Bangkok: More Fun for North Dakotans

 

We last left this story with the Stonda's, Stone's and Allen's jumping on a last minute late night flight to Bangkok.  We arrived and promptly went to bed at the hotel and tried to sleep in since we were sans kids.  After celebratory cappuccinos, we hit the sights in the blazing sun.  Our hotel was on the river, so we caught the riverboat down to our first stop, Wat Arun, or Temple of Dawn. The temple is so beautiful covered in glass and porcelain tiles and according to Wikipedia built from 1600's to 1800's depending on what part you're looking at.  You can climb up two sets up super steep steps for good views of the temple and the surrounding area, but 50% of the group chickened out going up both sets. 

 

After the sweaty climb, us ladies were enticed by the Thai traditional dresses photo op booths nearby.  For $3 a piece we had a fabulous time playing dress up.  Aletta found some good alternate uses for the extended finger tips.

We continued on to the Grand Palace grounds, which Paul and I went to during our previous Bangkok trip, but the place is totally worthy of more than one visit.  We took the boat further down the river from Wat Arun, and hopped in a couple of tuk-tuks to get to the palace. 

The opportunity to see Paul (Allen) and my Dad in crazy pants to meet the covered knees requirement just adds to the experience.  Unlike Paul's (Sonda) previous crazy pants, they sprung for purchased pants rather than rental pants, so ND-er's, you may get to see this fashion statement at the lake this summer.

After sweating galore we headed back to the hotel for drinks by the pool and some relaxing.  We had to restore our energy for the next day's shopping trip of epic proportions...  The weekend market in Bangkok, the Chatuchak Market, which covers 35 acres and has about 15,000 stalls.  You can buy pretty much anything here.  I had to go to the cash machine twice!  We were so busy shopping that we didn't take many pictures so here a couple of mine along with some that I found on the web that are good representations.

 

 

 

 

Since the guys don't understand that it can be fun to shop for eight hours, the men did their own exploring.  My Dad got his wish to rent one of the colorful "long boats" that have giant motors off the back that the captain steers with a long pole. 

 

 

 

 

The long boat took them down the river with a stop at the Royal Barge National Museum.

 

 

 

 And then more exploring in side canals to visit the floating market and back into some residential areas with houses on and kids jumping in the river.

 

 

 

All this was followed by some good Thai food, some good Thai massages, more family bonding time and then we headed back to Hong Kong the next day.  The last night of the Asia tour was spent unpacking, repacking, hanging out with the kids as the long trip back to ND started the next morning.  It was sad to say goodbye.  Now to start lobbying for the other two Stone sistahs to get their butts over here...  I'll even buy you elephant pants!