Bangkok

Sawansadee! (place hands in prayerful pose in front of nose and bob your head while saying) Hello from Bangkok! The Chao Phraya River flows through this modern, sprawling metropolis of 10 million. We stayed riverside at the luxurious Marriot Resort and Spa - a 600 thai bhat/45 minute ride in from the airport. Approximately 35 thai bhat equals one US dollar. Special note to international travelers: try to find out what the average taxi fee should be prior to arrival. Everything is a negotiation here and it helps to know what you should be working from...

After a relaxing afternoon poolside we headed out for cocktails on the terrace at the Oriental, which involved taking our shuttle boat to another pier and transferring to the Oriental shuttle. Ooops...they wouldn't let us on because we weren't dressed properly! After 6:00 the ladies need skirts/dresses and nice shoes, and the men need slacks and jackets. Ironic really because we do enjoy getting dressed up every now and then and there are so few places to do that in Vietnam or even Maine. No one went with my suggestion to hit the local mall for a new wardrobe so we ended up in a tuk-tuk trying to communicate that we wanted cocktails somewhere up high near the river with a view. I know you are laughing right now because how on earth do you communicate that in another country which speaks another language? Well, after one false stop Hal did get our point across but the new place was "same-same" - dress code after 6:00. We ended up at an english pub before heading off to the night market. We loved the night market! And that is where we should have gone in the first place. The center of the complex is a stage and seating area surrounded by restaurants and the shops are in the adjacent buildings on either side. If you ever go there without remembering to pack your dressy-best, simply wait until 7:00 p.m. or so and head out to the night market for your evening meal and entertainment.

Hal had meetings all day Monday so Silas, Clara and I went with our fabulous tour guide - Miss Chulee - to see the Grand Palace, and the Emerald and Reclining Buddhas. BTW - dress code here too. Slacks for men, skirts or long slacks for ladies, no sandals or flip-flops. We had another stop scheduled at the Marble Temple but decided we'd had enough culture for one day and needed lunch and a boat ride! The Palace and Buddhas were fantastic - we really enjoyed the craftsmanship and architecture that went into creating them. It was great to take a longtail boat along the river and through some of the canals. The homes are charming - each one has their own little float and little boat. Our driver had several pick-ups/drop-offs along the way. He showed us the stretch of canal where Pierce Brosnan piloted a longtail for one of the 007 movies. Our guide also talked about Angelina Jolie's recent visit for childrens charities. Later we wondered if the Thai's are that interested in celebrities or if they share those fun facts with us because they think we are that interested in celebrities. We wondered about that on Phuket too - the tour coordinator at our hotel kept trying to interest us in an ATV tour where you stop and shoot guns among other things. Regardless of what our stereotype is in Thailand, folks seem quite happy to have tourists here and quite worried about the impact of the recent airport closures and global recession on the industry.