Bangkok, Lopburi, and a Heap of Monkeys

CONGRATS TO BOWEN DK ON BEING THE THAILAND FANTASTIC VIEWER # 350!  Mr. Dunahoo Kirsch, a prize awaits you.  Stay tuned for the next sweepstakes this literary masterpiece has to offer.
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And as the stars aligned, Bangkok screamed out our names, and finally, the four of us are here.  That's right ladies and gents, The Thailand Fantastic has officially begun.

finally met up

elis here too - living proof

(Although I don't have any pictures, I can personally account for how great Trevor, Carson and Eli looked after 20 hours of travel.)

Apologies for the delay in posts, but we had only 48 hours in Bangkok, and somehow blogging didn't make the cut.  Nonetheless, here's a breakdown of the past few days in the land of the Thai.

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After meeting up at our Hotel in Bangkok (Monday afternoon), we headed out for a night on the town at historic Khao San Road.  

 

To say the least, Khao San was a blast.  Imagine a mile stretch of road composed of a mixture of flea markets and Rush Hour 2, and you can get somewhat of an idea of what we were up against. After eating some delicious Pad Thai (2 dollars) on the street, we spent the night turning down vendors and other various suitors.  (As a general rule, some things in Thailand are just better left walked away from).  On the way home we took one of Thailand's infamous Tuk Tuk taxis, and despite the fact that the ride only cost 6 dollars, it just seemed right to squeeze all 4 of us into one.

what you know about for guys in a tuk tuk?

Tuesday was our first full day here, and we started the day in style with some Tuesday Morning Football.  (God forbid Trevor and Eli miss the Raiders game).  After the game, it was time to fully take advantage of the 30 baht to 1 USD ratio, so we headed to the tailor to get fitted for some suits. 

You're gonna love the way we look... I guarantee it.

Tuesday...

Our time in Bangkok had come to a close, and this morning we had an early wake up to catch a train to Lopburi.  (3 hour train ride, 150 baht, 5 dollars.)

Sidenote:  To our parents and other concerned citizens, I'd like to say that we've been left in good hands.  Trevor has been busy taking care of our train tickets, bus tickets, hotels, and itinerary.  If not for him, we'd probably still be stuck at the Bangkok Airport trying to figure out which form to fill out at customs.

DeSalas hard at work figuring out what's next.

We started out Lopburi with some bike taxis to some ruins, but I'd like to quote Casey Simon when I say, "Once you've seen one ruin, you've seen all ruins," so we quickly moved on to something more exciting, (and the reason for our stop in Lopburi),  

THE MONKEY TEMPLE.

The Monkey Temple was exactly what it sounds like, exactly as amazing as we thought it would be, and I can't really explain it any better than these next few pictures....

Winner

Hey Carson, you got a monkey on your back.

Yup...

After the temple we treated ourselves to a nice 7 course meal for 6 dollars a person, (how is that even possible?), and ended up at this little internet cafe to escape the sweltering heat.

Tonight at 8 we hop on a red eye train to Chiang Mai, and by sunrise we'll be basking in whatever Northern Thailand has to offer.  Not sure what comes next, but I can say one thing.... The Thailand Fantastic, has just begun.