The Big Mango

Or at least that's what Eric says it's called...I must agree, though, last night while visiting new friends Ken and Ann, they made us an especially delicious mango pie...Yummy! Dave-You didn't tell us it's been 30 years since you've seen them! We had a terrific evening, a perfect end to our first day here...We spent the entire first part of the day strolling around the Grand Palace and Wat Pao (and a few other wats but we've stopped counting at this point). After seeing the Palace and getting a firsthand rundown of the Royal Family by Ann, I think it's safe to say I deserve a few credit points for this trip. We were especially lucky to be here during the election too!

This is one of the most livliest cities I've ever explored and it has so much to offer. Ann got us excited about the urban part of town and now even Eric wants to see the new shopping centres (and the big dept store- Central) so we're going to check out the local outskirts today. Tomorrow we move off the River to the Old Bangkok Inn which is near a few more sites north of where we are now so we still have much to see and do. The heat is quite impressive considering this is their "cold" season. They even change the jewels around the Emerald Buddha to reflect this- although I'm not sure he needs a gold scarf wrapped around him - it's like 90 degrees F outside plus a few humidity points and you'd think it's August in FL. Nonetheless, we've been keeping cool sticking our heads out of the longboats on our rides up and down the river, stopping in to little thai restaurants and eatting with the locals and finding shady spots on the greens of the Palace to sit and stare at all the wonder around.

It's a magnificent town and country.