The Golden Buddha

Rick really wanted to get over to see the Golden Buddha (I too wanted to see it) and so we started out with the intention of getting in a tuk tuk and going to the skytrain and going over to it. Well we couldn't get a tuk tuk driver to take us straight to the train for a reasonable price so we just walked. We had walked it before and it isn't a bad walk, we just didn't want to start the day so sweaty. It doesn't really matter I guess, there is just no avoiding being soaked for most of the day!
We get there and there is this impressive temmple door but it is shut. There are all sorts of people waiting around and after a about 1/2 an hour I go to another building to find out when the doors will be opened. Oh, that is not the temple of the Golden Buddha-it is up those stairs in that small temple. OoooooKaaaay. So we go in the small temple and there he sits. Now the propaganda says he is 15 feet 9 inches high. I believe they are counting the base he rests on which does not appear to be gold. He is made of solid gold and is estimated to weigh 5 1/2 tons! Have you looked at the price of gold lately? Just chisel out a little from the inside and you could feed all those hungry children!
Has anyone noticed that Buddha is NOT a huge fat blob sitting there? He is not depicted as a large person in any of the old artifacts, whether in Thailand or Cambodia. He does however have these long stretched out ears and we were told it was a really good thing to have large ears and that is why they are always shown that way. So all of you with big ears-be proud-it is a sign of greatness!

Plumerias

Today Rick and I are going to a barbecue. He picked his plumerias and made a lei. I put the leftovers into the rings he gave me last year. Even though the "fancy ones" aren't blooming yet, I think they are beautiful!

All Day Scrap Results

Saturday I went to an all day scrap put on by Creative Memories. I worked on 14 pages and completed several but a few still need some tweaking. It was 12 hours with over 1200 participants!

Bike ride

Today was just a beautiful day! Rick , Adri and I went for a ride down the Van Fleet Trail. We didn't see any gators, nor the 3 otters (someone else said they saw some but they had gone under and must have swam away), or even the usual cows. We did see tortoises-Rick claims he saw 22. Adri and I think he was skipping some numbers as we saw 14/15. There was the array of flittering butterflies, and a hawk screeing in the wind, and Adri had 2 bugs hit her and Rick had a butterfly hitch a ride, but that was about it. Didn't matter, it was nice to just be out on the trail!

Common Sights in Bangkok

Elephant Paintings

These elephants were at the Maesa Elephant Camp in Chiang Mai. I also saw elephants painting pictures at Nong Nooch Tropical Garden. The paintings sell for between 2000-4500 baht or around $60-$135! We did not purchase one. I did however buy 2 T-shirts that were painted by the elephants at Nong Nooch. They were very reasonably priced at ~$9 each! It is quite fascinating watching them paint. They really concentrate on what they are doing and try very hard to do it perfectly, and as you can see they do a great job!

The Grand Palace

TheGrand Palace complex is filled with beautiful buildings, the story of Buddha painted on the walls,the Emerald Buddha (actually made of a solid piece of Jade standing 31 inches high), gorgeous landscaping and intense artwork. Here are close ups of some of the art plus a few extras.

Angkor Wat

We spent 4 days in Siem Reap, Cambodia. 2 of the days were spent at the Angkor Wat complex. It is a vast expanse with several temples (need a car to get around), tourist areas and rural living areas. These pics are from the actual Angkor Wat (temple). Our guide insisted that we climb to the top stating we had come all the way around the world so we had to. Rick was not sure his knees agreed but we did climb to the top. It was almost like climbing a ladder-you used all fours to get up. He said going down there was a rail and it would be easy. Riiight. The rail was very skinny and did not evoke confidence. They had also added these blocks on the steps which made it awkward to hold the rail. The blocks were of no use that we could see. He just went over the edge and climbed down. I wanted to take pics of him going down but it was scary leaning over so I gave up on that notion!

Chiang Mai plant market

Hi, Now I don't want anyone to be confused about this plant market. This one is in Chiang Mai and was fairly interesting. An hour would have been sufficient (we had 2hrs) but it was ok.

Chiang Mai Maesa Elephant Camp

First day in Thailand

Here are pics of me and Rick on the first day after leaving Orlando at 8:45 (arrived at the airport at 5am), flying to Dallas/ Fort Worth, then to Tokyo, and on to Bangkok with a 6 hr stop over in Bangkok and then on to Chiang Mai arriving there at about 8:30 am- 2 days after leaving home. We were picked up by our wonderful tour guide and dropped at the hotel where we had an early check in. We did not stop and nap but went out and about in the city. We hired a Tuk Tuk for 2 hrs and tooled around. Can you say we look exhausted?

Flying Over Alaska

Plumeria Tour

Rick and I went to Thailand for a 3 week vacation spending 4 days of it in Cambodia. The first 8 days were spent on a Plumeria Tour. There were 12 of us on the tour. A great group of people! Originally I wasn't all that sure I wanted to go when I saw the itinerary. Looked like lots of boring hours spent in nurseries and gardens. Boy was I wrong! I loved it! There was a plant market day that I wouldn't say was too exciting but every other day was a new adventure. We did so much more than nurseries and gardens and actually those weren't bad at all. The Thai people take great pride in all they do and even the nurseries were beautiful showplaces for the most part. I have thousands of pictures but for now I want to post the picture of the wonderful people that shared this once in a lifetime experience. Unfortunately one of the ladies is not pictured. She had to leave early to get back to her sheep (sounds like an Aussie but she lives in Oregon!) These were all taken at our last stop, Nong Nooch Tropical Garden. It was just gorgeous there! I wished we had had another day to explore its beauty. I wouldn't have minded having a little more time with my new friends either.