Wat Po and the Grand Palace

Where to begin? I want to start out with a big congratulations to Marie on her engagement! Now we really need to meet Joel, and hopefully before the wedding. In additon, thanks to Joe for the St. Christopher medal sent via e-mail! I am still pinching myself and can't believe that I am really here...no papers to grade, regents exams to proctor, or classes to teach. There was a moment today in the Grand Palace when I though of the Poder boys and how much they would love the Buddha statues! However, then I thought about how Dwayne would be cutting Rene's cheeks about how he looks like the Buddha, and my nostalgia quickly passed. We started off the day with a tour of the city's canals on a river boat, and spent an hour viewing many of the sites from the water. Upon leaving the boat we travelled to Wat Po, a well known and beautiful temple here in Bangkok, and saw the reclining Buddha! It's quite an amazing site, and difficult to fully capture in pictures. From there we walked to the Grand Palace and spent a few hours touring the buildings and museum. Again, the statues and gold gilding were breathtaking and the rain held out until we were inside the museum. The weather continues to be quite hot and sticky, but I've been told that as we travel north the humidity will decrease and become more bearable. After the palace we were all starving and grabbed lunch at a local outdoor market. I ordered a plate of the best pad thai that I've ever had, and a bag of assorted local fruits...all for less than a dollar! After lunch we braved a tuktuk ride to the flower market and wandered around rows and rows or orchids and jasmine. The smell was fantastic, and the temple offerings created by the stall keepers are truly works of art. This evening we are catching a flight to Chang Mai and then making our way to the Mekong River where we will catch a slow boat for a two day journey. A decision was reached this morning regarding Tibet vs Bhutan, and we will be continuing onto Bhutan. The tour company has arranged for us to visit the original Everest base camp in Bhutan, and this was a big factor in why we all collectively chose it over Tibet. I'm thrilled, and looking forward to that leg of the journey.