Bizarre, Bedazzling Bangkok!

Hello Everyone!!

At long last I have (at least preliminarily) fomatted my blog site and am just now starting to add some posts. Yay!!  

So, after spending almost 8 days in Bangkok (perhaps 5 days too long!), I just arrived yesterday in a town in northern Thailand, Chiang Mai. I'm traveling with my friend, Burr, from Berkeley, who sadly must return to the states on Nov 26th. :-(  We're staying here with my cousin, Mike, who works for the U.S. State Dept. and will be stationed here for 3 years.

Bangkok was somewhat interesting -- so many "lady boys" and they're quite stunning! -- and I'm glad to have seen it, but it is much too large (and loud & filthy) a city for my taste. Nonetheless, once my 2 friends arrived (Mon, Nov 12), we had a great time exploring the city, visiting temples & palaces, eating incredible food (the best from the street vendors), and riding the boats down the river. The highlight, however, was having brunch at the Oriental Hotel yesterday (see photo). Simply magnificent!! Apparently, this hotel is one of the top 100 in the world. The 3 of us spent over 2 hours there, sitting on the terrace, sipping outrageously delicious coffee, eating myriad fruits we'd never seen nor tasted before (dragon fruit was my favorite, but close behind were jack fruit & langosteen; and, of course, fresh mango is always a crowd pleaser), eating custom-made omelettes, and looking out over the river. Thank you, Linda, for gifting me with that most incredible experience!!!

As for Chiang Mai, we've just barely gotten a look at the city as yet -- walked to a restaurant for dinner last night then strolled through the night market -- but so far, I'm loving what I see and how it feels. Burr & I are seriously considering a 3 day/2 night trip into the mountains, where we'll get a chance to do a bunch of trekking, ride the elephants, stay in the hill tribe village, and do some white water rafting. Life's good. :)

Okay, that's it for now, but I promise to write again soon and WILL post lots more pics.

Sawadee kaa!