Day Trip to Ayutthaya

Quick, name the largest city in the world in 1700.  Didn't guess Ayutthaya?  Can't pronounce it?  Sick of all these questions?

Ayutthaya was the capital of Siam (Thailand) up until 1767 when Burma invaded the city and burned it to the ground.  Before that, it was thriving city of nearly 1 million inhabitants.

About an hour bus ride north of Bangkok, we checked out Ayutthaya and visited a number of wat (temple) ruins...

Wat were we thinking trying to spell out WAT?

Rumor has it soldiers were stealing the Buddha head, but got tired and dropped it on the ground, where a tree grew around it

With a reclining Buddha

We travel first class everywhere we go

Stopped on the way home to watch a Muay Thai match at the local mall.  After getting to meet the unrivaled William Hung, possibly the coolest mall experience I've had.

Hong Kong

Marsh and I decided to head to Hong Kong for a long-weekend (Fri-Monday).  A quick look at some of our adventures:

Roof-top Bars: If you're going to pay $10+ for a drink, might as well get a free view

TOTT: Talk of the Town, yet ironically quiet when we were there

View from Eyebar

109 stories up

Toilets: USA, we are in the crapper compared to HK

The toilet in our hotel room had a heated seat and may have been able to help me with my investments homework, but I couldn't figure out how most of it worked.

Vistas: With a lot of mountains and islands, Hong Kong had some amazing views

Looking from Kowloon across to Hong Kong Island

HK and Bangkok meet at the Peak

Bears: Just the bear necessities 

Black (and white) bear beats beets

Can barely contain his excitement

 Ocean Park: Passed on Disneyland to go to Ocean Park, which I believe is up for a slashie, for best amusement park/aquarium/zoo/place to buy fried squid snacks.

Think Marsh and I were excited to be at an amusement park built on the side of a mountain?

HK loves their trams

 The Olympics:  Remember when Hong Kong hosted the Olympics?  Neither do I.

Not exactly sure why there is an Olympic monument in Hong Kong Park, but there is

  Buddha:  Went to Lantau Island to take a tram and see the Tian Tan Huddha

Is that the world's largest outdoor, sitting Buddha that is made of bronze?  Why yes it is.

After waiting an hour for the tram to take us to Tian Tan Buddha, we needed to take a photo of a caution slippery warning cone

Starbucks:  Oh, there happens to be a certain coffee chain in Hong Kong?

Berlin Starbucks by Brandenburg gate, you're on notice for the award of coolest Starbucks' view

Dim Sum: Had our fill of it and Dim Sum

Turns out I'm allergic to tigers...

So I lost my camera.  This has thrown a wrench into my blogging plans.  I initially intended to share a bunch of photos, write a few captions and a brief paragraph, and leave it at that.  But as James Lipton says*, "The Show Must Go On"!

On Thursday evening Kate, Kristina, Marsh, Will and I flew to Chiang Mai. It was significantly colder up north, only in the 80s for the high :)

Friday: Headed off to the Tiger Kingdom. Got to pet, pose and play with real life tigers.  In my opinion the large ones were lazy (arguably drugged), the medium size ones were playful (which can be a bit scary when you are standing 3 inches away from them), and the baby tigers are the most adorable.  Also discovered that, like house cats, I am allergic to tigers.  After the tiger kingdom we visited a temple on top of a mountain and ate some delicious Burmese food before locating a night market that severely tested my Mod-2-acquired negotiation skills.

Saturday: Since a full-grown Indochinese tiger can only get to be around 450 pounds, we figured we needed to find some larger animals to play with.  About 80 minutes outside of town we visited some Asian Elephants.  After changing into some fashionable blue shirt and blue/purple pants, we learned some commands, fed the elephants some bananas (ok, actually a lot of bananas) and then went for about an hour ride that culminated in us washing them in a river. 

Not to brag, but our elephant was pretty much the Usain Bolt of the group

Shortly after bathing our elephant.  Not a bad business plan, they get the customers to buy bananas at a market, feed the animals and then bath them, all as part of the "experience"

Sunday: Took a Thai cooking course, meaning I have now cooked approximately as much in Thailand as I have in 18 months in Chapel Hill.  When all the pre-work is done, and people clean all your dishes for you, cooking isn't bad.  I made Pad See Ew, Panang Curry, and a coconut soup. Didn't get sick, and the rest of the gang that tried my dishes at least appeared to enjoy it.  After lunch it was time to head to prison.  As part of a rehabilitation program for women prisoner's, you can get an hour massage for about  8 dollars.

*James Lipton may have never said this

Some random thoughts and highlights

Most of my blog posts going forward will probably consist of some photos, some captions, and maybe a story or two.  If I try to write too much, I'm sure I'll never get around to actually blogging.  So to catch up on my first four days in Bangkok, I give you the following thoughts and highlights:

Day 1: Sunday
Destroy jet-lag, apologize to roommate Marsh for showing up at 3am, walk several blocks to MBK mall (giant 7+ story mall, although imagine 70% of the mall is kiosks), discover Starbucks, get excited, wander to Jim Thompson House for drinks and tour, dinner at a Thai restaurant (repeat this part pretty much every day and meal)

Day 2: Monday
Wake up at 5:30 to listen to Seahawks/Redskins game, brief orientation at school (Sasin Graduate Institute of Business, told that stray dogs outside are actually "guard dogs"), first drink at Starbucks (grande coffee frappucino, used my gold card, no big deal except the cashier commented on the card), went to the Red Sky rooftop bar, spend 80 minutes picking out outfit for first day of class

Day 3: Tuesday
First day of class.  3 1/2 hours of ROI in Human Capital (finally after 1.5 years of class, my HR background is really paying off), 3.5 hours of Investments class (professor discussing puts and calls, short and long, tried to remember what Bill Weld taught me, resolved to try and find a finance monkey in Chiang Mai), go to undergrad gym (break machine and have body builder help me fix it, sweat a lot more than other students), dinner at touristy Cabbage and Condoms restaurant, followed by visit to Bush Gardens Bar (turns out to be right next to brothel)

Day 4: Wednesday
Adventure to Grand Palace...


Once I upload some photos, I'll post a few.

Magic in the Sky

So I've been in Bangkok now for about 5 days, but am now just getting around to blogging.  I figured it I didn't start now, I'd never do it.  Just following the wisdom of the great JBJ (Jon Bon Jovi) when he said "It's Now or Never".

Was GOB supposed to be on my flight?

I'll start at the beginning of my Journey.  I flew Asiana airlines from Seattle to Seoul and Seoul to Bangkok.  According to Asiana's website, some of their flights have a magician on-board.  Was this guy excited about this?  Let's just say I didn't even bother to upload movies on my Kindle Fire.

When I got to the airport and found out I had a middle seat for the 12 hour flight to Seoul, I was not super excited.  Then again, maybe the magician could turn my middle seat into a window seat?  Or transport me directly to Thailand?  Turns out, the only trick was getting me to believe there would be a magician on the flight. 

All in all, my flights were rather uneventful and I mainly just watched a lot of movies.  In the Seoul airport, it is apparently illegal to "tailgate" at the security checkpoint.  I imagine that means something different than it does at a football game in the US, but I decided against playing cornhole just in case.  After leaving Seattle at 1pm on Friday afternoon, I landed in Bangkok at 1am on Sunday morning.  Luckily Sasa House, where I am staying, had a driver at the airport to pick me up. Finally got to sleep around 3am, happy to be in Bangkok.

More to come later...