Trip Pics Up!

So we really fell off the blogging band wagon toward the end of the trip. Sorry!  But, we really only missed the Angkor Temples, and around (and those are best described in pictures anyway, right?).

Instead, we've finally uploaded our pics, in chronological order. See below:

1. Bangkok

2. Krabi

3. Chiang Mai

4. Chiang Mai Trek

5. Hanoi

6. Halong Bay

7. Hue & the DMZ

8. Hoi An

9. Ho Chi Minh City

10. Angkor Temples

11. Coming Home

12. Best SE Asia Food Shots

Thanks for following along with us!  We might keep things going with our upcoming Europe trip!

Hanging out in Hoi An

If you're looking for authentic Vietnamese culture, don't come to Hoi An. If you're looking for a laid back, quaint, touristy walking-town, then Hoi-An is the city for you. Tourists of all sorts, even Vietnamese, seemed to enjoy Hoi An's shops, walks along the river and restaurants. However, the prices in this town came to a complete shock to us. We had grown accustomed to $2 meals and suddenly the prices had doubled or even tripled.

Eli and Dave decided to spend the day apart - Eli to cooking classes, and Dave to historic sites. Eli took a class at Morning Glory, one of Vietnamese chef Ms. Vy's (quite the incredible entrepreneur) 4 Hoi An restaurants. It was a packed class, with probably 25 students. The room was set up so that we could watch the demo and then prepare the same dish. If only we could do that at Whole Foods in St Louis! There were probably 10 staff members in the room clearing dishes, assisting with cooking, and passing out salads, etc. While the class was excellent, Ms. Vy also kept many secrets to herself, such as the dipping sauces. One great tip learned was how to make rice crackers from sesame rice paper. It's on the to-do list for when we get home.

Dave visited the 5 big city sites and enjoyed his day.  Here's the most famous, the Japanese-covered bridge:

After a nice dip in the pool, Eli went to another cooking class, to learn even more Vietnamese dishes. Dave joined her to eat her dishes for their dinner. Some hits, some misses. Too much fried food all around.

The DMZ

After a 3/4 day trouncing through Hue on bicycles, we made the decision to do a demilitarized zone (DMZ) tour. The typical (and inexpensive) tour bundles you up into a big tourist bus, whisks you off to a dozen sites, and sends you back home over a 12-hour period. We were hoping to find something a bit different.
So we found Mr. Trung. He was a South Vietnamese officer who basically worked for the US army for 8 years during the war in their intelligence department. His knowledge of the war and the operations surrounding the DMZ was incredibly impressive. We reviewed him on TripAdvisor, so we won't go into what we liked/didn't like about him here :-).
The trip overall was a difficult combination of impressive, depressing, and important. So many people died for what seems like absolutely no reason. The ingenuity, and lack thereof, demonstrated on both sides is what was most intriguing.
Our itinerary:

• Hue to Horrible Highway: this is where an enormous ambush on US caravans occurred. The subsequent airstrike killed countless civilians. There is currently a buddhist shrine at the site.
• Church: Because of pressures of the Catholic church, the US did not bomb this church, and as a result, they failed to take the church by small arms after a month of fighting. There is an incredible amount of visible damage to what remains of the church.
• Vin Mon Tunnels: Entire city under the ground, including a maternity area (around 15 children were born in the tunnels). Although the entrances are clear today for tourists, it's easy to see how these tunnels were kept camouflaged.
• Museum: Lots of crazy propaganda - and incredible artifacts that the fleeing US army left behind.
• Fire Base: Unfortunately nothing more than a rock pile, because the US blasted it away after the retreat.
• Ben Ha River: The dividing line of north and south. Reminiscent for Eli of seeing the thin line between east and west Berlin.

Of course we had to throw in some transport setbacks - our driver's car got a flat tire on the way home. 2 hours and another driver later, we made it back to Hue.

Halong Bay

We decided to follow the tourists on this one, on a 2 day/1 night Halong Bay cruise.

