Shiny Bangkok

We had a great time on vacation in Cambodia, a visit that included a couple days in Bangkok at the start and the end. The flight from Chennai was a killer -- it took off around 1 am (it was delayed), and then landed at an indeterminate point in the morning (time had no meaning at that point). In the seats in front and around us were Indian Rotarians who pushed their seats back all the way, laughed and talked constantly, and fussily demanded whiskies and anything else they could think of from the long-suffering crew. This cut down on the funtime factor for the rest of us by about 35%, I believe.

After we landed at the huge new Bangkok Airport, got to the hotel, and left our luggage, it was time to see Bangkok on no sleep at all. (We visited last year too, so we didn't feel as if we have to see everything.) This time we were close to the Royal Palace and Wat Po (a temple), so it was easy to do these. Here, for instance, is Don contemplating the Reclining Buddha's nipple:



We were very impressed with the super-fancy buses parked on the streets around the Royal Palace. There's nothing like these buses in India, or maybe in most other places. Some of them were even karaoke buses! What a way to head down the road.



There were lots of tourists at the Royal Palace. I was so sleepy at this point that it started to seem like the best policy to see what everyone else was taking a picture of and to look in the same general direction.



We did make sure to check out the scale model of Angkor Wat. It's just sort of lying there sandwiched between amazing temples and palaces and shrines, but it's one impressive carving. And accurate, we'd soon find out.



After slowly going haywire from the heat and all the crazy, gorgeous designs everywhere, it was time to call it quits on sight-seeing for the day, take a nap, and then just go wandering.