ANOTHER WORLD

We just arrived in Bangkok!  What a contrast to Inle Lake, Myanmar.  This morning as the sun was rising over the lake we boarded our boat to leave the Myanmar Treasure Resort.  As we left the hotel we saw 3 boats with fishermen leg paddling. Quite picturesque -- wish I could post a picture.

So going to Bsngkok from Burma is like going from Island Pond to Las Vegas......music, lights, people -- lots of people, lots of whacked out people, young people with dreads, young people from Germany, Sweden, Japan, lots of YOUNG people.  Our hotel is in the middle of lots of action:  food stalls, restaurants, Thai massage places, tattoo parlors, and of course, shops selling clothes and scarves and bags and souvenirs of every kind.

We picked a restaurant close to the hotel and I had a very good pad thai and beer.  We wandered about a bit until I was succumbing to the heat.  Thankfully we have an air conditioned room AND there is actually a pool at this little non-fancy hotel.

Tomorrow we are off on a tuk tuk tour.

Lap of Luxury

It's been hard to find time or energy or dependable Internet connection to create blog entries.  But here we are at last at quite an upscale hotel with a lovely pool, so we are lounging around it after a refreshing swim (its affordable because we are 3 in a room).  This morning we spent touring around the archeological district with our guide, Saya (teacher) Thaung Lwin in our air conditioned van. We saw about 4 of the 4,476 temples, payas, pagodas and stupas that there are on this area.

We learned our limits in Mandalay walking around in the mid-day sun which, of course, only mad dogs and Englishmen,  and evidently elderly white ladies, do.  Now we go out early, and return after lunch to hang out in or around the pool.  We will go out again to watch the sunset somewhere and return for Happy Hour.  Last night we bought a $5 bottle of locally brewed rum and mixed it with tonic and lime --  3 nice drinks for each of us.

ANTICIPATION

Tomorrow, Tuesday October 16 we (Catherine Suiter and I) leave on our adventure to Asia. First stop Myanmar (Burma) to visit our friend living there, Sue Plisinski. I have my usual pre-trip anxiety thinking about all the things I should remember to do before I leave and remember to pack. Feels strange to be leaving tomorrow NIGHT instead of first thing in the morning as I usually do. I won't be able to post pictures as we go because I'll only be using an iPad 1 which can't process raw files. But I'll add them when I return.