We’re back from our SE Asia mad dash – 4 cities (6 if you include layover cities) in just over 2 weeks. Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Siem Reap, and Tokyo. A little too much plane travel, but an enriching, incredible experience all around. Below is a pastiche of sorts of photos from our trip.

Bangkok

Due to snafus on the part of the airlines, our time in Bangkok went from 3 days to a half a day. We did a fast tour of the main sights of Bangkok before heading back to the airport to catch a flight to Chiang Mai, in northern Thailand.

(1) At our hotel – orchids abound in Thailand. (2) An elephant topiary on our tour. (3) On our way to Wat Pho and the Grand Palace

 

Wat Pho is enormous, with every inch covered in ornate decoration.Lots of gold, demon statues, fantastical creatures, incense burners, monks, and Chinese tourists with selfie sticks.

 

Lighting candles and burning incense for prayer.

 

Rob sprinkling holy water with a lotus flower.

 

A model of Angkor Wat – the main temple in the Angkor Archaelogical Park. Angkor Wat and the wats (temples) of Thailand are closely connected:

 

Some of the beautiful art that adorns the inner courtyard walls. All the drawings are from great epics and stretch for 9 km around the complex.

Finally the Grand Palace, the residence of a former Thai king (around turn of 20th century?).  The Thai monarchy inspires a slavish devotion on the part of the Thai population and you cannot go into a store or turn a street corner, open a newspaper, or drive on a street without seeing photos of the king, queen, or crown prince, usually accompanied with exaltations on how much they are beloved by the people.

Monks, below. There are many many monks in Thailand.

 

Tuk Tuks, a cheap but easy form of transport around Bangkok, and most Thai cities, a ride will cost no more than about $5 to most places.

 

Inside a tuk tuk, I’m up front with the driver. Hang on!

 

At the end we took a tour of the canals of Bangkok in a Thai longboat. I honestly could have skipped it, but I think it was interesting for Rob and the kids. There are places to buy bread to feed the river’s catfish. Yuk.

We have raccoons, they have monitor lizards:

 

Chiang Mai

On to Chiang Mai, where we spent 6 days exploring this area of Northern Thailand, up in the hills near the Burmese border. We barely scraped the surface of this beautiful area. Super tropical, lovely friendly people, and lush tropical areas. A bit too touristy for Rob’s taste and mine, but we would love to return and explore more of the outlying areas. And have more mango with sticky rice!

One of the delights strolling around the streets of Chiang Mai is coming across these gorgeous hidden temples.

 

 

A tour of the main temples of Chiang Mai, some of which are 800 years old.

More to follow….