We've been accumulating some great photos but haven't had enough time (or material) to make a full blog post out of these pictures. I'm about to change that by combining all of them to capture everything in between. For the most part, these are separated by location unless otherwise noted. Enjoy!
Bangkok:
Our orientation group at the Grand Palace
Enjoying some outrageously priced drinks on the rooftop at the State Tower...for those that watched Hangover II, some clips were filmed from this restaurant/bar
Inside the new Terminal 21 mall in Bangkok...each floor is designed as a different destination. San Francisco was the only U.S. city that made the cut. Here we have the Golden Gate bridge, which as everyone knows, intersects the city at Market, Davis, and Jackson.
Shelly and some of our new teaching friends taking a break from the constant heat
The next few photos were taken in Lumpini Park, Bangkok's largest green space (which isn't much)
Guiding our duck boat through the monitor lizard infested waters
Matt joining in on the evening aerobics in the park
There's enough bars in Bangkok already, but for the lazy drinker, you can just grab a stool on the street and get served
Our Bangkok cooking class takes an early morning visit to the Klong Tuey market. For breakfast? Fried crickets. Mmm, one please!
We cooked with Poo (the instructor's nickname) and we REALLY liked it
Kanchanaburi (re-visited December 2nd-5th):
This picture (and the videos below) are of the annual Bridge over the River Kwae festival. The festival is held each year in late November/early December to commemorate the 10-day Allied bombing of the bridge during WWII.
The largest of 2 war cemetaries in Kanchanaburi....primarily British, Dutch, and Australian POW's of WWII are buried here. Most were killed constructing the Death Railway - the railroad line the Japanese intended to move supplies through Thailand into Burma for the expected invasion of India. Part of the railway still runs on a limited track (see our pics in the oriiginal Kanchanaburi post)
Maybe this isn't the most logical photo to follow up cemetary pictures, but this too was taken in Kanchanaburi...a slightly different place nowadays than it likely was in the 1940's.
Yes, a shot of these liquors will set you back 10 baht. That's 33.3 cents thankyouverymuch.
I'm very excited for the great prices. Note the sign in the background. Don't pee here....
Pee HERE.
Phanom Sarkham (our Thai home sweet home):
The four foreign teachers (the other girl is Korean American, so she counts) enjoying ourselves at Tam Tam's, our Thai version of Cheers.
Local market treats!
Matt getting welcomed by the Phanom Adun Wittaya (our school) director
Sarah (the other new foreign teacher for the 2nd term) and I with our plastic flower bouquets.
King's birthday = you wear pink. Most days are color coded here, making our wardrobe choices much easier.
OK fine, this isn't in our town. But it's still a cool picture.
This picture gives good insight into how we travel. Constant transfers from van (see background) to songtaew (see foreground), with lots of waiting, very unsafe, and very uncomfortable.
Samut Prakan (Matt's old town) at Ancient Siam.
Ancient Siam (Siam is Thailand's previous name) is a massive park set on about 200 acres and is built in the shape of Thailand. There are recreations of monuments, temples, monastaries, etc throughout the park. Some of the buildings are recreations typically on a smaller scale, while others have been physically transported to the park and re-built. I kind of like to think of this place as a cultural amusement park, one that has to be seen either by bike or rented golf cart. A pretty cool way to spend a day.
Please note that we don't know what half of these buildings are or what their historical significance is.
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OK, so I do know that this is a re-creation of a large temple that borders Thailand and Cambodia....the countries have argued over the boundary lines around this temple for years. Both sides staff troops in and around the temple, depending on who you are. Last I checked, the temple itself is "in" Cambodia, but only after the border was redrawn by Cambodia and Thailand owns some 5 square kilometers surrounding the temple, including the main temple entrance.
Any Hangover II fans might recognize this place as the Buddhist Monastery the main characters visited in Chiang Mai....only problem is that that part of the movie was filmed in Ancient Siam and this is the place they used for the scene.
Two thumbs up for the only thing in the park from our province, Chachoengsao. And what cool monument or temple did they include from the province? A wall.
If these photos don't make you want to drop everything and come visit, nothing will! Get here and see us before it's too late!! ~ Shelly & Matt
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