• After a 4-hour drive through rice paddies, and complete with hand swept highways, we arrived at Halong Bay, which reminded us of the touristy Fisherman's Wharf in SF.
• Onto our boat!

   

• Despite the dense cloud cover, the mist made the enormous limestone edifices look quick magnificent, if not a little ghostly.
• After a 10-course lunch (with many veggie options and lots of grease), we stopped at Surprise Cave, with just about every other tourist in tow. We kayaked around the bay and explored a floating village.
• Back to the boat for hot shower and more food! Dinner was all about presentation :) Unfortunately the beautiful carvings and veggie decorations were left off the veggie plates, but it was fun nonethless.
• The evening involved karaoke - more for the boat staff than for the tourists. Thoroughly amusing. We hung out on the deck and went to bed super early, for the first time in a week.
• Excellent sleep and a morning wake up call through the loudspeaker! Broken english announcing breakfast.
• Boat ride back through the Islands, amazing scenery and super ethereal due to the clouds.

Honk Honk

Traffic regulations seem to be nonexistent in Vietnam. While Thailand had tons of traffic, they didn't really use their horns. Welcome, Vietnam. Horns galore! The traffic system seems to be: honk when you enter an intersection, and hope no one else is coming the other way. This makes for crossing the road an interesting experience.

Vietnam is obviously much less developed than Thailand. Poor roads, concrete buildings and much dirtier. Not the swish international airport that Bangkok has.

Communism is still readily apparent in Hanoi - green and red uniformed army - one size fits no-one uniforms, and Soviet concrete edifices.

Our hotel turned out to be a total-gem. They upgraded us to a larger room and gave us a honeymoon cake, which Dave ate. They even lit the cake like a birthday cake - very sweet. Unfortunately, there was no electricity for the day, which made it even more romantic with candles. We booked our Halong Bay tour and a flight to Da Nang and went off to explore the city.

• Check out the itinerary for our 10-hour walking exploration of the city.
• Highlights include these photos:

 

In case you were worried, we found a phenomenal bakery for David in the French quarter. Could have been right out of Paris, except the prices were amazing. We got there just as the bread went half price, and bought 6 muffins, a loaf of whole-wheat bread and 2 mousse pastries for about $2.

 

Last day in Chiang Mai

Our last day in Chiang Mai involved eating delicious food (yet again...no complaints here!).

• First stop was Pun Pun, another amazing veggie restaurant run by Buddhists and tucked away in the corner of a Wat, or temple. Then onto Butter is Better, where American apple pie and cinnamon rolls made Dave very happy. Terrible bagel.

• We drove our motorbike east to find cool shops. Unsuccessful. Found the umbrella factories, ceramics factories and stopped at the Mandarin Oriental, or the shops outside. Not as much fun as we were hoping. Oh well.
• Back to food! Belgian chocolates for $1 each (amazing truffles), followed by more cake and bagel for Dave. Are you seeing a trend here?
• Found a cool street for window-shopping and then onto Eli's last foot massage in Thailand, at the Reflexology center. Dave read the guidebook and Eli got a someone painful foot massage, but also theraputic.
• Time for dinner! Back to Khun Churn for a final and quick Thai dinner - mushroom noodle rolls and Tom Kha, the delicious lemongrass, kaffir lime, galangal flavored coconut milk soup loaded with veggies and brown rice. Eli's in heaven.
• Off to the airport - Bangkok, then to Hanoi.
• Spent a quick night (5 hours?) at the Convenient Resort. Great name. Definitely convenient, not a resort.

Why so much smoke?

Dave finished work in Chiang Mai, so we decided to sign on for a much-anticipated "hilltribe" trek. The ethics of a hilltribe trek troubled us a bit, so we researched many options. In Chiang Mai the trekking is more about the people you see rather than the nature you explore, especially in the dry season. We ended up with the Eagle House trek, which has a special arrangement with two Karen villages west of Chiang Mai.

