We went to Bangkok for the World Youth Bridge Championships and stayed for a few days to do some sightseeing. Except for the unpleasant return trip, we had a great time!
Date(s): July 25, 2006- August 12, 2006. Album by Susan Korbel. 1 - 371 of 371 Total. 27253 Visits.
1 Team Canada and npc John Carruthers.
2 Susie and Dan outside the Baiyoke Sky Hotel.
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4 The Canada Schools team.
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6 npc John Carruthers, Erin Anderson, Charles Halasi, Matthew Mason, and Samantha Nystrom.
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8 The McDonalds at the Narita airport in Tokyo. They certainly have some different menu items! I tried a shrimp burger and it was interesting, but good.
9 It was quite common to see aquariums everywhere, even in little shops. This one was in a streetside souvenir shop near the hotel.
10 Dan gets measured and fitted for his custom made suit at the tailor shop. The prices were excellent and the quality was very good.
11 McDonalds in Bangkok, at the Indra Palace shopping centre. They also had some different items, like fish nuggets instead of chicken nuggets. The fish items were actually delicious, given that it was McDonalds food... much better than in North America.
12 The Thai McDonalds menu.
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15 Interesting menu items at McDonalds in Bangkok. I wonder how they'd go over here.
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18 An outdoor snake enclosure at the snake farm. In Thailand, snakes are bred and raised for study and to make antivenin.
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20 A snake handler with one of the venomous snakes. These snakes are still deadly but must retain their venom in order to produce antivenin. However, most snakes cannot see objects that are not moving and will not strike at a handler because they can't sense him.
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23 The handlers tease the snakes to show the audience how quickly they can strike.
24 These two snakes are ready to attack. "http://www.china-satibo.co..." View Comments...
29 This snake cannot be held in the hands because it can sense heat and would strike at a heat source even if it was not moving. "http://www.china-satibo.co..." View Comments...
31 That's one pissed off snake. It coils its neck up so that it can spring forward very quickly and reach much farther than you'd expect. One of the handlers teasing this snake was actually bitten during the demo. "http://www.china-satibo.co..." View Comments...
32 This snake is being milked of its venom to produce antivenin. They force its mouth open and let the venom drip into a glass dish. Then the venom is injected into a horse over a span of days to produce antibodies in the horse, which is used to make antivenin.
34 After the snake is milked, they force feed it meat so it can regain its strength. Snakes are only milked once every two weeks while healthy. They do not force feed snakes unless they are ill or have just been milked.
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38 Susie holding a non venomous snake that doesn't mind people. It felt very strong and squishy.
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42 Susie and Dan in front of the Snake Farm sign. Unfortunately the writing was cut off.
43 Our next stop was a jewelry factory, with the ubiquitous aquariums.
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51 The courtyard at the Grand Palace.
52 The architecture in the Palace courtyard was beautiful and ornate.
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54 The outside of the temple of the Emerald Buddha. Pictures are not permitted inside the temple and you have to take off your shoes.
55 Dan, Susie, and teammates Matthew and Samantha in the courtyard.
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61 The beautiful artwork on the building walls.
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69 We got a kick out of this name.
70 This crocodile farm was really cool. Unfortunately the traffic was horrible and we arrived late so most of the zoo was closed.
71 The crocodiles were smaller than I expected but were very scary looking.
72 Check out those teeth!
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76 A crocodile camouflaging itself in the slimy water.
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80 Hungry crocodiles get thrown chicken necks.
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82 The crocodile show begins! I couldn't believe how fearless the handlers were. They actually walked into the water and pulled crocodiles onto the "island" by their tails.
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85 The handlers tease the crocodiles with sticks.
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91 This part was terrifying. The handler actually stuck his head into the crocodile's open mouth.
92 Praying for his safety during this act. This wasn't part of the show, it was real.
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97 Hauling a crocodile out of the water by lifting it upside down. I can't believe how docile the reptiles were.
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101 If you look closely in this picture, you can see the bank notes in the crocodile's mouth. In Thailand, the etiquette is to throw folding money down at the handlers when they perform dangerous acts, and as part of the show they actually put the money in a crocodile's mouth for later.
127 Susie with a crocodile handler after the show.
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129 Susie and Dan in a tuk tuk, the open air taxis of Bangkok. The drivers are very aggressive so this can be a scary ride! But it's fast and cheap, and a good way to get around the city on shortish rides.
130 The Baiyoke Sky Hotel is 88 stories tall, the highest building in Bangkok. These pictures are a view of Bangkok from the observation deck.
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133 Traffic in Bangkok is crazy. There are over ten million people in the city so the roads are always jammed. It took hours to go anywhere!
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135 Susie with American bridge friends Mike Gill and Noble Shore.
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140 Susie and Dan on the observation deck. It's windy up there!
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149 The river that runs through Bangkok. We took a night cruise on it a little later.
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153 At the closing ceremonies for the world bridge championships, they provided Thai dancing as entertainment.
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156 Susie at the closing ceremonies.
157 Dan in his new suit and shirts, custom made for him.
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159 American bridge friends Mike and John Rice after the closing ceremonies.
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161 Susie and Dan at the closing ceremonies.
162 Mike and Noble at the closing ceremonies.
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165 Dan and Joaquin Pacareu at the closing ceremonies.
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167 The patriotic streets of Bangkok.
168 This is the Siam Paragon mall, the richest and most posh mall we've ever seen. They had floors of top ranked designer shops, ridiculously expensive jewelry, and even a car level where you could buy Ferraris and BMWs. One of the Thai princes was shopping there while we browsed so the mall was packed with armed guards.
