We arrived in Bangkok after a 3+ hour flight.  It was a great trip with Rebecca sitting next to another ISM student and Jonathon behaved well without his carseat.  We stayed at the Royal Orchid Sheraton right on the river, in two adjoining rooms, and that evening we had dinner in one of the hotel restaurants called Thailand Tonight.  The name was rather dorky but the food was decent and the show really caught the attention of the kids (ok, three of them).  Part way through the dancers visited with guests.  Nicholas was a little bummed that the male dancers with their elaborate masks didn't make it our way.

Temple of the Dawn

We had a half day tour in Bangkok as part of our travel package.  This was a very laid back trip for us as we went through a tour company that included hotel, air, airport transfers, breakfast each morning and three half-day tours.  It gave our trip structure and took a lot of planning out of our hands.

Monday was a Klong Tour.  We boarded a boat and traveled down the Chao Phraya and canals.  Along the way we stopped at a market, saw a monitor lizard in the water and visited, Wat Arun, the Temple of the Dawn, with it's bits of colorful porcelain covering the outside surface and its three rows of guardians (demons, monkeys and angels).

Along the canals we saw river homes.  Some quite dilapidated, but none lacking electricity and refrigerators.  Many had satellite dishes and one we spotted had a huge plasma TV.

The final stop of our morning tour was at the Royal Barge Museum.  Surprisingly this was a highlight for the kids for the morning.  I'm not quite sure why they liked it so much, but they did.  The covered dock housed an assortment of barges used during royal ceremonies and when dignitaries visit.  They were originally designed (as noted by the cannon muzzle poking out) as war craft.

We had the afternoon free so we decided to visit the Jim Thompson house.  Thompson was an American who settled in Thailand and he built up the worldwide recognition of Thai silk.  I guess he became a wealthy man but the general interest in his life is because of his sudden disappearance into Malaysian wildland.  The kids thought his house was pretty cool too, especially the chamber pots in the shape of animals.  Afterwards we found ourselves at a mall to cool off and McDs was calling.

What to say about the Grand Palace.  We took a tuk tuk to arrive as it opened and were so impressed by the beauty of the buildings. Wat Phra Kaew within the palace grounds houses the famous Emerald Buddha which isn't actually made of emerald, but jade instead.  We learned the rules of entering a temple (for a Wat is a group of buildings), including removing shoes, wearing appropriate clothing and never pointing feet towards the statues.  If visitors aren't dressed according to the signs, clothing is available on loan.  There's too much to say  about the architecture of the Wat and the Palace, so if you're insterested what all the parts are, do a google search for "wat" or "Thai bot".

Grand Palace

There was a slide show, then live snakes galore.  Cobras, rat snakes and of course pythons.  The kids are becoming old hands at dealing with pythons.  The Red Cross keeps the poisonous ones for milkings and antivenoms for the nation, and we were assured that even with the number of wild snakes, there was little chance we'd ever see one.

Snake Farm

A traveling day and for us being 12 hours ahead, election day returns. Yup, I admit we spend a good part of our vacation day watching TV just like all the stateside Americans sitting bleary eyed for hours waiting for winner .

A new city awaited us, so we really couldn't sit there all day, could we.  More Wats were calling.  We learned about the serpents, the naga, that  guard the entrance to every temple we've visited.  Some are rather fierce like these along the stairwell of Wat Chedi Luang.

Half day tour and we chose the Maesa Elephant Farm.  First stop though, an orchid farm.  I still don't understand the huge attraction to these flowers, but in long rows hanging with exposed roots, they are rather pretty.  The kids thought the butterfly house was pretty cool.

Orchid/butterfly farm

 

 

On to the elephants.  We were pleasantly surprised at how well cared for the animals are.  The show wasn't just animals tromping in a circle.  They played soccer, "danced" while playing harmonicas, interacted with their trainers and painted pictures.

We were also able to go for a ride.  Katherine had it in her head she'd be riding a la Eliza Thornberry.  I'm glad we had seats though part of the ride was still pretty rough.  The kids fed bananas and sugar cane to every elephant they could find.
 

Factory Tours

From jade to silk to paper to teak to lacquer.  We visited five different spots with guides through the process of making their products and showrooms of wares.  At each place, the kids were allowed to handle the tools and help out.  We did our part by buying something at every single place.  It was silly really.  But Ian fell in love with jadite chess pieces (not the soft nephrite) while the kids played games of chess, thoroughly impressing the staff.  And he couldn't pass up silk boxers while the kids poked at the silkworms eating their mulberry leaves.

We had some serious retail therapy and on the van ride back to the hotel the kids showed they had retained quite a bit of information too.  Excellent.