The grand Palace and Wat Po

Deb and I went to the Grand Palace and Wat Po today. Absolutely spectacular. Link to pictures at the end of this.
The Grand Palace is a true treasure in Bangkok. To say that the art work and architecture is stunning would be an incredible understatement. We saw the Emerald Buddha. I can now understand why this is the center of faith in Thailand. It is something that words can't describe and really does need to be experienced first hand.
The pictures of the rest of the Grand Palace will have to suffice, you can't take photos of the Buddha. There was a tourist that was caught taking pictures and last I saw they were either deleting the pictures or we going to confiscate his camera.

Wat Po
Well, the Reclining Buddha is huge, 46m long, 15m tall at the head and each foot is 3m tall. It is big long and tall. Wat Po is also a working temple. The colors, architecture and art work is almost as impressive as the Grand Palace.

Here are the pictures

A few pictures

Here are a few pictures

Kyra

1st day in Thailand

Shopping and the BTS

We did a bit of adventuring out yesterday. We had breakfast at the hotel which serves up a great buffet (and is included with the room). After breafast we saw Khun Nelson, who is the hotel manager and was who Courtney worked for when he was here on his practicum. Khun Nelson is a great guy. I look forward to meeting him again when we have a bit more time to talk. Then is was off shopping.
We went to the BTS Skytrain station, got our passes (20 trips for about 350B) and headed off to Siam Paragon and MBK. Well it was quite the experience. You have to be quick on your feet to make it through the gates to the Skytrain but after that it's pretty good. The train is nicely air conditioned and all in all it is very efficient.
We got off at the Paragon station which is a transfer point between lines, walked across the platform and got on the other line to got to the National Stadium station. That is where MBK is. MBK is a 6 floor shoping mall with nothing but little shops. I bought a used cell phone and Eve and I got our cell phones loaded up with air time. I'll have to get back to that place again, especially the technology floor ;-)
Next we went back to Siam Paragon, exchanged some travelers checks and then went for lunch at MK. MK is a Thai Sukiyaki place and we had a great lunch. The back to shopping at the Paragon. It is definitely and upscale mall. After a couple of visits to the cosmetics section (which is HUGE) we came back to the hotel.
Deb and I went out for a beer at the German Beer House across the soi and then did a little looking at the street vendors. Then back to the hotel and met up with Eve and her friend Aom.
Then to sleep.......

Some Sleep is Better Than None

Well, at least we got about 5 hours of sleep last night, so we're starting to adjust the ol' Circadian rhythm to Bangkok time. As usual the youngest lead the way. Kyra slept for about 6 hours with a short break in the middle for a milk break.
We went out for a short walk last night down to the 7-11 to get some water and snacks. We were going to pick up some beer but they don't sell it after midnight. We were out at about 0130 and the soi (street for you non Bangkokians) was still pretty busy. We were even approached by one of the infamous Bangkok elephants. These are guys that take their elephants around and try to make money off them by selling food for the elephant to the tourists. It is illegal, but not a lot of effort is put into enforcing the law. It's a hard life for these beautiful creatures to walk on the hot, hard and sometimes broken up streets of the city. The best thing to do is to ignore them. Maybe someday this will stop.
It wasn't too bad out last night. Still very humid, but at least the temperature was bearable. I even had some beef satay for one of the street vendors (one of Courtney's favorites). It was pretty good. 10B per skewer (about 3 for a buck) isn't bad. Next time, SomTom and a stop at the fruit vendor.
Well, that's about it for now, Deb is at the gym, and in a bit well be going for breakfast and then heading off to do some shopping and visiting.

We're Here

Well we made it to Thailand. The words the best describe Bangkok are hot and humid ;-) The flights we OK, although the 14 hours stint to Hong Kong was a bit much to take. I highly recommend Thai Airways. Super service and really pleasant aircraft with all the royal purple.
Kyra was a great traveller. No problems at all. I think that she like to travel. She loved all the new sites.
Well it's 1am here and time to go out to do a bit of shopping. More posts later.

At Vancouver

Here we are waiting to board the plane to Hong Kong. Got into YVR at 0730 this morning. We met Treena for a real nice breakfast and now we are sitting in the departure lounge waiting. Kyra traveled like a pro. No problems at all. I think everyone is a bit tired (I know I am). Can't wait to try to get some sleep on the plane. Not too much else to do for the next 14 hours ;-).
Next report will probably be from Hong Kong if I can find a WiFi hot spot.

Love to all.
The Thailand tourists, and Eve and Kyra.

Sleep?

Sleep, who can sleep. We need to be up in 4 hours and Kyra is the only smart one. She went to bed at 8. Here it is 11 and I couldn't sleep if I tried. Deb and I are just sitting here watching a dumb movie. Maybe that will put us to sleep ;-)
All in all, everything is going fairly well. All packed and ready to go.

Almost gone

Well the big day is almost upon us. Tuesday at 7AM we are gonzo Alonzo ;-) Everyone is almost all packed up and I even had room in my suitcase for another suitcase. So Deb and I will have lots of room for stuff on the way back. Between formula, diapers, toys and those tiny little clothes, she has more stuff than we do ;-)
Next stop Vancouver where we are going to catch up with Treena and meet for breakfast. Then its 14 hours to Hong Kong and 2.5 hours to Bangkok.