Next Stop: Unknown

Over the last week we’ve been bumming around Bangkok and taking in the sights.

One night we trekked up to the top of Baiyoke Sky Hotel. These shots were taken from the 63rd floor’s observation area and give you a good idea of the size of the ‘City of Angels’.

Tuk tuk by day and tuk tuk by night.

Outside Central World is a shrine where one can pray for good fortune and wealth. (And then go spend your wealth at the mall) Afterwards, revive yourself with fried grasshoppers. Yum!

BNE was here, and everywhere it seems.

Wat Arun, viewed from the most atmospheric restaurant in Bangkok – “The Deck”.

And next five are sights in and around Wat Pho, pronounced “what for?” with a southern twang. The reclining Buddha is a huge tourist draw, and quite frankly it’s just huge itself. Check out the scale of that thing.

And finally, we went to a classical Thai puppet show with John Michael and Oh called the “Birth of Ganesha”. We loved it! The show was subtitled with two sentences of English for about every five minutes of Thai dialog. I think something might have been lost in translation. But the drama of it all was still awesome.

Our friend Oh has been wanting to take us to the floating market for a while now… At least she mentions it every time we see her. We finally managed to make it out there, which involved waking up at 5 AM to beat the crowds. The drive is normally pretty long, but with Oh at the wheel we got there super zippy. I think her second job is training for the INDY 500. On second thought it seems every taxi driver here aspires for pole position… those crazy Asian drivers!!!!

We got to the market in time for great early morning photo light, and we may have been the first ‘customers’ on the water. Our driver paddled us around the canals, while all snapped up photos of everything. The boat ride was an hour long, plenty long enough to get a taste for the action. The floating market is much like any other, with one exception – you are trapped in a boat while the driver gets to choose what store you see next (and how long you spend there). I didn’t like that part too much, especially since I didn’t really need to buy anything. Yet, I felt guilty taking photos and not giving the merchants any business. Jenn eventually bought a few gifts to send home.

After the boat ride we had noodle soup for breakfast, actually I had two bowls (it was super good!) And they only cost 20 Baht.

We took off to find King Rama the second’s garden, but had to stop and ask for directions a few times. What Oh lacks in navigational skills, she makes up for in speed. The gardens were pretty cool, but we were exhausted by noon and were ready to head back home.

We took a two hour power nap and then got ready to meet up with a Microsoft friend. He took us to an awesome German brewery with great food and greater live entertainment. There was a band that was surprising awesome, covering a huge selection of American genres. Also, there was a magic show that left me pretty stumped. Of course, the 4L of beer didn’t hurt either. All in all, it was an awesome day.

Oh yes… We love the toys.  In fact, Jenn is loving photography so much, we (she) decided we’d better get her a camera for herself.  Now I’m going to be showed up, because really she takes better pictures than I do!  Of course, I always jump at the chance to get new gear.  So, along with a new camera for her, we had to get a new lens (for us), and a new bag that holds everything.  Here is our new setup!  Drool away!

Jenn’s new Canon 50D with EF 70-200 F4 IS. 
Effective range of 112mm to 320mm.

Clockwise from bottom left: Canon 5D Mii body, EF 100mm F2.8 Macro, Canon SD850 P&S, Canon EX270 flash, EF 24-105 F4 IS (hood reversed), EF 14mm F2.8

Center: Canon 50D with 70-200 and hood reversed, EF 50mm F1.8 II;

Bottom Center: CPL filters 67mm and 72mm

Right attached: Tripod.  woot.

Cool factor:  My 5D with the 24-105 and Jenn’s 50D with the 70-200 give us a nice range of 24-320mm without swapping lenses.

Lucas, being the good sport that he is, agreed to spend a full day Christmas shopping. Yes, it’s only July, but I’m a planner! The next day though, we cleansed our anti-consumerism conscious by spending a full day visiting the temples of Chiang Mai. How can you spend a full day visiting temples you might ask? Is it is boring as a full day at museums? Well, Chiang Mai has over three hundred temples (or Wat’s) We visited only six; lazy I know!

Three Highlights:

Wat Chiang Man: the oldest temple in Chiang Mai dating from the 13th century. This temple houses two very important and venerated Buddha figures – Phra Sila (a marble Buddha) and Phra Satang Man (a crystal Buddha). This place had amazing gilded murals throughout the temple – one of a Caucasian ship wreck. Can anyone explain that to me?

Wat Chedi Luang: founded in 1401 and dominated by the large Lanna style chedi which dates from the same time, but took many years to finish. An earthquake damaged the chedi in the 16th century and now only two-thirds of it remains.

Wat Phra Singh: located within the city walls, dates from 1345 and offers an example of classic northern Thai style architecture. It houses the Phra Singh Buddha, a highly venerated figure, and is one of the most important temples in the city.

Toothy statue outside Wat Pra Sing

Another at Wat Pra Sing, but covered in gold flakes.  The gold flakes constantly come off, but worshipers continue to press new flakes of hammered gold onto the ‘skin’ of the statue.

This guy had a very green eye, and guarded the steps up to this temple.  I liked the scale from this wide angle view.  The guardian was really quite small compared to the size of the temple, but this shot makes it look the opposite!

Me standing in front of the partially crumbled Wat Chedi Luang

- Day Two -
Off to the Chiang Mai Zoo! I love zoos in third world countries. You can get so much closer to even the dangerous animals. And the types of animals they include in the exhibits are totally unique: about 12 different types of primates were at this zoo including pig tail monkeys, gibbons, and orangutans to name a few. They had a baby panda – though it was sleeping when we visited, and a whole “Snow Dome.” From what we could gather, this was like the indoor ski hill in Dubai. They issue you goulashes and parkas at the door! The line for the dome was at least a 45 minute wait in the brutal heat – you’d be dying for snow after standing in that slop for so long – so we skipped it and opted to feed the giraffes and elephants instead.

One car sick inducing taxi ride later we’d left the zoo and were at Wat Phrathat Doi Suthep. Story goes, a king was looking for the perfect place to build a temple (or wat) and went off on a search. At the top of this major mountain, the white elephant he was riding trumpeted three times and then keeled over. I wanted to keel over and we got there by taxi, so I can only imagine how the poor elephant felt! Regardless – the elephants demise was a ‘sign’ and construction on the wat began.

We’d planned our visit to coincide with sunset, so we could watch all of the guild work reflect nights’ auburn colors. Alas, there wasn’t anything but clouds this evening. We still enjoyed the sights and the 300 steps up and down the temple!

Hungry Hungry Hippos!

This guy has shows such contempt!

Such a long tongue you have my dear!

Orange, Lucas’ favorite color!

Isn’t this about the ugliest bird you’ve ever seen?

Ok, maybe this one is equal in ugliness… but I can’t help but laugh every time I look at this picture!

Guardian Naga snakes at the bottom of the temple stairs.

Temple bells

Monks trying to save the Durian fruit from splattering all over the temple.

Emerald Buddha