Us

Just thought you might like to see a few of the three of us that we were able to gather from throughout our time together. We had a really great time over these two weeks and now I pray that God will keep us all safe until we meet again.

Dumnoen Saduak Floating Market Scenes

Here are some scenes from the floating market we went to on Friday morning. It is about an hour drive outside of Bangkok and is mostly a tourist thing now open only in the mornings, but protrays very well what it was like in days gone by. We didn't buy because Mom and Dad can get the same things at home for much less at the different markets they are familiar with. It was fun to see.

Mosaics on a temple

One of the temples we went to was built by a king at one time and then generations later it was decorated by another king. It was very interesting to see that the use of broken pottery pieces to make mosaics and decorate things was a very, very old concept. In at least one of these pics you can also see some large seashells. These were used in a prior time period as currency and so mixed in with some of these mosaics. Enjoy!

Canal Tour - continued

More scenes from the canals in Bangkok...

Scenes from the Canal Tour in Bangkok

Here are some scenes from our relaxing tour on the canal boat around the canals in an area of Bangkok. It was very interesting to see the mix of well cared for vs. dilapidated, big fancy vs. small non-showy and how you could have the extremes sitting right next to each other. See if you can feel the cool breeze of another nation, another people as you tour through these pics which are only a very small fraction of the actual amount we took.

Beginnings of Bangkok

Here are a few general shots from our first afternoon in Bangkok. Mom and I are both wearing our Salwahr Kameezes because we had to wear long pants to visit the palace. So here you see a street scene of a bunch of motor bikes parked on the corner. And the next is a shot of our guide, Mom and I walking down the street after seeing the palace. We are heading next to the canal ride. This was the hottest part and shortly before we had to make our 15-minute rest in the 7-11.


This is me at the beginning of our palace tour. Those 3 spires in the backgrounds are wats (temples) on the palace grounds and the building behind is the temple where the emerald buddha resides. Yes, they use their umbrellas in the sun as well as the rain - it helps keep off some of the heat. Mom even has one that is reflective on the top side to help even more.

Here is a shot that shows the kind of boat we rode in for our canal tour and the next pic is one of Dad and I sitting in our boat as we begin our canal tour ride, which was very enjoyable.

Maetaeng Elephant Park

These first two pics are our elephant ride. As you see I rode with Dad. Since the last time I rode an animal (11/1989) it ran out from under me and left me with a broken back I was a little apprehensive about doing this. However, after the first few minutes I was comfortable and really enjoyed the ride!



This is the ox cart ride from where we finished the elephant ride back to the main area. The ox cart ride was actually worse than the elephant ride. The ox cart was very jolty and the roads are not real smooth either.
After seeing them wash the elephants and then seeing the show, we went to where we would have our buffet lunch. It was a nice place on the river and the food was good.

Then we went rafting! It was a bamboo raft, and yes, the water came up through between the bamboo pieces as well as up over the outer edge on several occasions. But this was a good thing - Mom and I enjoyed the cool water on our feet every so often. We had two gentleman guiding the raft down river - one in front and one in back. They even let Dad do it for awhile!

More to come later...

Orchid Farm (general)

Here are some pics as we walked around the rows in the orchid farm. The most interesting part to me was how they were all hanging. They were sort of in pots, but they also had roots hanging down below that. Oh, and it smelled absolutely beautiful in there!