Forestry Forum does Thailand

[Paschale]

Well, I was gone this summer about a month, and the first part of my trip away was spent in Thailand, which was awesome!  I was at an International Trumpet Guild conference playing with my brass quintet.  I didn't really care about the conference that much, just that I was in Bangkok.   :D  Anyway, I finally got around to uploading some pictures and thought I'd share 'em with y'all.



That's a picture outside the Grand Palace, which is stilled used by the Royal Family for official events.  The picture below is just inside the Grand Palace.



There are tons of temples, or "Wats" as they are called throughout Bangkok.  This is a picture of a solid gold Buddha--pretty impressive!




This is another view of some of the buildings in the Grand Palace.



This is called a Stupa, which essentially is like a pyramid in Egypt.  It holds the remains of one of the earliest kings of the current dynasty in Thailand.  It's covered with 24 carat gold. 



Inside the complex of the Grand Palace is the holiest site in Thailand, the home of the Emerald Buddha.  This is a Buddha carved from a large, solid piece of Jade.  In many ways, it's viewed as the source for the validity of the current Thai dynasty.  It was carved roughly in the 15th century and was highly revered.  The Emerald Buddha was taken from Thailand by the King of Laos, and was gone for 214 years.  In 1778, the first king of the current dynasty reclaimed the Emerald Buddha and brought it back to Thailand.  It's viewed by the Thai people as the "protector" of the nation of Thailand, and represents the legitimacy of the current dynasty.  Though I don't share their beliefs, I saw the Thai people as a very devout nation, and here are some pictures of some worshippers at the Emerald Buddha, which incidentally, no one is allowed to take pictures of inside the temple.




I was at the national museum, and these Thai students "interviewed" as an assignment for their English class.  They wanted to take a picture of me, and so I asked them to take a picture with my camera too. 



Thailand used to be called the Venice of Southeast Asia due to the high number of canals.  These are some of the boats that are used as water taxis.



I took a water taxi tour through some canals, and this is where you can really see how impoverished the majority of the Thai people are. 



The water taxis are powered by what looks like a huge car engine.  The propeller is simply attached to the drive shaft on a long rod that extends out into the water.  The engine swivels, and the skipper simply steers by moving the engine.  For some reason, I don't think this would pass OSHA inspections! 



I stopped off from the water taxi near Chinatown, and ate at a terrific restaurant I found at that stop.  All of the food I had in Thailand was fantastic, and it was fun seeing the different food stalls all over the city. The Thai people like to eat, so I fit right in!   ;D

This is some dried seafood, squid, fish and other unknown items.   ;D



This is dried shrimp of all sizes that are used in a lot of their cuisine.



The fruit in Thailand is unique and interesting.  Here's a picture of lychees, mangostines, and rambutans, clockwise from top.



And the most interesting fruit I saw there was this, the Durian, often called the "King of Fruit."  They were in season when I was there.  I didn't have the courage to try one--they're known to smell really foul, and the hotels refuse to allow them at all on the premises because of the smell.  Obviously some people love them though!



Well, there's a lightning storm here in Grand Rapids, so I'm gonna stop for now, and finish it later.

[Furby]

WOW!
Pretty DanG cool! 8) 8) 8)

[UNCLEBUCK]

Welcome home Paschale ! That is a very interesting trip !  Thailand is where most of my woodshop tools are made . So did you have any trouble getting rambutan seeds back to michigan ?  ;D

[Furby]

So did you have any trouble getting rambutan seeds back to michigan ? ;D

:D :D :D :D
I was wondering the same thing! ;D

[Kirk_Allen]

Did you do any Jewelry shopping?  I know when I was in Bangkok in 87 the price of ruby's and emeralds was unbelievably low.  Our pilot brought back over 20K worth of jewels.  Guess he knew before he ever went that this was the place to by them. 

We got there the day before a national election.  All the bars were open but could not service alcohol by law the day before an election.  They even had the service bar in the hotel room locked.  Guess they want a good turnout for the election.   ;D

[Buzz-sawyer]

Dan ever hear the song "Bangkok Thieland...it will bring a strong man to his knees". :D :D :D :D :D..Was it pretty seedy..or is that end exagerated?
I am sure your more concerned with the new feed and the beauty than any of that mess .
It looks like a blast ;)

[Norm]

Great report Dan, all of the folks that I've meet from Thailand were alot of fun. 

[Patty]

Welcome Home, Dan.     


I love the photos you shared with us. Thailand looks like a fun place to visit.

[Teri]

Welcome Back!!   8)

Looks like you had a good time and took lots of great pictures.
I don't know if I could eat some of that food though. If I didn't  know what it was I wouldn't have tried it! ;D

[sawguy21]

I like trying food from different countries and Thai cuisine is great, especially their red curry. Yum. It is sweeter than the Indian curry. Gotta watch it though, make sure somebody points out the really hot dishes first.

[dewwood]

Dan,

Really cool pics and memories for a lifetime.  Glad you had a safe trip.

[Tom]

What a cool trip and good report. 

I wonder why all their buildings are pointy?

Charlie and I have a picture of a Gold Buddha that our Uncle took in China.  He said it was against the law to take pictures inside of the temples there and he feared for his camera, as well as his safety, for awhile.

The Hat picture is pretty neat and I especially liked the students.  They look like they were having a good time too.  Too bad you couldn't get a copy of the lesson they submitted.

[Tom Sawyer]

My family and I were in Thailand for almost 4 weeks last year and we never saw anything of the seediness that Thailand is known for.  My observations are that if you are looking for that kind of thing you can find it, but it was a great place to take the family and we are hoping to go back again sometime.  You won't find friendlier people anywhere on the planet.

Tom

[Ed_K]

 Dan, welcome back. Thanks for the pictures, brought back a flood of memories. Did you try the rice beetles  and kowpot?

[Paschale]

I'll be sure to post a few more pics soon--I've been putting my digi camera to good use, and took 1GB of pictures over there, including some short movies too.

Unclebuck:  I plan on ripping up my bummer raspberries and planting some rambutans in there.   ;)

KirK:  I did do some jewelry shopping.  The girlfriend was pretty pleased.   ;)  I was in apparently the largest jewelry store in the world.  I usually am not up on those types of things, but man, it was impressive!

Buzz:  It does have it's seedy areas.  I was propositioned in Chinatown, and that certainly wasn't the only place I saw some prostitutes.  It is a safe place, but definitely has a very seedy underbelly and is known for that.  I don't think that the stories about Bangkok are exaggerated at all, unfortunately. There are also a lot of scammers at the various tourist hot-spots that you have to be careful of.  That being said, I felt completely safe in Thailand and wouldn't hesitate to go back. 

sawguy:  I like HOT food, so Thailand was great for me.  I was crying sometimes, but loved every minute of it.   8)

I took a cooking class while I was over there--I'll be sure to post some pictures of that.  Anybody care for some chicken satay that will blow your socks off?   ;D

Tom:  the pointiness of the buildings have something to do with their mythology and cultural history.  Those pointy things represent I think Eagle's beaks, or Eagle's talons or something.  The pointy buildings are all on the temples.  I can't remember all that the tour guide told me, but I'll see if I can't dig up a close-up of those pointy points for ya to check out close-up.

Ed_K:  I didn't try the rice beetles.  Nor did I try any maggots, which were at several locations in the Weekend Market, all wiggling away, one with a sign that said:  "Free samples."  No thank you!   :D

[Jodi]

I think you made a good decision.

[Ernie]

Paschale

I hope you're going to the piggy roast, you will be able to supply the music and the cooking too, What an asset to the forum!!!

Great Pics look like a real fun time.