• Day 1:
• 8:30am - Begin two hour drive to local market to purchase food for the next three days. Smallest market we've seen in Thailand. Continue driving and driving in the back of a pickup truck (with seats) and stop at an elephant park for rides. We, along with the two other German-vegans declined to ride, and instead had a fascinating tour of the rice paddies and corn fields.
• Corn? yes, they are now growing corn in Thailand.
• Drive some more, and stop for lunch in an orchard - lunch was delicious - fried rice with tons of veggies, and more importantly - no waste! Wrapped in banana leaves, our whole lunch was compostable.
• More driving. Start hiking through small Karen villages. Dave even helps prepare rice for the animals.
• More hiking for about 3 hours, through many rice fields. Stopped on the way to make bamboo mugs and collect herbs on the way for our dinner (lemongrass, cilantro).
• Around 6 pm we reach our home for the night - a Karen village. The ladies try to sell us their handicrafts and the men prepare dinner by fire in a super-smoky house (without a flu). We eat a delicious dinner with many veggie options and attempted to sleep in a bamboo house on bamboo slats with a sleeping bag designed for 90-degree weather. It was about 40F.
• We learned how to prepare one of Eli's favorite Thai snacks - sticky rice and coconut milk cooked in bamboo over a fire. Yum.
• Dave was cold for the first time in his life and let's just say, no one slept very well.
• Day 2:
• Lots of hiking! 6 hours of walking through burning fields and mountains and through meandering streams. Stopped for yummy bamboo-rice snacks and eventually for another delicious lunch.

• Around 5 pm, arrived at raft-camp, also maintained by a local Karen village. No roosters to wake us at 4 am. Bathed in the freezing river and hung out with our German friends (we were the only Americans on the trip - Eli's German came in handy).
• Late dinner, but also yummy. More stir fries with tofu and lots of veggies, and popcorn for dessert. Unfortunately no movies :)
• We figured out a better sleep system involving stuffing wool blankets inside the thin sleeping bag. Worked much better.
• Day 3:
• French toast for breakfast! (Rice and scrambled eggs for Eli)
• Time to go rafting! Our guide built bamboo rafts for us that morning! Questionably sustainable, but later we discovered that another village would take apart the rafts and use the bamboo for building.

• Due to the incredibly low water level, our rafts sustained substantial damage, and we all got cut up. It was a fun adventure. Dave used a bamboo rod for paddling - quite different than canoeing.
• A bit more hiking, and we return to the truck. Driving through tons of burning fields, right next to the road. Yuck.
• Stopped for lunch - our only terrible meal of the trip. Topped with a heavy sprinkle of MSG. Pineapple for dessert - which is much more flavorful than pineapple we get in the states. Less acidic and more complex.
• More driving until we reach a waterfall - freezing! Our guide takes a full on shower and we watch.
• Back to Chiang Mai!
• Dinner with our new-friend - someone we met at Chabad of Chiang Mai, who turned out to be connected in the Adamah-Teva community. He and Eli probably had 50 friends in common. He took us to Aum, a delicious vegetarian restaurant.
• After dinner we met up with our travel-partners, the two German-vegans, at iBerry, our hands-down-favorite ice cream shop in Thailand and had more delicious ice cream and sorbet. Eli was super happy with pandanus leaf and red bean ice cream. This made up for not having black sesame ice cream. This place is crazy!
• Back to our home-away-from-home: The Green Palace. Not a palace. Not green. But cheap and clean.

Some insights Dave took down while trekking:

• Bamboo: fence lasts 2 yrs. Siding lasts 30 yrs. Grows to adulthood in 4-5 yrs.

• Slash and burn: guide denies need to take more land. Evidence suggests o/w: villages only intact x 2 generations max, need for more land (guide says o/w, but they are obviously but burning new land w 50+ yo trees, even thiugh he says there are laws that prevent people from doing so). Hypocritical of us to say this bc even though they're not living sustainably it's not like we do either. Cities consume much more per capita.

