i arrived in bangkok early saturday morning and was driven in the mercedes to the peninsula hotel. right when they opened the car door i was taken directly to my room. no check in. no waiting till 3pm for an available room. pretty nice. my room has a tv over the tub and view of the river. pretty swanky. everything is so cheap in thailand. bottles of water at mcdonalds are 15 bhat (46 cents) and a huge buffet breakfast at the hotel is around $25. the city is insanely dirty and no one seems to notice. driving along the freeway you see these 40 story building just completely vacant and rotting away with no windows. in the US they would be torn down right away but i guess its to costly here. everyone is very poor and when you drive along the river you see guys just sitting around doing nothing all day. its a very strange place. the malls are awesome, the size of 3 south coasts stacked ontop of each other and their are three giant structures next to each other. extremely easy to get lost but the food courts are amazing. ill write more to this but if i didnt get it started i felt then i never would. here are pictures from the current Grand Palace, the kings summer home, the bridge over the river kwai, and Ayutthaya the capital of thailand from 1300 to 1700.
our guide nara
"heavenly waffles"
lobster lays
