Thailand

Specifically, Bangkok. We (my parents and I) got in yesterday afternoon, and spent today basically just being tourists, going to all sorts of temples and to the palace. (Apologies in advance if my captions are not 100% accurate as to where I took the photo -- I don't speak Thai so I have a terrible memory for the names of places here.)

As one might expect, it's rather quiet here given the protests of the past few weeks. There's still a curfew at night (tonight from 11pm-5am) so the government is clearly still a bit concerned, though the protests themselves have disbanded. The newspapers and government seem to be painting a picture of an ended conflict, but some of the people I've talked to here seem to think that nothing's yet fixed. I frankly don't know enough to assess who might be right, but it will be interesting to see what the next month or two brings.

But in the meantime, the internet at this hotel is nice and fast, so you get lots of pictures.

A guardian demon outside the temple of the Emerald Buddha. There were a bunch of these guys, each probably 15-20 feet tall.

One of the pagodas outside the temple of the Emerald Buddha. This one was entirely covered in little pieces of gold-leaf-inlaid glass, which apparently have to be replaced each seven years.

A woman restoring part of an enormous Ramayana mural.

Demons and monkeys (the sad one on the right is a demon; I think the other two are monkeys) support a pagoda.

The reclining Buddha, in the (surprise!) temple of the reclining Buddha. This one is 15m high and 46m long. No big deal.

Chinese porcelain inlaid in the Temple of Dawn.

Another demon(?) supporting the Temple of Dawn.

Dried fish market!

  

So that's the whirlwind tour of Bangkok. Tomorrow, we head to Siem Reap, Cambodia, for four days, then back to Bangkok for another day or two before heading home. Adventures!