Bangkok

one of the temples in bangkok
Dusit Park...where the royal family lives
an elephant in the streets of bangkok...as mentioned earlier
detail on one of the temples, wat pho
standing next to the reclining buddha...this guy was HUGE

I returned from my Thailand trip this past week, and although my sunburn is gone, my head is still in a bit of a fog from this trip. We had an amazing time. I didn't realize how touristy Thailand was, which meant that there was a lot of English and it was really quite easy to get around. The Thai people are incredibly kind and very proud of their country (including their king...his picture is everywhere). Everything was also very inexpensive, so we ate delicious Thai meals and got to experience a lot while we were there.

We started off in Bangkok, touring the city, which mostly meant seeing the temples and doing some shopping. We had a whirlwind day, weaving our way through street vendors selling fresh fruit, glancing up at the scorching sun, and taking in all of the sights and smells and sounds. Bangkok's traffic was the most frustrating part, and another low point of the trip was seeing a rat. The temples were so ornately decorated, and even though we made it to only a fraction of them, we were awed by the detail and care that are put into maintaining them.

The third night there, we took an overnight bus ride to Krabi, down in Southern Thailand. This bus ride was filled with European Lonely Planet backpacker types, and we spent the night in a fog, as we were woken up several times, asked to switch buses, stop in the middle of the night for an hour food break, and were made to listen to early 90's rock music all night long. Definitely a unique experience.

From Krabi, we took a ferry to Ko Phi Phi, a small island with no cars and relatively little development.It was also one of the places most affected by the tsunami, and damage could still be seen in the midst of rebuilding. This was the highlight of the trip for all of us, and we spent three nights and days on the beach, snorkeling, boating, kayaking to the limestone cliffs, diving (well, not me), dancing, watching a fire dancing show, playing cards, listening to music, drinking fresh fruit juice, and eating more delicious Thai food.

From there, we took a ferry to Phuket, another major tourist destination. We spent a few days on the beach, shopping, and relaxing. I tried parasailing for the first time...would definitely do it again. This is also where we took our standard elephant ride...this was one of the goals of the trip. Quite different than my last ride of 8 years old at the Denver Zoo.

We made it back to Bangkok for one more night on Easter Sunday. Thailand is definitely a place I would like to visit again...it's pretty easy to get used to the island/beach lifestyle.