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Published: April 12th 2008
Long Tail Boat
This is the boat we rentedToday is the beginning of the Thai new year, Songkran, otherwise known as a countrywide water fight. This is a 3 day event and is a government holiday. I'm sure by the end of the holiday we will have been drenched many times.
Yesterday, Friday, we did several modes of local transportation. We wanted to go out to a large shopping center called the Paragon Center which required using the Sky Train. Bangkok has a good mass transit system and we had fun trying to learn our way around. The shopping center was huge and connected to other centers as well.
We rode to the end of one of the lines which took us to the river. We rented a long tail boat for an hour so we could explore the canals (klongs). While going through these canals it was like being in a sewer lagoon. Any splash of water made you feel like you were going to die a thousand deaths. Needless to say we covered our faces whenever waves were coming at us. Don't get us wrong, Thailand is a beautiful and wonderful place with people being the nicest of any we have met in the world.
Some of the povery here is more than you would see in the USA. On the other side, the buildings are world class and the fashions are way ahead of the USA. This place is definitely a melting pot of cultures and fashions.
We had the long tail boat drop us off at the Shangri-La so we could have a drink and see Jim's girlfriend, Pui. We then caught a taxi back to the Narai hotel and had dinner.
We took a lot of photos and will add some to this blog. Enjoy Songkran. Jim and Ann
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UNDERWAY
Jim & Ann Blanchard
Happy Songkran
Hi Dan - you should consider a tour up the Chao Praya river. I am sure you would need sereral sets of props to make it very far up the river however. Lots of flotsam. Pui is a hostess at the Shangra-La hotel. Pui is her nickname as her real name is quite long. She speaks excellent English and has a boyfriend in Portland. We could make money over here with a cheap funnelator during Songkran. Think of a cheap design. Have Danny and Denee sign on to our blog so we can ask them questions about Vietnam. We will be heading there in a couple of weeks. We are currently waiting to get visas. Love, Jim and Annie