We have arrived. Only took about 33 hours for us to get from Vancouver to Seattle to Bangkok leaving home Nov 1st and arriving here Nov 3rd around noon. Flight was long but as good as it can be after flying for 15.5 hours. After arriving we found our way from the airport to the area of Khoa San Road and to our hotel. The taxi ride here was interesting, you never knew if you were really going to make it or not. People drive crazy here and thank goodness that they don't have road rage like we do back home.

Our hotel is not bad for only 900 baht a night. We have air conditioning(which you really do need)fridge, bathroom & hard but comfortable beds. You have a little bottom shower right beside the tolet so you always feel fresh and clean. It seems to be the way tolets are here and you quickly get use to it.

First afternoon and evening we headed to Khoa San Road since we are only a block away. It is a nice to start the visit this way since there are so many tourists there that you feel like you did not leave home except that the streets and venders are different. Many many venders and shops on the street & people everywhere. Reminded me of a bit like being in Mexico and going to the market except that the people here are not as pushy. So many nice things to buy & at a good price. But we are holding off until we go to Chiang Mai to do our buying. Altho I did purchase a pair of long black shorts with plenty of pockets today. Thought I should since I only arrived with one pair.

We have been enjoying the Thai food altho I have yet to find anything like the Thai food back home. I did have my first Thai soup today & it was very tasty and I think that I will have it again real soon. Mostly we have been eating stir fries with rice or noodles. We won't go hungry here will all the restaurants & food venders on the corners/streets(sidewalks actually) Don't know when we will try some food from a side walk vender. I think we are holding off until our systems are more adapted to the food. Not that we have had any problems as of yet.

Yesterday we caught a tuc tuc and went around to many of the Temples and to see the Buddhas. Reclining/sitting/standing/golden, you name it there is a Buddha for it. Our tuc tuc driver waited for us at every stop. He drove us around for most of the morning & we ended up paying him 50 baht(included tip) for about 3-4 hours of touring. You could never get a taxi driver back home to take you all over, wait for you & get paid so little. Our tuc tuc driver was very pleasent and tried to speak some english with us.

Today we have taken it pretty easy. Been talking with both my nieces on msn catching up on the home stuff. One of my nieces was here a couple years ago & was asking Rene what we have been doing and seeing. We knew that she would be able to relate to sites so it was nice to chat. My other nice was giving me more of the home updates & what has been happening with family. Was nice to be intouch with both of them.

We also went for a suit fitting, yes we are buying suits here in Bangkok. We won't be picking them up until we leave in December so we won't have to worry about lugging them around Thailand with us. I just sure hope that they turn out as nice as we think they will. We took a tuc tuc to the tailor but he was not able to wait for us so afterwards we walked back to the hotel. I am pleased to say that we did find our way home without getting lost. We even came across a celebration for the king, listened to some music for a while & went into the building to see pictures. Would have read what was writen but it was all in Thai so that was out. But we did meet a monk there that had visited Vancouver and Vancouver Island. I was suprised at how well he spoke english and he had very little accent. It was nice to have a little chat with him and we took a picture which should be somewhere with our dowloaded pictures on this site, I hope.

Well, that is it for now. Rene should be returning from the gym anytime and I think that we will be looking into getting some dinner. Tonight is the celebration of lights so we hope to head to the river to see what goes on there.

Mary Ann