169 Lots of people visit the Siam Paragon for its excellent food market floor, where there is something for everyone. The chicken at this restaurant was amazing and spicy.
170 For dessert, we stopped off at Swensen's for ice cream.
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173 There was an enormous pond in the middle of the mall with koi.
174 We took a night dinner cruise on the river Kwai for a relaxing meal and some sightseeing.
175 Our riverboat.
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177 Susie and Dan after dinner.
178 The buildings were illuminated for sightseeing and photographs, but unfortunately it's very difficult to take photos from a moving boat at night because the camera needs more time to process, which often blurs the pictures.
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180 Susie on the outer deck of the riverboat.
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195 Dan on the outer deck of the riverboat.
196 Great sign at 7-11 in Bangkok.
197 We toured another jewelry factory with gorgeous pieces. Unfortunately too expensive to buy.
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200 The workers in the factory making jewelry.
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205 Some finished pieces.
206 We took a tour to an elephant zoo, which had some other guests as well! We were actually holding these tigers by the tail- Susie was so scared!
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209 These Asian elephants are really neat looking. This elephant's name was Keiko and he was 34 years old. They used him for stud in the farm and he had already sired several calves. Asian elephants weigh 2 tons and are roughly 9 feet tall, and can live for 100 years.
210 We took an elephant ride on Keiko. It was a little scary because it felt like the seat was going to fall every time he took a step!
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213 Keiko was thirsty so we got a little wet.
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216 Keiko trumpets across the park.
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218 After the elephant ride we went to the stadium to see a magic show before the elephant show started. The magic tricks were pretty basic, but it was still interesting.
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220 The elephant show was amazing!
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223 The elephants have a snack.
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227 Elephants are prizes of royalty and this one is all decked out like he would be for a king. White elephants are rarest and are usually taken by the royal family.
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230 Elephants have been trained for work in Asia for hundreds of years. They can carry and drag heavy items.
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234 They decked the elephants out as soccer players for the Elephant World Cup.
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237 The Spanish elephant was so fast! He outran all the other babies.
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241 Japan liked to play the drums.
242 The trunks are so strong that the elephants can balance on their front feet and trunk.
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244 During the elephant world cup, the elephants tried to score goals.
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247 France's shot goes a little wide.
248 Spain ignores the ball and charges the goalie! He gets a yellow card.
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250 The next part of the show talks about how elephants were using during warfare for hundreds of years.
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255 Susie feeds the elephants some bananas.
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258 Dan with an elephant.
259 There were more hungry looking crocodiles at the elephant zoo.
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263 The fish in the pond went crazy for a little bread.
264 After the elephant zoo, we visited the Rose Garden for a buffet lunch and Thai cultural show.
265 The first scene was muay thai, or Thai boxing.
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273 The next scene was swordfighting.
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278 The third scene was preparing for a Thai wedding. They are very elaborate.
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281 The bride and groom perform several rituals with the officiant and their family and friends.
282 After the ceremony, there is lots of dancing by the attendants of the bride and groom.
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291 After the different groups dance, there is a bamboo dance where the sticks are beat on the ground in a pattern and then slammed together. Hopefully the dancers are good enough so their feet don't get caught! The dance speeds up after each passage through the bamboo sticks.
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295 After the cultural show, the Rose Garden has a short elephant show. The handlers here show how careful the elephants are and how even their stride is by lying on the ground in front of them.
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298 Elephants are agile enough to walk on a log without falling.
299 This elephant shows one of the ways elephants are used for work. In logging, they drop the logs in the river to float downstream, and elephants are used like in this picture to push the logs out of the water.
306 We took a walk out for the night market. The street vendors had some interesting food carts! It smelled delicious but one of the bridge group got food poisoning early in the trip from eating at a street cart so we played it safe.
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309 The "menus" in many Thai restaurants were actual items left out so you could see what you were going to get. Some of the food was excellent. This was a Japanese cafe.
Susie ordered the tendon one day for lunch (shrimp and vegetable tempura with rice) and managed to eat an entire meal with chopsticks for the first time.
310 Dan at breakfast at the hotel. The soup that many Thais eat for breakfast is delicious!
311 Susie also enjoyed some Thai selections. She had little coconut rice dumplings, roti pancakes from India, and an old fashioned vegetable omelet.
312 Our hotel.
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317 On our last day of sightseeing we visited the Ancient City.
318 It is a museum with lots of Thai antiques and other curiosities.
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321 This masterpiece was hand carved out of wood.
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323 This used to be a tree that was uprooted- now a beautiful sculpture.
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325 Many buildings in Thailand are built on stilts over the water. This area was called the floating market and is a popular place for shopping.
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329 Susie feeds the fish in the lake. They got so excited and made a fuss for a little bread.
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336 These were royal boats for the king's procession when he sailed the river.
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353 This artwork is seven layers deep and is hand carved wood in elaborate detail. It is about the life of the Buddha.
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366 Our taxi driver and tour guide.
367 For our last dinner, we returned to the Siam Paragon and ate at the food market. Susie enjoyed the stands where you could buy individual items to make up your meal, instead of a whole meal all at once.
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370 The Siam Paragon had an aquarium on the basement level. We were going to go until we saw it was ridiculously expensive, so we decided not to.
371 After getting stranded in Tokyo because of bad weather, the airline put us up at the Keieo Plaza Hotel, a $450 US/night hotel. Unfortunately in Tokyo, $450 doesn't buy much in the way of comfort! The hotel actually only had twin bed rooms, which struck me as a little odd.
