December １２月

This recently built stupa houses amazing Thai Buddhist relics

1st floor of the stupa

Ancient Sanskrit text

3rd floor of the stupa is this amazing mural dome.

Hamok, Thai coconut fish cakes. Yummy!

Christmas dinner bugs

Christmas dinner

A lovely birthday dinner with Polly at a German brew house. Too bad the camera flash was too bright.

Wat Arun and Ayutthaya. Enjoying a four day weekend

For the beginning day of my long four day holiday, thanks to Thai academic testing, we visited the famous Wat Arun or "temple of the dawn." It is a Buddhist temple located in Bangkok. The temple gets it's name from the Hindu god Aruna. The temple was founded before 1656.

僕はタイの教育試験おかげで、四日間の休暇をもらった。最小の日、僕たちはバンコックの一番有名なお寺に見に行った。「ワットアルン」というお寺は１６５６年ぐらいに建たれた。アルンは暁の意味だ。

タイでもムカデいる

Polly trying the bar climb at Lumphini park

Lumphini Park, downtown bangkok

skyline from the park

Salak fruit

Polly climbing this huge palm tree

Some of the best food in Bangkok, Chinatown 

Bangkok riverside

ワットアルンの入り口

大仏塔

この階段はすごい急な坂だ

Chao Praya river

On Saturday I took the morning train north to the ancient capital of Ayutthaya.
Ayutthaya was the capital of Thailand during the Ayutthaya dynasty. There are hundreds of amazing ruins.

僕は土曜日に一人でタイ王国の昔の首都に訪問した。天気は暑かったけど遺跡は面白かった。
 アユタヤはアユタヤ王朝の首都だ。バンコックに比べたら田舎のような町だと思う。

Slums of Bangkok seen from the train. I would have to argue that Bangkok has some of the safest poor communities in the world.

Ayutthaya riverfront on the Chao Phraya river.

burnt down building with USA graffiti

Tamarind tree

I snacked on some fresh tamarind I picked from the tree.

Jack fruit

This is one of the old Thai kings. The kids giving me a tour told me that "he really loves cock." I told them they should say roosters instead. It gave me a really good chuckle though.

These kids spent half an hour practicing their English with me. They are volunteers at the temple and when I tried to give them a dollar to buy ice cream they refused. Good kids.

うまい！Delicious noodles

Train back to Bangkok. I was squinting to see the button on my i-pad hence the sad face.