Tailand- days 1-4 in Bangkok

This incredible structure is the Royal Palace. It is next to the Temple of the Emerald Buddah. There's a lot of hype over the Emerald Buddah... he was a little small and looked just like every other buddah except he is green and sits atop an ornate tower of gold. What was more impressive were the temple grounds and all the structures outside. And then there's the Royal Palace which is simply breathtaking.

There was a change of guard ceremony while we were there. Of course, Kristen and I HAD to get a picture standing rigidly next to the cute little- echem, I mean, intimidating- guard.

After a long morning of walking around we stopped for lunch. Erik ordered a beer, which would be no problem normally, except for this day beer was prohibited from all eating establishments and bars from 6 pm on Saturday till 10 pm on Sunday. And this was Sunday around 12:30 pm. We had tried ordering beers the night before at a some bars and were turned down, but this restaurant had a great idea. When Erik ordered the beer, the waiter basically said, "We cannot serve you beer today, but you can still have it if you drink it out of a tea pot." We looked around, and the table next to us had a couple "tea pots" on their table and were drinking beer out of tea cups! So, Erik had his beer. haha!! Here his is trying to look inconspicuous.

Next on our agenda was the Temple of Dawn. We climbed these steep steps to get a nice veiw over Bangkok.


That's me sitting down half way up the steps. I am wearing a sarong. You are supposed to have long pants on or a long skirt and have your shoulders covered in order to enter any Wat. It was pretty warm outside so Kristen and I both carried around a sarong to drape around our waists right before we went in. Shoes didn't matter b/c you always take your shoes off before you step into a Wat.

At the top of the Temple of Dawn. Well, at least as far as you could climb. The highest point was still a ways up.
The next day (Monday) was the first day with our tour group. We decided to go to the floating market which is about an hour or so outside of Bangkok. About half an hour of the trip we spent in these banana boats while a drive maneuvered them through the canal. Here are Kristen, Giff, and Erik about to get in the boat. The guy on the right is T, our tour guide.
The floating market is a busy and colorful place. You can buy anything from food, to underwear, to wall hangings, to black market designer purses.

Back in Bangkok, we found a vendor with some fried delights! GAG!! The top left are giant cockroaches! I almost ate a cricket, but no one would do it with me so I chickened out. One guy saw me contemplating and said, "I just ate one- it's really not that bad. Tastes like popcorn. You can do it!" And I said, "I don't believe that you just ate one, nice try!"


Massage number TWO out of a total of THREE while in Thailand.

Later that afternoon, we and our tour group had to get all our things together and head to the train station. We were taking an overnighter to Chiang Mai in northern Thailand. We had fun on the ride, until 10 pm when the quiet hours began and we were forced to go to sleep in the beds the train official had made for us. It was surprisingly comfortable. We woke up the next morning around dawn to see the thick layer of mist resting over the mountains and Chiang Mai. More to come on our trekking and other adventures in the north. :)