We're in Bangkok!!

We arrived in Bangkok last night, where we’ll be for the rest of our stay in Thailand. Bangkok is a city of extreme contrasts. This city is intense – think NYC taken up around ten notches. Then throw in New Orleans on steroids, and some Mexico City – say, on the busiest day there. Although it is very Asian, it has huge western influences. It basically assaults all of your senses. The air is hot and extremely humid. Ok, hot doesn't even come close. It's like really, really, really hot. There’s a different smell every ten feet you walk on the street – some pleasant, others not so much. World famous international cuisine, and street food stalls everywhere (and I mean everywhere) you turn. Not sure who is possibly eating all of this street food. Magnificent buildings covered in gold, mosaics, and gems, and then shacks that can barely be described as buildings. There are no zoning laws in Bangkok, so everything is all meshed together. Enter any type of market area (which is everywhere) and street vendors are nearly accosting you with offers to buy something – anything – from them. Food, clothing, jewelry, trinkets – they shout out a price for you and if you just keep walking by without responding, their price gets cheaper. They get right in your face… and after a good 30 minutes of this, you can feel as exhausted as if you were haggling with a car salesman who is determined to do whatever it takes to sell you a car. Oh... and did we say it was hot???? But what an experience it is. We’re loving it.

This morning we took a tour of the Grand Palace and saw the famous Emerald Buddha, which is actually only a mere 3 feet tall! Then on to a different Wat (Buddhist Temple) to see the equally famous Reclining Buddha, which is absolutely HUGE and took up an entire building! One of the day’s highlights came when we met a history teacher (or so he said) on the street – who told us of a few special places we should visit (one of which was a temple that only opens one day each month – and today was that one day for the month of May... yeah right). He then arranged a Tuk Tuk driver (a Tuk Tuk, by the way is like a motorcycle with two seats on the back – see the picture above to the right) to drive us around to all three places – and instructing the driver to wait for us at each destination. It was one of those moments where you’re pretty sure that you are being scammed, but you feel okay about it so you just roll with it – and it was great! For about 100 Baht (which is a little more than $3 dollars!!) this Tuk Tuk driver took us all over Bangkok for about 2 hours, dropping us off to see things and waiting patiently to take us to the next stop. It was quite amazing – but also made us wonder how this guy can actually make a living doing this kind of thing.

We had lunch at the air conditioned, luxurious Oriental Hotel, rode the express boat up and down the Chao Praya River, and took a ride back to our hotel on the skytrain. We came back exhausted! Be sure to check out the new slide show below...

Tomorrow is the big day! We meet our daughter! The schedule says that we meet Pat, the Holt Sahathai (the foundation that is facilitating the adoption) social worker in the hotel lobby. After an hour-long orientation, we will meet M for the very first time! We have some time to play and will have lunch with her. we're a bit nervous... sort of like right before Sam and Davis were born... this will be life-changing for sure. We will take pics – and maybe even shoot some video – and will definitely post more after our time together tomorrow.

Lastly, thanks for all the comments - it's great to read them when we're so far away from home. Keep 'em coming!!

Carter & Amy