Bangkok, Thailand

We finally got to Thailand. After the stressful events surrounding our connection in Brisbane, it was a relief when everything went better. We went through customs in Phuket, which consisted of giving a stern-looking clerk half of our immigration card and getting the other half stamped and handed back. That was it. No luggage check or anything. We had a long lay-over at the small Phuket Aiport, so we had plenty of time to have a leisurely supper at the restaurant and relax. We landed in Bangkok at 9:30 p.m., and after we collected our luggage, went out to find our ride to the Convenient Grand Hotel. Lots of other people were trying to find their rides, too. We found the woman from our hotel who wheeled our luggage to a seating area. She had us sit and told us to wait for some other folks to get there. That gave us some time to do a little people watching in our new country.

It took us some time, an almost alarming amount of time, to reach our hotel from the airport. It was too late for anything to be open as our hotel van drove through the dark neighborhoods and deserted streets. We finally arrived, however, and were pleasantly surprised by our hotel and room, even though it was far off of the beaten path located in the middle of a residential area. The hotel was only a few months old, and the room was really big and comfortable, and we got a really great night’s sleep.

The day after we arrived, we decided to go shopping. Mostly we needed regular stuff like shower gel and sun screen. There was a nice man in the hotel lobby (The Tour Man) who arranged for a driver to take us. When we asked about taking the bus, he just laughed. The Tour Man arranged for Sam, who spoke very good English, to be our driver. Sam took us to a mall that was pretty far away, but one that the local folks go to, not a tourist destination. We had fun looking in the shops and finding our way around. I'm finding malls to be pretty universal so far except that here all the signs are in Thai, with a little bit of English, and all the women’s clothes are no bigger than a size 2. It was really modern, full of people as it was Saturday, and really loud. In addition to all the people, there were about five or so shops with loudspeakers setup by their entrances advertising sales or demonstrating something, and turned up really loud, adding greatly to the noise level. I thought it was great! We were about the only folks who weren't Thai, but no one seemed to notice.

The second day, we arranged a trip with The Tour Man to see four temples, and Sam was our driver again. Sam was very happy to see us, and he wanted to show us a really special time. So, we wound up going to many, many other places in addition to the four temples. First, we went on a tour of the canals in a long boat. It was really interesting and fun, and, we got some great pictures! Next, we went to the Emperor's Palace that was awesome and great to see. It was really hot though, and really crowded because it was Sunday and the Queen’s birthday was that week. We had dressed in pants and I had a long sleeved shirt on because we were going to the temples, so that made the heat even worse. I got some great pictures, but I was really hot.

We saw the Reclining Buda, the Sitting Buda, the Emerald Buda, the Golden Buda, and the Standing Buda at separate temples. They were all beautiful and awesome. We had to take our shoes off and go in our socks inside each. Jack and I were both amazed that our socks were clean that night after walking around all of those temples without our shoes. If you sit down, you are not supposed to point your feet at the Buda, talk too loud, or do anything else considered disrespectful. I took a lot of pictures, but I don't think I have enough pixels on my camera to do justice to the amount of detail there was in the very ornate decorations.

After we looked at the temples, we went and had some lunch at a neighborhood restaurant that Sam knew and did not have any other tourists. It was really good and a pretty good price. We decided we had had enough fun, though, and requested to go back to our hotel after lunch. Jack and I were about to melt away into puddles from the heat and humidity. Sam was worried that he made us angry somehow, but we were just pretty overwhelmed, hot, sticky, and had seen enough temples to realize that, although they are beautiful and awesome, they are all about the same.

We decided that Bangkok was not for us. We had a good time sight seeing, but our hotel was too far out of the way and we are at the mercy of the Travel Man to go anywhere without his assistance. The city is also huge and overwhelming. And, we were feeling somewhat like an ATM machine.

We wanted to go back to the beach, so headed off to Koh Lanta after about three days in Bangkok. Koh Lanta is a little island south of Phuket that looked like a good place to do a little bit of snorkeling. More about Koh Lanta tomorrow.