Seoul. After resting up and cleaning up a bit we headed into Seoul and were able to spend about 3 hours there. Not really enough time to form a very reliable impression. It was enough time to have a good Korean lunch
and tour the Royal Palace.
The food was great! We had our favorite dishes from a Korean restaurant in Chicago we go to to see how authentic Jin Ju is. Our conclusion, it's pretty authentic. Karen had Bee Bim Bop and I had Bulgogi.
After that we walked over to the Royal Palace. What an amazingly beautiful place! I wash we had more time to take it in.
Bangkok has been good, if not a little chaotic, but we expected that. I think the highlight so far has been the Grand and Royal Palace and Wat Phra Kao. The Wat is the royal temple and is an incredible collection of shrines, chapels and other structures. I don't think I've ever seen so much gold leaf and mosaic. The design and detailed craftsmanship are just amazing, too much to describe. I'll add some pictures to this entry when I get a chance. The most important temple was the royal chapel which contains the Emerald Buddha, one of the most revered buddhas in the country. It is about 36" tall and sits on a golden throne about 40 feet tall. The intricate detail of the throne and all of the statuary is incredibly beautiful.
The other real high point has been the food! The Thai food is delicious, we have yet to have a mediocre meal. We have also had great Vietnamese, Laotian and Korean meals. I'll expand on that in another blog.
Until then keep in touch.
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Mark
non-member comment
Happy New Year
Back at Ya! Be safe.... have fun.