The Ancient City, Bangkok

Took some pictures of the Atlanta lobby which was exactly as described by Lonely Planet, No Humphrey Bogart, but the Queen of Thailand used to eat there in the 60's. (I don't think she does now!)





















Spent Sunday with my charming friend, Miss Tussanee, who works for Swan Industries in Thailand and helped me during a trade show last year. We took a taxi to the "Ancient City", a 300 acre site with a fantastic collection of Buddhist shrines and temples, ancient remains, traditional Thai arts and crafts and wildlife. The site is so big we hired an electric golf buggy to get around (the nearest to golf I will get on this trip) and the breeze while we toured around was a relief from the extreme heat, >30 deg C. We had a meal of noodles and pork with a fresh, chilled coconut in a beautiful floating market in the centre of the park. Cost, 45 TB each, about 60p, can you imagine the cost of that in Alton Towers?

Here are some pictures from my phone camera just to give you an impression of some of the beautiful sights, my lunch and an example of the local fauna...





























We went back in to Bangkok to buy the camera, I withdrew some cash then decided I needed more to get the discount in the Panasonic store, tried to withdraw more and then found the card had been blocked, a security precaution I think, but a bit embarrassing having to explain back in the store. All sorted though and I have a new Lumix DMC FS3 and an instruction book written in Thai. Well I did expect some challenges but that is one I can't overcome!

Thank you to my lovely friend for spending her only day of holiday in the week with me. This is Miss T, "Ginger Juice" trying to look serious but difficult for the most smiley person in the whole of the "Land of Smiles".




Took a taxi that evening to the station and boarded the sleeper to Nhong Kai. Only upper berths available and had difficulty sleeping, worried about turning over and ending up in the aisle. Met an American guy on the train, Jonny, from Montana, and we travelled into the capital, Vientianne and onwards to Viang Vieng together. Border crossing into Laos was painless, no queues, tuc tuc into Vietianne, then a 4 hour VIP bus ride, $7 each. They must have realised we were not real VIP's and allocated a different bus, no aircon or waitress service but the windows did open. Here is Jonny at the half way house with the bus and a bridge we crossed on the way here.







Checked into a guesthouse with a balcony overlooking the river, double bed, hot shower, $4. And dinner of 1/2 a BBQ chicken, sticky rice and a litre of Lao beer, $3. Even a pensioner can live well here.