This is Patong Beach. Even though we saw very few Japanese in Thailand (most tourists seemed to be from Scandinavia this time of year), we sat next to a Japanese couple on their honeymoon (pictured in the lower left). It was nice to talk to an Asian face again in something other than broken English.

Ryan and Ellie had a great time playing on the ocean toys.

And here is the view from in the Indian Ocean. The beach can get crowded after noon. From 9 a.m. until noon it was very nice though. The water may look a little dirty in these photos because of the sandy bottom, but it was actually quite clear. You could see fish swimming around you without even putting your face in the water.

Posted on January 14th, 2010 under Thailand. Tags: beach, clouds, ellie, phuket, ryan, skywatch. Comments: None

On our second, full day in Thailand we caught a cab to the MBK Center, which is a large shopping mall in Bangkok. Taxis in Bangkok can be ridiculously cheap if you negotiate the price in advance or use the taxi’s meter. For instance, the airport is the same distance from the city center as the Charles de Gaulle Airport is from Paris, yet a cab will run you under $15 for that distance in Bangkok and $60 – $80 in Paris. We took a crazy taxi ride our first night from Chatuchak (11 train stops that cost the four of us 160 baht on the Skytrain there) back to our hotel for 150 baht (under $5). We thought we were going to die, but the fact remains that we made it across town for next to nothing. Of course, if you aren’t careful, they will gladly charge you several times the normal rates.

Anyway, we had breakfast in the mall (MBK Center) at an all-you-can eat, help-yourself Thai buffet. The above picture may not look that great, since I was the one who threw this dish together, but the food was actually quite good, and we were able to try a half dozen different combinations of noodles, sauces, and vegetables. When I went to pay the bill (of the “huge” sum of 240 baht (< $7) for the four of us!) the guy wouldn't take my money until we had dessert. Now that's a bargain!

After a day of wandering down countless aisles of pirated software, video games, DVDs, CDs, fake Rolex watches, knockoff cellphones, and generic electronics galore we took another taxi to Lumpini Park.

I wanted nothing more than to sit on the grass and take a nap. The girls wanted to paddle boat around the lake in what looked like the same kind of paddle boat you find in Japan (swan style).

I didn’t notice the water monitor (we thought it was a Komodo dragon at the time), but Ellie sure did.

The giant lizard was about two meters (six feet) in length. Linda and Ellie saw some other ones sliding into and climbing out of the water–not exactly what you expect to run into when you lay down in the grass at a park to take a nap.

Posted on January 9th, 2010 under Thailand. Tags: bangkok, food, skywatch, sunset. Comments: None

Street food, like the above, was available all over the place. Ellie had a coconut, but we avoided meat that wasn’t cooked right in front of us. Amazingly enough, none of us got even a little bit sick during the nine days we were in Thailand. We didn’t drink the water, but we had plenty of ice.

The boat ride back down the Chao Phraya River had better views than the way up as the clouds and sun did a little dance behind Wat Arun.

Right on the river, near our pier, was the Mandarin Oriental Hotel. The place is incredible. The above photo doesn’t do it justice. It probably didn’t hurt that we were hot, Bangkok was humid, and the inside was nicely air conditioned.

Further up the street we saw a street vendor making a killing thanks to the nearby school which had just let out.

Posted on January 7th, 2010 under Thailand. Tags: bangkok, clouds, food, people, skywatch. Comments: None

I’ll wrap up Thailand’s Grand Palace today with another flurry of photos.

This Thai man was working on the grounds. The above, close-up shot doesn’t fully revel his environment so I went for a wide angle shot, below, as well.

Just like Denmark and Norway, the king of Thailand has his guards too.

Above is the Chakri Maha Prasat Hall. We didn’t see any live elephants in Bangkok, but we saw many in Phuket a few days later.

I caught these two hanging out on the grounds of the Grand Palace.

The place almost looks like Disneyland… Older and not so phony though…

These two, Thai Buddhist monks sported far larger, fancier, and more expensive camera equipment than my little TZ7.

This last structure is called the Aphorn Phimok Prasat Pavilion.

Posted on January 6th, 2010 under Thailand. Tags: bangkok, buddhist, buildings, clouds, people, skywatch. Comments: None

The grounds and buildings around the Grand Palace and Emerald Buddha are amazing. Add to that the sky we experienced, and I entered photographer’s nirvana. I took a few hundred photos, but will spare you from having to see them all.

The first picture, above, is mainly of Phra Wiharn Yod.

The above photo is of the Royal Pantheon and was taken from the building which houses the Emerald Buddha.

Above is the Emerald Buddha, not nearly as impressive, to me anyway, as the Reclining Buddha. He is actually made of jade rather than emerald. The king gives him an outfit change a few times a year. You can only see a small piece of the vast amounts of gold that fill this room from this picture. Photography isn’t allowed inside. I took this picture from outside.

Holding up the golden, bell-shaped towers (stupa) are these temple guardians or demons.

The ultimate Thai backdrop for a family photo…

Lotus pond basins dotted the landscape of the temple grounds.

Did I mention how cool the sky was on this day?

Posted on January 5th, 2010 under Thailand. Tags: bangkok, buildings, clouds, skywatch. Comments: 1