• Men v women: men cook, build, and hunt. When men hunt, women take over. Women often plant and harvest rice.

• Water buffalo v cows: buffalo better bc give more meat and eat the same.

• Cultural tourism: interesting exchange, or lack thereof bc of language barrier but we got to ask most o what we wanted.

• Women are marrying later (25yo) than previoussly (14yo) 2/2 school (now req'd until 12th) and 2/2 to moving to city for work.

• Guide claims people not moving to city, in fact they're coming back from the city bc life is too hard. Not sure.

• Countryside: not particularly beautiful. Mostly bc so much is burning and so much cut down. Rice fields are dry/pretty and remind us of terracing in Andes.

• Rice: stored after each season in a family store room (kept for drought season). Most still farming by hand on a subsistence basis. Some have started selling and planting by machine. These villages have two plantings, which requires pesticides and fertilizer (if planting only once per year, can be dine organically). Pests include snail, water bug, and rat, good guys include fish, algae, and snake.

• Corn: newly introduced 4 years ago on almost only cash basis. Must buy seed and must use synthetic fertilizer/pesticide. Interesting that u doubt they know what it's going to do to their top soil.

• Subsistence vs cash economy: most villages are in a hybrid situation. They have a weekly market that gives access to town goods for cash. Most are still farming to eat, nit to sell. Tourism seems to have minor effect: 1 group of 6 comes weekly ( and did family gets to cook for them and make the dollars).

• Trash: 5 years ago, almost no plastic. Now there's significant microtrash all over 2/2 plastic refuse. There is no disposal system. Sine people bury their plastic, others burn it. That said a lot us still biodegradable: our lunch has been in banana leaves each day.

Royal Flora

Royal Flora is a once-every-five year festival of international gardens held right outside Chiang Mai.  It's the one festival we're actually here for!  And it's all about gardens, which particularly makes Dave very happy.  It came highly recommended to us, as well.

So it had massive potential, but it was marred by quite a few things:

• Royal Flora sound track song continued to loop over huge loud speakers in the entire complex.
• People tried to sell you things everywhere, with mega phones.
• Many of the gardens were more about fake architecture than real gardens.

That said, there were some very spectacular spots:

Chiang Mai Love

So here we are in Chiang Mai.
There's many reasons it's glorious here:

• Much less traffic and a slightly slower pace of life. Reminds us of Boulder and Cuzco, Peru.
• Much more vegetarian food!
• We were walking down the street from our hotel the first night and were wondering if we were going to find a veggie spot. The second Dave said it, there was a huge VEGETARIAN FOOD sign that just popped out of no where. Amazing. Dave ate some mushroom seitan grilled in a banana leaf. That made him very happy.
• The food is super creative, as it's inspired by more than just Thai and Chinese here. There's a large Burmese influence that really adds some excellent tastes.
• Our favorite places, so far:
• Khun Churn - unbelievably veggie buffet for $4 per person. Huge salad bar, unlimited unsweetened iced tea and amazing curries and noodle dishes. So good.
• iBerry. Boutique ice cream shop with local flavors - durian (yucky smell, great taste!), black sesame, mango, etc. Could have been in Brooklyn or Portland. So cool.
• Whole Earth. Fancy veggie restaurant. A bit pricy, but delicious.
• Salad Concept. Again, should be in NY. Huge salad with 5 toppings for $2.
• Veggie Stall. One of our few attempts at street food. All veggie. So yummy. $1 per dish.
• Freedom House. Great non-profit org, working with Burmese Refugees. Delicious and unusual salads and brown rice!
• Much more NGO, entrepreneurial, and environmental spirit here
• We've found several excellent spots that support refugee camps, shelters, and other great causes through their work. It's nice to be able to eat at their spots and support them.
• The owner of our first guesthouse (The Dozy House), just started her place up 3 months ago. She's a really driven lady and has produced a great guest house. Huge fans!
• A no-foam policy at the Saturday night market...only compostable containers allowed (ie banana leaves!).
• Shopping!
• It's no secret that Elli enjoys a good boutique and resale shop. Chiang Mai has many fantastic options and cool streets to walk around. Not as many malls here as in Bangkok, so it's much more enjoyable.
• Weather
• It's way cooler in Chiang Mai than in Bangkok. Enough said.
• Much more nature here
• There are actually TREES in Chiang Mai
• And gardens (Dave's hospital has a whole garden outside of it)
• And flowers! (see royal flora post)
• Much more "religion in action" here
• The wats here are very active centers of learning and prayer. We've had the opportunity to watch monks studying, chanting ceremonies, and much more.
• The monks here are bustling about....that's not to say that this didn't happen in Bangkok, but it's much easier to see in action here in Chiang Mai

