Chinatown, Day 1 - Fri. 12-18

Day 1: late afternoon walk through Chinatown-amazingly crowded, tight alleys, wild and weird food and the smell -- wow.   The red bowl below is full of tiny, tiny shrimp that you eat live with some lime.  Yum.

More palace pix, Day 1 - Fri. 12-18

Ok -- after being kicked around by a fussy, mean internet connection, I'm regaining the confidence to try posting more than a couple pics in one post.  

Even surrounded by gold and jewel-encrusted temples, Sammi & Alexa only have eyes for each other. :)

Clearly group squatting in public is acceptable when in foreign lands.

Wow, that's one BIG Buddha.
The reclining Buddha fills an entire building... seems like nearly a block to walk along the length from head to toe.

This happens to this poor guy all day.  People race in and out to harass and take pictures with him and his job apparently is to pretend none of it is happening.

The girls think it's rather amusing... he clearly does not.

Wow -- uploading photos has never taken so long.  I'm getting nervous that this connection is going to dump out and I'll lose everything so while Day 1 isn't over... this post is. 

That's just grand! - Fri. 12-18

Matt meets at soulmate at the Bangkok Grand Palace.

We're told you haven't really been to Bangkok unless you see the Grand Palace... so we see it... and are properly amazed.

Perpetual Gridlock - Fri. 12-18

Typical Bangkok trafffic -- a slow, steady creep.  Rush hour seems to be an all-day affair.

Greetings from McDonalds: Bangkok

Our first experience of authentic Thai culture came at about 3 a.m. local time when this gentleman welcomed us to Bangkok.

Try the Samurai Pork Burger. Seriously.

This is the dude who checked our passports at Customs and Immigration. I thought the sword was overkill.

It is humid, people. I know, you're crying for us.

slightly sick

somewhere in the air over China

about 2 hours from landing in Bangkok

We’ve been riding in planes since the day started at noon yesterday. I can’t wait to get off this stupid thing. It’s been really boring and without Alexa I wouldn’t have survived.

The bathrooms are unbelievably tiny and cramped and the floors are a little wet. I’m trying to avoid ever going to the bathroom unless I really, really need to.

In Tokyo, my dad was the one who was out of place. We couldn’t get water out of the vending machine because it only took yen.

Welcome to virtual Thailand!

You can be Thai travelers too (on the Internet)

Here are some of the things we will see:

• Elephants
• Rafting
• Beautiful beaches
• Bored people on planes
• A visit to a Thai orphanage
• Boys named Ben and Jake Thai boxing

Check back soon -- we leave on December 16!