Bangkok, Thailand

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Helaine and I are a couple of weeks into our 4 month trip through Asia. It has been pretty incredible so far. I saw Everest for the first time a few days ago as we were flying out of Bhutan, and we spent this morning boating down the Mekong River in Luang Prubang, Laos. I haven't had as much time for the blog as I thought thus far, but I wanted to drop in a couple of excerpts from my journal with a few photos.

BANGKOK

4/12/08

Our first Asian greeting involved a bungee cord. Helaine and I arrived in Bangkok around midnight on Wednesday, April 9th. We were exhausted from the long flight, including a 5 hour stopover in Seoul, Korea. Our sole goal was to get to the hotel as soon as possible. When our cab driver led us to his car, we were a little uncertain how he would fit all of our luggage (4 months worth, including my camera gear and Helaine’s food supply) into his compact car. He didn’t even blink, stuck them half way into the car, pulled the trunk down as far as it would go and strapped a bungee cord from the top of the trunk around our luggage down to the spare tire. Needless to say, we weren’t convinced our luggage would accompany us for the full journey to the hotel, but it made it despite the harried driving and the fact that the car broke down about 100 yards from the airport pullout (he managed to get it restarted after about 10 minutes). Not the most auspicious beginning, but not entirely surprising.

On Thursday morning we took turns almost expiring from heat exhaustion as we explored a couple of the wats and the Grand Palace. Touring from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. was not the wisest, but the detail in the temples and the palace was incredible. We saw the reclining Buddha and the emerald Buddha of Wat Phra Kraew. That night we watched sunset over the city from the roof of our hotel which was right on the river. It was fascinating to just sit and watch the traffic along the river, varying from huge freight barges to the many tourist party boats.

The following morning was the highlight of our 2 days in Bangkok. We took a longboat tour of several of the Thonburi canals which flow through Bangkok neighborhoods and into the main river. It was surprising to witness daily life on these sleepy canals just a few blocks from the main thoroughfares of the city. Many of the houses and small stores along the way had a small dugout canoe out front, often adjacent to the family shrine. We saw a couple crossing their watery yard to get in their tiny boat for an afternoon outing, perhaps to the nearby floating market. I saw an old man fishing with a hand held line off of his front door step. A woman in a conical hat in a small boat flagged us down to hawk her wares of candy, soda, beer. These few brief snapshots of a culture and lifestyle completely foreign to our own were a perfect introduction to Asia.

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Photos

Reclining Buddha
Wat Pho