Sawatdee, Bangkok and Thailand

Neighborhood floating market.

Doing the laundry.

It's 90 with a humidity of 100% and she's wearing wool gloves.  Made me break out in a sweat just looking at her.  But she's so beautiful!

Sunset from my hotel room.  I love Bangkok.  It may be one of my favorite huge cities.

I'm ready to come home but it's been an amazing adventure.  I'm not crazy in love with Asia as I am with Africa but there's a charm, grace, history and beauty here that has calmed my soul and made me love it.  Cambodia may have been my favorite country but Thailand is a close second.  The people are all so caring - not just going through the motions but really caring that you are happy and all is well with you.  You have to say Sawatdee to EVERYONE you encounter in Thailand.  Fortunately, it means both hello and goodbye but you say it while you press your palms together and bow slightly.  So you say it to every bellman in the hotel lobby, each guest as you pass them, everyone you pass on the street (Bangkok makes an exception since the streets are jammed), every shop you enter, and on and on.

More photos after I get back to Dallas and have an opportunity to go through 1,000s of images I haven't even seen yet.  I'm in Tokyo at the worst Hilton in the world but it's close to the airport and serves my purpose.  But it also makes me realize how wonderful the Thais and Cambodians are and how their enthusiasm and charm embraces you.

Sawatdee to each of you.

It's temple time again

Early every morning the monks travel through their neighborhood offering blessings to Buddhists.

The person being blessed kneels wherever they are and the monk speaks to them less than 1 minute and then quietly moves on.  It's really simple and somehow a very beautiful process.

.I love these 2 guys just standing there in peace.

I'm in Bangkok now and start the trek home tomorrow.  Will try to do some editing and posting from Tokyo.  It's been an amazing and transformational trip.  I feel blessed and peaceful.

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.