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Our
early morning flight from Hong Kong to Bangkok landed just before
Noon and we were met by our new tour escort, Sansanee, for Bangkok.
Anne and I were looking forward to our second visit to Bangkok.
We have a good friend there, Derek, and hadn't seen him since our
last trip in 1994. We planned to spend some time with him and knew
it would be enjoyable. We were also anxious to show Carol, John
and Alicia the Grand Palace and Bang Pa In (the Summer Palace).
Carol has always found architecture interesting and I knew she'd
love the different architecture styles found in Thailand.
We
were all pretty tired when we arrived at the hotel. Those early
morning 5:00 a.m. get-um-ups will do that to you! The afternoon
was free time to do as we pleased, but the tour escort asked if
we'd like to visit the Jim Thompson House and the Golden Buddha.
Just about everyone said yes and, after a quick lunch, we were off
to discover some new things that we'd not seen before in Bangkok.
Anne
had a very pleasant surprise waiting for us at the hotel when we
arrived in Bangkok. Derek, our friend, had a beautiful bouquet of
flowers delivered and waiting for us to check-in. A lovely way to
begin a stay.
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Anne
with Derek's flowers |
Jim
Thompson was a wealthy American who lived in Bangkok and made a fortune
in the silk trade there. In the 1960's he simply disappeared never
to be heard from again. His home, with it collection of antiques and
art, was turned into a museum. |
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Side
window of the Jim Thompson House |
Anne
by a small shrine |
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A
beautifully carved elephant,
one of my favorite creatures |
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Clara
waving from the
doorway |
Me
in the garden at
the Jim Thompson House |
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The
Garden at Jim Thompson's Home
Offerings
in the temple
A
side chapel at the temple
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After
our short visit to the Jim Thompson home we went to the Temple of
the Golden Buddha not far away. Thailand, as anyone who has been
there knows, is a land full of temples and statues of Buddha. We
had not visited this temple before and looked forward to seeing
it's large golden statue of Buddha.
Oh,
by the way, after the cloudiness and cool weather of China it was
nice to once again be in 90 degree heat and sunshine!
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The
Golden Buddha |
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Statue
of Buddha covered
with gold leaf |
I
can only describe this as a Buddhist Slot Machine - It spins, you
get a number and take a card with a horoscope on it. Interesting!
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Leaving
the temple we walked next door to an adjacent building where I found
statues of mystical creatures (photo right). Thailand is known for
these beautiful statues of mystical creatures consisting of many
beautiful forms and shapes. I can't help but take their pictures
whenever I see them and could hardly wait to return to the Grand
Palace where I knew there were hundreds of them in gold and bright
colors to take pictures of.
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Join
us on the next page as we begin our tour of Bangkok by visiting the
flower market ... |
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