There's only a few reasons it's not so glorious here:

• "Haze"
• So the Bangkok Post warned us of a "haze" that has descended on Chiang Mai.
• The Thai equivalent of the EPA called it "unharmful" and most probably an "extra ozone layer."
• This is all BS: it's of course harmful, and whether it's ozone or just particulate matter, it's no good. The real fact is that's probably been so long since a rainstorm that all the pollution has simply built up.
• The selfish bottom-line: all the typical places where there's beautiful views have absolutely zero view right now. Meh. We have imaginations.
• Transport
• Bangkok has an amazing public transit system and taxis are on a cheap meter system (if you can get a driver who will use the meter!). Chiang Mai has a different, and more challenging for the tourist system. There are crazy red trucks (former pickup trucks) that you flag down, and tell them where you're going. They're small public busses, but the driver decides where they're off to. Hopefully one is going your way and for 66 cents you're off. The old city is very walkable (2k to each side), but we live about 45 min (walking) away. Many people rent bikes and just about everyone drives a motorbike.
• And finally: Don't bring your durian (or your dog) in the hotel, please!

This one is for Dr Defer

So they are having their huge book fair right now at the hospital. They have every title you've ever seen in the States and the UK, and then some. They are all the "international version," which means they are an odd dimension and REALLY cheap. I thought all my WashU peeps (especially Dr Defer) would enjoy the fact that every Washington Manual could be bought here!!

Hospital Image of the Day 4

Any guesses where this shot comes from inside the hospital? It's a toughy...

Random Reflections on Bangkok

Nanglet

• "One can never eat too many nanglet," says Elisheva.  These brown puffed rice cakes with a nice caramel swirl on top are officially Eli's favorite Thai snack.  They also may be the only gluten free vegetarian snack that exists in Bangkok (or at least that we've discovered thus far).  Okay, there's also bubble tea and sticky rice, but these are just not as addictive...
• Yet another quote: "YOU DIDN'T KNOW I WAS A NANGLET MONSTER."
• Nanglet will not make it back to the States because they become stale very fast (hence, one needs to be a nanglet monster to properly eat nanglet).

Ex-Pat Community

• There is quite a large and diverse ex-pat community here
• Americans
• Bangkok is home to the largest US embassy in the world.  Yeah, crazy.  So it's probably not fair to call the workers here ex-pats, because they're on more of temporary assignment, but there are a lot of them.
• Others have simply chosen to live in Bangkok.  Their multinationals bring them here, or it's just the incredibly inexpensive live-in help?
• They almost all congregate inside of one part of Bangkok, known as Sukumhvit.  Fancy apartment towers and not-so-fancy girlie bars follow suit.
• We've met some incredibly awesome ex-pats, who have been very hospitable and invited for dinner both in their home and out at fun restaurants.  It's been interesting to see how disconnected they can choose to be from the US, or how very connected they continue to be (with even monthly visits back state-side).
• Israelis
• Lots of Israelis seem to be in the gem business here, or the tech business.
• Many many Israelis are backpacking around on their post-army tour and often it's hard to find a menu or sign not in Hebrew (depending on where you are).  We actually haven't encountered this too much, mostly because we're living by the hospital.

