Bangkok to Hong Kong

We were upgraded to First Class on our flight to Hong Kong and it was one sweet ride. They started right off with the Dom Perignon and it just kept getting better. Our only complaint was that the 2.5 hour flight was too short.

The free food at Happy Hour just wasn't enough

Welcome to The Galleon, Intercontinental Hotel, Shenzhen. Just the three of use waiting for 600 Chinese businessmen in the exact same black suit and three packs of Marlboro lights each.

Sharing the iPad

Betty and Chris with new friends enjoying the iPad.

Christine meets the Year of the Rabbit

Ok, I am posting this at midnight ((John). I need to tell you that I was also born - coincidentally - in the Year of the Rabbit. Different years are more compatible with others. So as I am posting this my beautiful wife turns to me and says, "You know you really have to meet some Dogs". ??????

This is Bangkok after all. So after about 10 minutes Chris says "Oh, she has cut offs on".

Christine has arrived

Christine arrived in Bangkok on Sunday morning. This is the obligatory tuk tuk ride. The fun has already begun with Chris and Elizabeth in tears of laughter last night. Plus now we have at least one more camera so we can make sure NOTHING goes unphotographed - at least twice. We leave Bangkok tomorrow but we're going to try to get Chris to put her feet in the fish tank today. She says no chance. Let's see what Mr.Singha has to say about that. Also one more trip to the software market.

Fake ID anyone

Another favorite at the street market in Khao San, you can go through pages and pages of fake IDs, diplomas, etc., pick the one you like and have it made up on the spot. It seemed kind of funny until you started to look at the airline and police IDs, then not so much. I doubt these would pass any serious inspection by someone who knew what to look for but it seems certain that if these are available better quality fakes are too for the right price.

Khao San area

Khao San is generally known as the "backpacker" area in Bangkok with lots of nice, clean budget accommodations and a great market area where you can find just about everything. The easiest way to get there is on one of the boats that travel up and down the river. Since it tends to cater to a younger crowd it's not surprising that this is a favorite area for partying. This Khao San bar takes the cake for stating the obvious.

Wat Traimit - The Golden Buddha

The Golden Buddha is thought to have been brought from Ayutthaya to Bangkok to protect it during the Burmese seige and destruction of the ancient capital. In fact, the Burmese did set fire to some of the gold artifacts they found at Ayutthaya in order to melt down the gold. Before being moved the Buddha was also covered in plaster to further hide its true value. Once in Bangkok it was housed in a small and relatively insignificant pagoda (like hundreds of others in Bangkok) on the Chao Phraya river near Chinatown where it stayed until the 1930s when renovation work along the river required that the abandoned temple it was in be destroyed. Despite its size and weight and with no apparent reason to think it was of any particular value, no statue of the Buddha would ever be destroyed. It was decided that it would be moved to Wat Traimit since that would also keep it in Chinatown. Wat Traimit however didn't have a building big enough to house the statue so it was left outside under a simple tin roof for almost 20 years. In 1955 a new building was constructed at Wat Traimit and the monks decided to install the Buddha in the new structure. A crane was hired to move it but during the move one of the crane's cables broke and the statue fell into the mud. The workers, feeling this was a very bad omen, ran away leaving the statue where it had fallen in the mud overnight. To make matters worse this was the rainy season in Bangkok and there was a terrible rain storm that lasted the entire night. In the morning the abbot went to inspect the damage to the Buddha and observing cracks in the plaster uncovered the secret that had been hidden for 200 years under the plaster. What he discovered was a statue nearly 10 feet tall, weighing 5.5 tons and made of solid gold. The Golden Buddha at Wat Traimit is in fact the largest solid gold statue in the world. We went to the temple on Chinese New Year and it was packed with people. Quite a sight.

Least appealing

Of the many things that looked good, this got the prize as the least desirable. It's not just that they are small black eels/worms but also that they are being served COLD. Note the block of ice. No problem passing on this one.

As requested Stefanie

Your pig. Or really just the head/face. Honestly I think I could have chowed down on this. Duck also available done the same way. I guess this is sort of Peking Pig (face only).

