28 Feb 2010 - Bangkok, Thailand

Our last day in Thailand and last full day of The Southern Hemisphere Trip. We took seven weeks and visited five countries: Fiji, New Zealand, Australia, Bali and Thailand.

Two tours this day. One was to the Royal Palace and the other was "The Temple of the Golden Buda".















The Royal Thailand Palace Grounds

Many of these similar type statues were
scattered around the palace grounds.

















Changing of the guard at the less important building.












Guard and Janet at the Palace entrance. The photo "could" have been altered slightly.
































































And we saw many fanciful
figures like these.





































This is the object of the tour today. "The Golden Buda" is made of pure gold.



Golden Buda up close.




Our guide said small drawers below these figures contained ashes of the dearly departed.








"The Reclining Buda" was made of bronze and was so large that there was no angle to get a decent picture.

My attempt to show the prespective of "The Reclining Buda"




Many Monks were walking the grounds at The Golden Buda. We didn't expect to see a Monk carrying a camera.




This picture was taken at the airport in LA just after surviving a 14 hour flight nonstop from Bangkok. We flew Thailand Air with complimentary drinks during the complete flight if one so desired.

The US Customs Agent actually said: "Welcome back to the US". I was shocked enough to just reply: "Thank you".

We certainly enjoyed the trip. For absolutely "the other world", we found Bali to be the strangest and most intriguing, the most unlike the US. New Zealand beaches were the best, isolated, wide with pounding surf. There were times in New Zealand and Australia, when inland one could forget it was not the US. Fiji and the outer islands were the most ocean shores vacation like with it's south seas settings and warm waters. Bangkok, well we were glad we had the chance to visit but will bypass it next time.

27 Feb. 2010 -- Bangkok, Thailand

There was no reason to pass up Thailand when it was on the way. During my days in the Navy I didn't get to make it to Bangkok but this time, with Janet and I in that part of the world, we had our chance and took it. We had our choice of cities to fly out of on the way back to the U.S. Having seen Singapore, not wanting to see Toyko and never been to Bangkok, that was our choice.

Bangkok seems to me to be caught between the old and the new. Many things are up-to-date, especially the department stores, overhead rail system and hotels but step out into the street and you have stepped back thirty years.



Watch out for the scotters on the the sidewalk. This was new, even in Bali this didn't happen. This was the first thing we were warned about when we entered the country.




Our hotel in Bangkok. Siam's name was changed to Thailand in 1939.









Siam City Hotel Doorman











One of the several big fancy departments stores downtown.







Thai Baht exchange was 32.00 to 1.00 US and living was easy. For the US traveler, goods and services were a good deal but nowhere as good as Bali.














The King of Siam.




His likeness was on every street corner it seemed. Thailand has a constitutional monarchy with King Bhumibol Adulyadej, the ninth king of the House of Chakri, who has reigned since 1946, making him the world's longest-serving current head of state and the longest-reigning monarch in Thai history.




The Bangkok Flower Market. A very busy place and covered about two blocks




Flower market delivery.







Flowers were sold on the streets all over town.




Walking thru the park, this imposing statue commands the entrance.




Some sort of religious event was being held the day we walked downtown.




We had lunch in this huge outdoor covered area and a TV show was being filmed at the same time. This was a contest between three group of dancers sort of like Dancing with the Stars.




One night we took a fancy dinner cruise on the river. The boat went up and down the river that ran through town, going by many temples and monarch palaces. Saw the King's Royal Barge (like a large canoe) powered by 32 oarsmen and only used on the King's birthday.




These two pictures are of the entertainment for the dinner on the river cruise.

24 Feb 2010 -- Bali, Indonesia

Seeing the sights around the island. Taking photos of interesting things and people that we don't want to ever forget.



A Roundabout just down the street from the hotel.













Girls riding sidesaddle was a common sight.


























We took many photos of people carrying heavy loads on their head. We learned from our guide that children starting at the age of nine are taught this important skill.













School kids in uniform. All the kids seemed very happy and seeing me taking pictures, waved for the camera.












As you can see, motorscotters are used for everthing.




Not having a scotter to carry his good, the next best thing is a bicycle.







Sightseeing all day is hard work so this photo was taken out back of the restaurant lunch stop.




The whole family on one motorscotter - saw this over and over. This little girl was not happy.




Another strange statue. Many statues of this sort were scattered all over the island.




This is a taxi, and not for the tourist trade.

































We passed this statue many times and never got the story straight as to what it represented.