• Many others...Awesome Brits, many others.

Atlanta Hotel & the Sex-Pat Community

• Sexual tourism is unfortunately very real in Bangkok. Even the 5-star hotels are filled with (well-dressed) prostitutes. Not that we would know. We don't hang out in 5-star hotels. 
• The Atlanta hotel is a very unique place run by a Thai-British family. Our guidebook suggests their restaurant as it has a huge vegetarian menu. However, you can't get in if you don't stay there. The reason is that they have an anti-"Sex-pat" policy.  It's really a great policy, and they present in an almost hilarious manner.
• Well, we got in, thanks to a random connection.  It was a great place to eat dinner (authentic Thai vegetarian food - Dave had his first morning glory curry...amazing) with super reasonable prices, and no, well, sex-pats present. 

Tailoring/Suit-Making

• Thanks to the pressures of Eli, Dave has given in to buying a tailored suit here in Bangkok (he figures owning one suit is perfectly fine).  This was not an easy one.  The fabric is from the UK and the labor is at least being done in a nice shop with a good reputation.

Dress-Making

• Eli found an awesome silk vendor in Chinatown thanks to a friend.  She then found an awesome seamstress thanks to the same friend.  We'll see what comes of it.  She might end up with a Victorian-era hoop dress. Hopefully not.

Elevator Etiquette

• Thais (as a generalization) are quite polite and quite impatient in elevators.
• When you walk in, someone will always be pressing the door hold button and as soon as you step in, they will immediately press the door close button so as to speed the elevator to the next floor.  We mention this only because we have yet to see it not happen :-).

The Beach

Super late update, but here's the news from last weekend (Feb 10-13):

Because of an all-Thai conference and Dave's super awesome attending, we had a four day weekend. Plus, Dave's Dad Jim came to visit before his business trip to China. Woohoo!
We opted for mainland Krabi, more specifically Ao Nang because of its close proximity to the airport and its slightly less busy atmosphere.

• Centara Resort

• Wow. What a place. Really the surrounding scenery is what makes everything so special. There's fantastic giant outcroppings of rock that beckon to be scaled with beautiful greenery careening off most every side (We needed our Aunt and Uncle to help with the geology). Apparently it's the location of the films James Bond: Man with the Golden Gun and The Beach. Either way, there's a reason Hollywood wants to film here.

• 
• Just a few tidbits of this idyllic spot
• Kayaking around these huge behemoths

• Amazing recovery from the tragic 2004 tsunami
• Only way to get to Centara was via the monkey trail or via boat (Dave preferred the monkey trail)
• Breakfast buffet: fresh-baked breads, every fruit imaginable, banana crepes, salads, yogurts, lots of meat things, and did we mention fresh-baked breads (of multiple kinds). Eli discovered a new use for tapioca balls (typically found in bubble tea): balls + red beans + puffed millet + fruit + fresh warm soy milk + sprinkle of brown sugar = yum
• Dave's wedding ring was lost/stolen. Sadness maximus.
• Diving
• We were fortunate enough to take a day-long dive trip out to Ko Phi Phi island. Bleaching of the reef about 2 years ago has dulled some of the color, but government regulations (namely shutting down at-risk dive sites) have apparently helped to rejuvenate some of the reef. Despite the bleaching, we still felt the colors here were better than Belize.
• We saw our first sea turtle. S/he was enjoying yummy bubble coral.
• We saw our first shark too!
• It was not hard to find nemo. So beautiful!
• Dad even got a great view of the reef and its wildlife while snorkeling.
• Nakamanda Resort
• On the excellent suggestion of Dave's professor, we ventured to Nakamanda for our third evening.
• A much smaller spot, with an amazing rate on agoda.com. It's a beautiful cross between ancient roman and thai architecture in a super peaceful setting. We'd come back again in a heartbeat.
• Had to say goodbye to Dad...he's off for business in China...Thanks for joining us Dad!!

