Hill tribe people

One of the tribes of northern Thailand is called "the long necks".  At about 5 years old, the women begin to wrap their necks in brass circles and continue adding them throughout their lives.  One explanation is that this keeps women safe from tiger's killing them because animals want to bite a prey's neck.  Whatever the reason is, I think these are stunningly beautiful people.

Over the top Bangkok

Ah....the end of the first day in Bangkok so it must be time to drink....Vincent and Victor.  But first, they had to borrow long pants from the concierge  so we could get in the place.  

The first thing we did after checking in was dash out the door to take a long-tail boat cruise on the Chao Phraya River.  Then we had high tea at the Oriental Hotel followed by shopping, drinks and finally massages ($13) back at the hotel.  I'm telling you, this is not a bad way to live!

I call this style "the wedding cake".

This one's for you, Susan and Mary!

This half-bird, half-man "guaruda" warrier is part of the royal insignia and is everywhere in various mediums.

One building is covered with gigantic murals with gold used for the royals. It tells a story that goes through several centuries.  Basically, it covers jealousy, courtship, wars, political revolutions, adultery, whacking the staff.......all the usual stuff.

This is Jacqui's 83-year old father - Herb - who never stopped.  At breakfast the day they left, he was already planning our next trip.  How cool is that!

Sorry, can't figure out how to delete these duplications.  But these shots are from the Grand Palace.  This place is so big and so over the top detailed that I haven't found a shot yet that adequately gives you an overview but this palace covers almost a square mile.  The buildings have been built by various kings and each is in a completely different style - obviously, no grand strategy was employed.  There are millions of tiny pieces of opaque glass tiles used along with over a ton of gold.  It's ostentatious while also beautiful and no square inch has been left unadorned.  Floors, walls, ceilings....everything.

Shoot...Shop...Spa

What my luggage is beginning to look like.

Unsafe at any speed and every parent here does it.  Makes me crazy!!

Oh yea....here are a few odd shots but mainly wanted you to know that it's been a rough trip so far....every day I seem to either get a massage or foot reflexology.  Every hotel has a great spa and the charge is between $12 and $38 for an hour treatment.  So we shoot a little, shop a lot and the fall into the spa at night.  

Monk lunch

Apocalypse Now With A Shopping Center

Yes, there really is a Jacqui.  

The children are so beautiful.

A lot of the people wrap their heads in this type of scarf - it's somewhat the "national scarf of Cambodia".

Washing the dishes.

After a day of Angkor, Jacqui and l hired a boat to take us to the floating village.  The boat was exactly like the boats that cruised the river during the war (probably is one) and everyone in the village is Vietnamese.  They fled to Cambodia during the war and now they live on barges.  It's a mixture of beautiful, sad and a little eerie.  Everything is in the village - a temple, a school, floating pig pens, grocery stores, places to buy gasoline....even a full size basketball court!  It's all just floating.  And then we found a shopping barge and so we naturally had to start buying things.  

Cambodia - the land of no Internet

Picasso meets Angkor

As great as Vietnam was, I fell in love with Cambodia and started shooting like crazy.  Angkor Wat, and all it's sister areas, are stunning.  To see how large an area it covers and how much of it has just recently been re-discovered is amazing.   I'm so glad that I came now because I think it will become hard to photograph soon - it needs to be protected from so many people touching and trudging through it and they're beginning to erect scaffolding around parts of it.  So here are a few early shots.

OK, OK!!! I'm in Saigon now.

EVERYONE here drives a scooter or bicycle.  There are millions of them on the street at all times.  Crossing the street is easy - you just start walking and don't stop.  They go around you if you keep going forward.  I've been assured that stopping or going backwards will get you killed and I believe it.  But notice the child on the front of the scooter.  Makes me crazy but the scooter is the family car so you see it everywhere.  Also, at least 1/2 the people wear face masks.  You hear different reasons why - they are sick and being polite or they hate the pollution.  I vote for pollution.  

We're in Saigon now and went to the War Remembrance Museum yesterday.  So many memories....so hard to revisit.  I didn't want to shoot anything there - it's not something I can express in photos.  I'll have to think about it before writing.  The saddest thing is that there wasn't anything shown there that didn't happen.  It's all true - the atrocities, the napalm, Mi Lai....it makes me know even more that war is stupid.  Today we visit the ChuChi tunnels.  I want to...I don't want to.  

Hoi An in the monsoon

Unfortunately, it's poured most of the time since we arrived at Hoi An/China Beach but it hasn't slowed us down. That's the thing I'm learning about blogging - you actually have to stop and do it.

And I just learned that spell check has chosen Vietnamese as it's language of choice. Who knew!

But there's something very beautiful about the conical hats and the way light plays off of them.

The people are kind, gentle and amazingly industrious.

Heavenly Hanoi

Just a quick post to tell you Hanoi is fabulous.  It's massively chaotic but then there's areas of immense quiet and beauty.  We're at the beach in Hoi An now and I'll post more photos and commentary tonight.  

Living on AA

So this is the first flight I've ever taken where you settle down, watch a movie, eat dinner, take Ambien, sleep for 5 hours or so, wake up and DO IT ALL OVER AGAIN!  Two movies, 2 dinners, and 2 naps.  I felt like I had moved into this little space.  

Now I'm in the Tokyo Admirals Club but what an eerie airport....of all the shopping here, everything is from a foreign country.  Nothing here is indigenous to Japan....Burberry, Tiffany's, Gucci....

This is too hard!

Can't seem to get all the work off my desk or packing duties done.  I'm getting there but thank god I've got a long flight to Tokyo so I can sleep.