Bangkok, Thailand, April 5

After a long and tiring flight, we are finally here in Bangkok, Thailand (formerly Siam).  Thailand's population is 65 million.  Bangkok's is 12 million.  Our shore excursion today was a visit to The Grand Palace and the Emerald Buddha.  The Buddha is part of the Palace complex.   The 60 cm Buddha is carved from a solid block of jade, not emerald at all, and was discovered in the 1400s.  Its origin seems to be unknown.  However, it is a very important religious site for Buddhists. 

The other parts of the Grand Palace complex are gorgeous Thai-style buildings, all covered in real gold, with intricate designs.  The complex was built in the 1780s to house the Kings of Siam and their large families of many wives and children.  One of the Kings, Ramas IV, was the subject of "The King and I", which was actually filmed here.  The original black board used by Anna to teach English to the King, (not Yul Brynner), and his children is still there.  We have a picture of Professor Torrance at the blackboard.

The last stop on the tour was the mandatory shopping stop at the local tourist high-end gem shop.  George refused to buy Peggy the diamond broach or the saffire tennis bracelet.

The weather here is extremely hot and muggy.  Think 40C.  As soon as we returned to the ship from our shore tour, we jumped in the pool, small as it is, and discovered the water was also about 40C, much too hot to be refreshing.  It was also very salty.  So, to cool down ,we reverted to beer; Singha (Thai beer) for George, Corona for Peggy. 

Internet here is slow and sporadic, so to be safe, we are posting this entry without pictures, as the first two attempts with pictures simply timed out.  If this works, we will try pictues, maybe one-at-a time, next.

Having fun, P&G.