Strangers in a Strange Land

Bangkok, Thailand

 


Now that I have time on my hands again, I'm publishing a few more pictures of our recent trip. These are from our second day where we begin with the free breakfast at the Lebua Tower . We have dragon fruit and strange local foods like fried dumplings with sweet insides in addition to the standard bacon and egg choices. We're running hard to see it all today because it's the end of our time in Bangkok, probably forever.

There is a little temple in front of the hotel that intrigues us from our room on the 36th floor. It is surrounded by big new hotels. It reminds me of the Trinity Church next to Wall Street in lower Manhattan. This view is looking back up at the Lebua Tower.

.A zoom view from our room....

This ad is on the inside of the hotel elevator door.

The temple is locked up. There are lots of kids in green uniforms in the temple compound. They are in school. We can see the river traffic from our room. We got a hotel a couple of blocks from the river because of the flood worries.

After wandering through the local neighborhood we decide to walk to the big temples two miles away. The day and traffic  begin to heat up so we hire a tuk-yuk after about 15 blocks of walking..

We ask to be taken to the Temple of the Golden Buddha. Our tuk-tuk driver does not speak English so I point to my wedding ring and say "Buddha". That actually worked.

The solid gold Buddha weighs about 10 tons. He was covered with plaster for many centuries and discovered accidentally when a moving crane knocked off some of his outer coat.

These are the tuk-tuks in case you were wondering.

I'm not sure who the little person in the pink shirt might be. I don't think I noticed her at the time...

Our driver takes us to another minor temple before dropping us at the Wat Po Temple complex.

These pink elephants are in the street. In the background you can see the spires and spikes of the temples in the King's palace complex. The center building is the Temple of the Emerald Buddha.

Occupy the Tiger's Cage

Somewhere North of Chiang Mai

This post was delayed  from December 9 until I could work out some issues with the a new sim card.

We are moving up into the Golden Triangle this morning for three dayswith Bennett and Ken (our driver and guide). Yesterday we took a long ride on an elephant and Mrs. Phred spent 15 minutes in a cage petting a very large tiger.

Ken is our driver. Bennett arranged for us to hire him for a week to see the more remote areas of Northern Thailand. He's doing a great job.

We stopped in an orchid farm.

We stopped to see some butterflies and settled for a tub full of scorpions.

The News Gets Weird

Believe it (or not)

So Santorum says that Mitt Romney belongs to a "cult" religion? Excuse me? Pot? Kettle? Black?

Sadly, my man, Obama, has extended the civil rights abuses of George Bush. He decides to summarily execute American citizens with a pen scratch and a Hellfire missile.. Off with his head....(belch)...

It's not that I'm against extrajudicial assassinations of troublesome citizens. I just think they should be kept secret.

The whole global financial system teeters on the edge of a vote by Slovakia to support an increase in the ECB (European Central Bank) assets or not....Slovakia????

We are faced with getting a lot of shots for our visit to Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam...

The Center for Disease Control recommends:

• Tetanus shots
• Polio booster shots
• Malaria pills
• Typhoid shots
• Hepatitis A and B shots
• Japanese encephalitis shots 

The Sarasota Health department is willing to help us with this for about $800. I'm starting to think that Part D prescription insurance would almost have paid for itself.

There's a statue in Bangkok that is a 15 ton solid gold Buddha. It's over 10 feet tall. 600 years ago it was covered with plaster because of an invasion. They were surprised a few years ago when a crane knocked off some plaster during a 1950 demolition of this minor temple and the gold shined though. Now tourists like me go to see it.

$36,000 a pound times 30,000 pounds is a little more than a billion dollars...I am no longer impressed with less than a triillion...to steal a 15 ton Buddha would take some planning...

I struggle to remember Bangkok in 1967. There was the lovely Temple of Dawn, a pyramid inlaid with broken blue and white china. I had a lunch from a vendor in a boat on the canal. He had one plate and one fork that he washed in the canal between customers. The rice and fish head cost a baht (that was a nickle then, but 3 cents now). My air force shots must have protected me from the feces and other drek in the canal.

I remember climbing the stairs of the temple. They were very steep, but I was young, stupid and fearless. We rode down the canal in a "long-tail" boat. Back then I think that 4 cylinder Renault engines were very common. This guy looks like he's handling a a Chevy V-8. Time marches on.

 An old lady on the canal with orange gums smiled at me and tossed me a narcotic betel nut. Betel nut makes your gums orange.

Good Morning, Vietnam

This is a travel blog, so I am pleased to announce that Mrs. Phred has concocted a plan to visit my old stomping grounds (Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand).

First we'll fly into Bangkok on December 4th. I'll probably be better behaved with Mrs. Phred in tow than I was back at age 24.

After a few days we fly to Chiang Mai north of Bangkok. Mrs. Phred's cousin is a world famous concert pianist who lives somewhere around there. I think he commutes on an elephant. We'll rent a car there and drive to Northeast Thailand to visit the opium warlords in that area.

Ho Chi Minh City was called Saigon the last time I was there. We'll poke around a few days and then transfer to a river boat on the Mekong River. We have stops in Châu Ðôc, Cu Lao Gien, Sa Dec, Cái Bè, My Tho, Siem Reap ,Phnom Penhm, Tonle Sap, Kampong Chhnang and Kampong Cham.

We finish up in Hanoi, which was strictly available only by air (no landing) the last time I was in the area.