Thailand - Bangkok

'Note:  Our blog has been completely blocked here in China. We have not been able to post to it for over a month. We think that we have figured out a way to write and post it. We hope so!

October 1st is the anniversary date for the formation of the Communist Party in mainland China.  We were invited to a very nice reception at one of Guangzhou's 5 star hotels to celebrate the event. 

It was the 67th anniversary. The next day we left for a week in Thailand. Bangkok was our first stop.

The president of Thailand was in very poor health when we arrived in Thailand. He died the week after our visit. Many of the places we visited were closed to the public after his death.  

The first place we visited was the Royal Grand Palace. The royal family lived there for centuries. 

Beautiful Thai architecture.  We also visited the Emerald Buddha temple which has an enormous jade Buddha. No pictures allowed.

The next temple was Wat Pho which houses a reclining Buddha that is over 100 feet long. 

A trip down the Chao River gave us a view of life along the river. 

This house is actually occupied!

The Temple of Dawn or Wat Arun is on the river. 

It is very common for men to spend some time during their lives living as monks. 

We were able to spend a day at the world's largest outdoor weekend market. Huge!

Another day took us north of Bangkok to Ayutthaya, the home of the Bang Pa-In Summer Palace. The royal family used this as a summer retreat. 

The grounds were beautiful with shrubs trimmed into the shape of animals. 

Inside one of the buildings. We had to take off our shoes. 

We then visited one of our favorite sites - Wat Mahathat. It reminded us of the ruins of Angkor Wat in Cambodia. 

The tree roots have grown over the statue.  You are not allowed to take pictures if you are not lower than the Buddha, hence Rick is on his knees.

We then took a cruise ship down the river back to Bangkok. 

What a wonderful, exciting place to visit. Our next stop was Chiang Mai. That adventure will be in our next blog.