Does this make you want to try some?

This is a great example of Engrish. Perhaps they used Google's translation tool. If you can't make it out it says "Jui Kuai (Vegetable Food). Jui Kuai is kind of Chinese snack. Made it from powdery white sink bowl. Served with spicy Soy sauce and black hot to eat must be good Welcome to teste it delicious confirm 20 bht/set"

Thousand Hand Guan Yin

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dl0tCNvFY8c&sns=em

Sent from my iPhone so please forgive typos.

Happy New Year from Bangkok

Yesterday was Chinese New Year and we spent it in Chinatown. What a madhouse! Like Times Square in Chinatown. Incredible food, street performers, stuff for sale, and everybody in traditional red. Then of course there was the visit by the Princess of Thailand so I think you can imagine. One of the highlights was the performance of the Thousand Hand Guanyin. These are the performers about to do it. I wish I could say we actually saw it but it was performed for the Princess and we had no view whatsoever, except for the guy standing next to us who had a small portable TV. But oh man is this something. Note in the first photo the long finger extensions which they use to highlight the moves but see how the girls seem to be moving them as they stand there. They're not warming up. All the performers are deaf. They are signing. Durng the actual performance there is someone on the stage directing them so they are in time with the music. Remarkable. Check the youtube link in the next post to see an actual performance.

One of Ayutthaya's most famous sites

Many of the Buddhas at Ayutthaya have lost their heads but this one has been engulfed by a tree.

Back to Al Slater on this

May be hard for you to see but this is a mess of heads drying in the sun. I thought they were snakes because of the position of the eyes but a close look shows a row of fairly sharp teeth. Not snakes. I know, I should have asked. Could this be the dreaded snakehead or am I just fixated on that?

Betty finally gets her elephants

This was also in Ayutthaya. In the first picture Betty is trying to feed the elephant a basket of cucumbers but is scared to get too close. The elephant is reaching as far as he can to get them and Betty is reaching as far as she can to stay away from his trunk. I have several more pics but this was hilarious. And then of course we had to do the ultimate tourist attraction and go for an elephant ride around some of the sites. This guy wrapped his trunk around my leg right after the picture to convince me that maybe I had a few $$$$ for him. He was correct and was only too happy to take them from my hand.

Ayutthaya

We spent the day in the ancient capital of Ayutthaya yesterday. It is surprising how many of the structures appear ready to just fall over - with evidence of the ones that have. In 1700 Ayutthaya was the largest city IN THE WORLD with over 1,000,000 inhabitants. It was described by European traders as the most beautiful city they had ever seen. In the early 1700s Burmese raiders from the north destroyed virtually the entire city burning most of it to the ground. The stone structures are all that remains and as you can see many of them are tipping precariously.

On the train to Ayutthaya for some biking around the ruins

Taxis are cheap in Bangkok. A one + hour drive to the old capital of Thailand would have been about $15 for each of us. But what fun is that? We bought 3rd class train tickets that cost about $1.50. The air con is open windows with what look to be some old oscillating fans in the ceiling. It's pretty dirty and a mix of wooden 1930s era cars with slightly more modern ones. So great to ride in a train with the windows open when it's nice and warm out. When was the last time you did that - if ever. Fun! Train up and back, waters, bike rental for the day, lunch with beer, admission to historic sites etc. all had for a total way under 30$ and went back in higher class where we had an assigned seat.

Sunday brunch

You have without a doubt been utterly perplexed by the lack of pictures, comments or general bragabonding discussion around Champagne, yes? But even John reached his limit here. The average crappy glass of wine is about 10 USD (often just 2 choices: red or white). Sparking wines seem to be running 40$ per GLASS so we just haven't had any. We finally found a brunch place on Sunday with an affordable cava. Here's he deal: luxury import taxes 400% on some items. Even luxury brands like Coach or Gucci are actually WAY more expensive than full retail in the US, and anyone with money here wants nothing to do with the fakes.

So looks like we will be waiting until Australia to scratch the wine itch.