• Back to work - hospital + cooking classes tomorrow!

Excuse me, Mr. Short Pants

 As long as we're spending three weeks in Bangkok, we figured we might as well spend one weekend as real tourists.

• Friday afternoon: Chinatown! 
• We arrived via public transit (obviously, right?) and walked to Wat Traimit, home of the famous golden Buddha, which was only discovered in 1955 in the process of being moved! It was encased in stucco and they discovered that it was actually solid gold - valued by weight at over $10 million. Shockingly, not much security here :) 

• Walked up a quiet road looking for interesting shops. Mostly found specialty hardware shops - for your castor, screwdriver and other miscellaneous item needs. Nothing too helpful for us here. 

• Then we found the craziness - just a few blocks away. Junk, junk and more junk. All of David's favorite stuff here - made in China, of course. (or perhaps Thailand)

• Friday night: Chabad 
• 2 main choices in Bangkok - Khao San Rd for the backpackers and Israelis (with recent thwarted terrorist attack), or Sukhumvit for the expats and business travelers. We opted for choice 2. 
• Typical Chabad services.
• Atypical/amazing dinner with homemade challah and lots of salads. We stuffed ourselves silly. 
• Incredibly eclectic group of expats and some travelers. Our hat goes off to Rabbi Kantor for creating such a great community. 
• Saturday: The "farang" trail (farang = white person)
• Grand Palace & Wat Phra Kaeo 
• The Wat is home to the emerald Buddha, who wears a different outfit depending on the season and whose clothing is only changed by the King of Thailand. Strict dress code for humans to enter - capris not allowed! 
• When you enter the grounds there is a woman with a loudspeaker, who calls out if you're wearing inappropriate attire, thus the title of this post.
• The grounds were uniquely beautiful, unlike any other architecture we've seen. Amazingly clean, as well. 





• Highlights include: (photo uploader now broken...we'll add the pics later!)
• Dave ate a whole-wheat bagel for lunch. 
• The rest of our lunch consisted of a delicious vegetarian stir fry, which was most definitely topped off with some MSG. Just our style. 
• Nice walk through two universities, where Eli cooled off with the requisite $.50 young coconut. 
• We walked through the amulet market, where you can also purchase dentures at ever other stand. 
• Wat Pho
• We met our new Thai medical school friends: Napatt & Oil
• They had never been here so David was the tour guide, but unfortunately torrential rain started and our tour was cut short
• Home to many Buddhas, including the famous reclining one 

• Museum of Siam = Refuge from the Rain
• Not recommended, unless trying to dry off or on a high school field trip
• Riverboat across the river to Wat Arun, known for its pottery shard decoration
• Super steep! Not for the faint of heart :) 
• Off to the mall! Brought mangosteens, our new favorite fruit, to our dinner hosts.
• Expat Dinner
• Lovely dinner with embassy employee + family, sommelier & international moving consultant. Good old American cooking. We had a great time.  
• Sunday: More Tourist Stuff
• Vimanmek Mansion - the largest entirely teak house, with no nails in construction. No photos allowed. No shoes allowed either, but that's normal here in Thailand. Contains country's first indoor ballroom & Thai typewriter. 
• Some other small museums, not worth writing home about. 
• Dusik Throne Hall - AMAZING showcase of Queen Sikrit's charity project, which involves the revitilization of the Thai arts. Incredibly intricate gold and stonework, silkmaking, and woodcarving - all made within the last 15 years. Well worth the visit. 

• Next up: Wat Benjamabophit, known as the marble temple
• I'm tired just writing about all of this! 
• Jim Thompson's House - the not-so-humble abode of the man who re-invigorated the Thai silk industry
• Eli ran into an Eat with Eli client at Jim Thompson - to both of their surprise and delight! 
• Amazing how quiet it can be in the midst of the crazy city. 
• Following an uneventful dinner, Dave grabbed some waffles on his way home. These made him quite happy.