Thailand Trip 2016

Back home from Bangkok, I've now had a chance to go through my pictures and remember back on a trip that already seems like a blur.  The primary purpose of the trip was work, and we worked a full five days (some nights).  So much accomplished.  It's cheesy to say "I'm so proud of our team", but I'm so proud of our team.  It was a big old love fest with lots of hugging when we closed on Friday.

I used my free day on Sunday to explore the city of Bangkok on a Tuk Tuk tour, plus a dinner cruise on Thursday to take in the views from the river.  Truly a fascinating place that warranted over 100 pictures in such a short amount of time.

Patricia and I buzzed around the city in this green and pink tuk tuk with a knowledgeable tour guide who spent a lot of time avoiding the sun and harassing tourist who didn't respect the Buddhas.  

Our first stop was to one (of many) temples along the water and a fort.  Didn't get much information on the two, but it was a good place to start.  

We also learned the importance of the river and the superiority of Thai food/monarchy/way of life in relation to the other Asian countries. 

Next stop was the Golden Mount, where we had our first conversation about Buddhism and climbed up to a temple with fantastic view of the city.  

Part of our journey included ringing the gong and also ringing the bells (for luck).  Although I don't believe in any of the sort, we rang the bells a few time in anticipation of the workshop that week (we needed as much help as we could get!)

Just a few (okay, a lot) views from the top.  I'm always amazed by the blend of modern structures with old world temples scattered across a the city. I was also impressed with the amount of housing for the monks (the houses with the orange roof surrounding the temples).  (Monks were a common site throughout our tour.)

Although I refrained from photos inside of the temple (out of respect), I did capture a few photos at the top.  

Next stop on our tour were a series of markets:  food markets, wholesale clothing/jewelry markets, flower markets.  So many people, smells, and things to see.  Really hit your senses.

I learned that the slender market streets are not as narrow as you'd think - plenty of room for people to drive through with a motor vehicle or bicycle..

After the markets, we headed over to the Wat Pho temple to see the Reclining Buddha. Not without a lesson in "respecting the Buddha" first!

It's hard to explain the scale of the 46 meter long Buddha.  After removing our shoes, we walked around and around taking in all the angles.

And the grounds were as beautiful as the Buddha!  The chedi mounds around the complex contained ashes of important families.  

I never understood the differences between these Buddha statues, but the tour guide did try to explain the different meanings.  We also got a lesson in restoration, as a group carefully added gold paper to the Buddhas.

We spent a lot of time looking at Buddhist relics, and the tour guide seemed disappointed we didn't want one to bring us luck. 

We ended the tour buzzing around Bangkok in our little Tuk Tuk, taking in the sites and questioning out how safe (or unsafe) the vehicle was along the busy, crowded streets…

Probably not the safest, but well worth the risk to see the city this way!

On Thursday night we took a boat tour down the river that we saw on Day 1.  Lovely views, good food, nice breeze - one of my favorite parts of the trip.

Highly recommend as another vantage point of the city.

And those aren't all the pictures!  I still have others that I didn't share!  So much to take in and capture - just a fascinating city and I feel lucky that I experienced it - even for the short time I spent there.