Trip to Thailand

On Wednesday night, I was able to tag along with Justin to Bangkok, Thailand for a quick 2 night business trip.

In 1949, the country of Siam changed to Thailand.  Thailand means "free living."

On Thursday, he had meetings booked all day.  I was lucky enough to have a personal tour guide.  I got to spend the day with a wonderful friend who was a foreign exchange student with Justin for their senior year of high school.

She met me at the hotel at 9:00am and we were off for a quick train ride and then a nice river ferry ride to our first destination.

 A temple on the water.

 Our first stop was the Grand Palace.  The palace was built in 1782 by King Rama I.  It is a huge complex(218,000 square meters).

 I had to wear this lovely skirt because my leggings were "too tight."

 Model of Angor Wat in Cambodia

 The details in all of the architecture, sculptures and wall art were amazing.

This is the temple of the Emerald Buddha…..no photography was allowed inside.

 National Emblem of Thailand, depicting a dancing Garuda with outstretched wings.

 Bhumibol Adulyadej  is the reigning King of Thailand. He is known as Rama IX. Having reigned since 9 June 1946, he is the world's longest-serving current head of state and the longest-reigning monarch in Thai history.  His picture and flag were everywhere in celebration of his recent birthday.  The flag includes his initials and the character for the number 9.

 Then, we walked to our next stop.

 This temple has the largest "reclining Buddha."  It is 15 meters high and 43 meters long.

Then, we took a Tuk Tuk (3-wheeled auto rickshaw) to lunch and the local market.  The only forms of public transportation I didn't take on the trip was a car taxi and the motorbike taxi(hadn't seen that before.) 

 After a little shopping in the malls, Justin met us about 6:00.  He met up with us at Mart's family jewelry shop, Proud Gems.  With Mart's help, I was able to design my Christmas present!!!!

 We had Thai for lunch so we decided on Japanese for dinner!

 After dinner, I made another quick stop at what I would call the Thailand Target.  It had all the cute home items Target would have.  I could have spent all day there and bought a lot more if I didn't have to fit everything back into my suitcase.

 This morning at the airport we completed the Thailand adventure with a quick Thai foot and shoulder massage.  I am pretty sure my tiny lady switched places with a 10 foot giant because the amount of pressure made by her elbows and fingers almost made me cry out in pain!

Bangkok is the first time in Asia I have seen this lovely sign!!!!

I was so excited to see a green Blizzard from a distance because I thought it was a mint Oreo one.  I figured Green Tea and Oreo wouldn't be too tasty, but the regular Oreo one was yummy!!!

 I am so glad I went along on this trip. 

 I was able to see a lot and hanging out with Mart all day was a lot of fun.

We hope to bring the girls back to Bangkok soon.

Life is Good with another quick trip to see more of SE Asia!