Apologies for the slightly protracted delay between postings, folks. I went on a quick jaunt to Bangkok (free space in a hotel room courtesy of a family member's work trip, how could I refuse?) and opted to leave the laptop behind. But never fear, I have returned, and your patience will be rewarded with pictures and anecdotes that will hopefully transport you (at least momentarily...I know you're really supposed to be working) many miles from your desktop.
Thailand has a lot of temples and markets. At right is one of the temples as seen from Bangkok's river, Chao Praya. I spent a lot of time on the river, and more time in markets than in temples. It's the hot season in Bangkok right now, with the temperature regularly hitting 90 by 10am, and humidity to match. Which I don't mind as much as some people, but even for me, it makes afternoon sightseeing less appetizing than, say, lounging by the hotel pool.
My timing for this visit was just a little off. You see, I arrived just a day or two after the Thai New Year's holiday of Songkran, which is also known as the Water Festival. From what I understand, the entire country pretty much devolves into a giant water fight for a couple days -- if you're walking down the street, you can plan to get soaked, by any- and everyone in the vicinity. Now, I can understand not wanting to fall victim to this in your nice work clothes, but frankly, after two hours of carrying my camera bag around the old city in 95/95 (degrees F and per cent humidity), getting splashed or water-gunned on the spot sounded like a pretty darn good idea.
As it was, I missed out on all of the water-throwing, but the hotel did have a nice pool, so don't feel too bad for me.
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