We are in Bangkok!

Posted by Tracy ----
We are all sitting on some comfortable couches that we found at the bangkok airport. They are a god-send because we are so tired after a very busy day in bangkok!!!

We just had the most intersting and fun day!!! We first went to the gem market but I did not buy anything. I did see a really pretty ring but it was aound 500 USD and I could not part with that much! Anyway, then we went to the Grand Palace and that was pretty neat! It was so much bigger than I expected and there were several ornate buildings!!! We had to rent pants, skirts and shirts to cover up when going into the temples. It was hot as hell but it could have been worse!!! We stayed there just long enough to soak up all the sites and then headed to a weekend market, where we had such a great time and shopped until we dropped!! everything was so reasonable! We negotiated the price on every item! Negotiating is a big part of the Thai culture and they are enthusiastic to engage in it. These weekend markets are jam-packed with people --- like I have never experienced in my life--- and I am not joking! This is a million times worse than christmas shopping at the rockaway mall or willowbrook mall during the busiest day! Their were so many people in the narrow isles. The marjority of the market had a cover over all the stands and it stretched for blocks and block! It was like a maze!!!! We kept getting lost and going a round in circles. Mike even lost his sense of
direction and that takes a lot! My feet hurt so bad. I am nervous to get
on this plane for 17 hours!!!!!!!!! I have plenty of asprin and already took two. I will hopefully stay ahead of the game. Not easy because I want to sleep but then when I finally get up my legs are so swoolen!!! Scary! We met Miss Thailand today and got a picture with her. Apparently
she is a real big star here! It was pretty cool! We also met a guy from
america's top model.... Ms. Jay- black guy on the judge panel- he is black, very gay. You are not going to believe this but julie works with his partner. What a riot. We got a picture with him too! -Tracy and gang

Dateline Grand Palace, Bangkok

The biggest sleeping buhda in asia is here. "One volume Tracy" woke him and he was pissed!



These monks are engaged in a bitter argument about what they should wear tomorrow.



These two must have called each other in the morning to decide on whether to wear the grey or the or the blue skirt. Actually, we were all dressed "inappropriately" (too much midrift i think). We had to rent "appropriate" clothes in order to go onto the temple grounds. When in Rome . . .




These guys are no joke with the praying.

I feel safe

"Ding ding ding! Copp copp." don't know what those phrases mean but they say it a lot here. I've taken to saying it occasionally myself. I'm trying to blend in.

Dateline Similian Islands . . .

We took a boat to the similian island chain off of Phuikett yesturday. We were the very first group of tourists to visit since the Tsunami. The Similians have the same steep assents from the ocean and dense jungle as hawaii. The similans, however, are entirly unihabited except for a few full service bungalows which can be had for 2000 baht per night.

While there we did some snorkling and stopped at 2 amazing beachs where the sand has the consisancy of talcom powder.

Being in phukett thailand gets you 90% of the way out of civilization. The 1 hour bout trip to the similians takes you the last 10%.

Paridise was fleeting however. Juli had to open a can of northeast style whoop-ass on a couple from switzerland who we're not moving quickly enough onto the transport back to the JW. �You two! Move it! This bus is leaving!� I think the message was on the money. Pete wad happy she didn't throw a brick at them.

Next stop, Bangkok.







Notice the trees.... thats Tsunami talkin... thats probably 100 feet off the ocean.

Sawasdee

remcember.... blogs are always read from the bottom up... earlier posts are below

Pete and I were breifly left without a parent or gaurdian in Pa-Tong. We met these nice girls who agreed to show us around town for 250 Baht. Needless to say, we did not realize until later that they were not actually girls.

Starting out early at the pool...

Pad Thai

Our homies Juli and Pete... very cool travel buddies.... I recomend them to anybody who has a long trip in mind.










We are here during a thai water god festival... so there is lots of people throwing things back and forth on fire. Although nothing seems to be on fire in the picture below but...
trust me... there was stuff on fire i swear...

I cannot tell you how fustrating the lack of decent interenet bandwidth over here is.... it might just be text from here on in...

Went to Pa-Tong last night.... lots of crazy stuff there.... lets just say... its a very open culture.... more on that later.

Thai Bhat?

so... the trip over was not that bad. ... 18 hours for the first leg of the flight. what can you do?









when we did finally get to Bancok, we bumped into a few frends of ours from back home. Sonya and Ryan, from Jersey city. Go figure, not such a small world i guess. They were comming in from Burma, I think its officially called Myamar now but whatever, on their way to china or somthing. in any event i had to get a picture right there in the airport becuase i could not believe it.



























We went golfing on the second day.... its called Blue Canyon... the most renoun course in asia.... it was very good. even better than farmstead. anyway... this is a picture with a caddie in her burka. the things they wore were a lot like sleeping bags... in 97 degree weather carrying a cart bag i think it might have been a bit hot. not only does the course make them were garments that would not satisfy the Geneva convetion... but they dont feed these girls .... and the dont give them water... they were starving and parched... we did we could to give them food and stuff... but i still felt like a complete asshole for just being there. ... not a big fan of that kind of thing.











Here is Tracy drinking a cool refreshing bottle of gatoraid. Goot, (that is her name), looks on . . .














The hotel is beutiful... and i have to say that i think Thailand is about the most beutiful place i have ever been.


I will fix that later....



Did the scuba thing.... that was today... What day is it anyway? It was not the best diving but we had a good time... tracy was able to snorkle nearby and juli and pete and i saw octipusses and moree eals and lots of cool underwater things...










note here that this picture was not taken near our hotel.... but at the beach where the scuba boat lauched from ..... not to be a snot... but


tomorrow... we go to ride elephants in the jungle... i have deep suspicions that that might be more like the petting zoo .... but we will play it by ear....

i will post some more pictures as the week goes on...