Bangkok and Southeastern Coast

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Sorry that it's been so long since my last entry. I was in the South of Thailand until two days ago, just going to the beach, relaxing. Had a great time, but didn't take many pictures and don't have any really interesting stories to tell.

I arrived in Bangkok the day before yesterday. I went to see the Palace here, which is quite remarkable. Was built in the 1780's, and is extremely ornate. Thailand was also never colonized (although were controlled somewhat by the British) which makes the palace all that more impressive. I think you can get the idea by looking at the photos, but what you can't see is that the entire complex is huge, with dozens of buildings. I'm guessing it's 200 x 200 meters.

It's amazing how much Thais love their King. Almost all businesses have a picture of him on the wall. Yesterday I even saw a taxi with "Long Live The King" written in stickers on the windshield.

Yesterday I went to a market which was undoubtedly the biggest I have seen in my life. Tens of thousands of people to be sure. The only thing I could compare it to would be a Badgers game, but with food, animals, bartering, etc. Pretty cool.

Ok, that's where I'm at now. I will probably head up to Chiang Mai, a small town in the north with temples and hiking and that kind of thing, in a few days, and write a new entry to let you all know how it was.

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Photos

Taxi boat.
A pretty popular form of public transport in Bangkok.