Injury at the Tiger Temple!!

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So I'd like to apologize to the 5 of you who are subscribing to this blog for the barrage of emails..but we just got internet again and as all addicts are apt to do, we're getting as much as possible in as short a time as possible...

Thailand wrapped up amazingly...Because of the King's birthday, there were about 5 days of partying all throughout the Kingdom. When I turn 80, you better believe I'm going to party for 5 days...anyway..in celebration, the people of Bangkok decorated the city with massive plywood arches decorated with gold fabric and decorations made out of blank CD's. I assume they decorate the arches with fake CD's in honor of the fact that the backbone of the Thai economy is bootleg programs and DVDs...

Also because of the birthday party there was a large party in front of the capitol building which we were lucky enough to stumble upon. After awkwardly standing around (think middle school dance but instead of boy/girl awkwardness it was boy/people who could kill me with one hand awkwardness) we talked to some of the Thai generals and got some pictures taken..really cool.

I also went into the Grand Palace while Kevin and Dan waited outside because I really wanted to see the Emerald Buddha. The buildings inside were amazing. Tons of tall towers and bulidings covered in tiles and art. It was really pretty and I even managed to take a few illegal pictures. Take that Thailand. Also...a tuk tuk driver tried to sell us a personal driver for 30 baht only half way through the day he took us to a personal tailor to try to sell us stuff. We didn't even get out of the tuk tuk. At the next stop he bailed, however we hadn't paid him yet so we got a day of free tuk tuk rides from people who were trying to scam us.

As Dan mentioned, we got to pet tigers and ride/bathe elephants. It was really fun even if bathing really means holding on while they play in the water. Quite the rediculous day when I stop and realize exactly what i did...

So now we're in Jerusalem sitting on a Wifi network in a 700 year old building talking about our day. Today we went to the Western Wall and the Dome on the Rock and then walked around the city. As we rounded the wall we came back upon the Western Wall to find a bomb robot examining a backpack that had been left behind. After this robot picked up the notebook and dropped it, the cop came over some loudspeakers talking in Hebrew. We didn't know what he said until a boy translated and we found out that they were going to SHOOT the package with a shotgun. Fantastic. Less than 12 hours in Israel and there is a bomb scare and a robot taking 8 shots with a shotgun at a notebook. Once they realized there were no explosives, they put the bike back against the fence for its owner to return to a working bike and a pile of shreds where his day planner used to be.

The rest of the night we walked around the arabic quarter and ate some delicious street Shwarma, and tried a sweet-cheese dessert.

Tomorrow we're going to New Zealand to walk the Lord of the Rings trail to Mt. errr........we're going to walk the Via Dolorosa and see the 14 stations of the cross.

Stay tuned faithful readers!

-raf

ps..Danny we got your call on Dan's birthday...believe me it was completely unncessary.

pps...Unfortunately I did not leave the Tiger Temple unscathed. I was stung by a honey bee and it is still swollen. I'm monitoring my own condition and will let everyone know if things take a turn for the worse.

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Comments

[TDollaz]

Stations
Going to see the stations of the Cross eh? Way to be a good Catholic Raf. Show those whitebread protestants how its done, haha jk.

[papi]

amen
Amen!