another amazing bike tour!

me in front of a shoemaker factory int he southern part of bangkok


here is something we tried. inside the beetle leaf is small dried shrimp, piece of lime, peanuts, onion, ginger, dried coconut, chili, topped off with a sweet chili sauce. deliciously strange.


the market on the edge of the trees and canals


feeding the fishes at a park


good company: Heidi (Amsterdam), Anne (Heidie's mom from Holland), Allan & Carol (Queensland, Australia), Me

highly recommended! a great day with biking through narrow paths in the middle of plantations, in the midst of jungle and above water. we looked at sights, cruised local markets, had lovely company, and we ate so much! even a sweet lunch made by this family who lived along the route: i'm still stuffed, I doubt I'll eat dinner. a genuinely good time.

http://www.realasia.net/BangkokBike.htm
check out more exciting bike photos: http://s181.photobucket.com/albums/x313/michelleposadas/bike%20tour%20Nov%2017/

like little m+m's

yesterday I walked around dazzling Bangkok. here I was passing by the Democracy Monument and admired all the brightly colored cars below. . .sitting in traffic, slowly circling around the turnabout. the taxis are pink! and green, blue, yellow, green and so on, they look like little m+m's from the elevated walkway. the rest of my day was walking through parks, looking at shrines, wats, night markets and even the royal elephant museum. what a day!

bangkok at night

last night I met up with a friend of a friend, her name was Cici. She lived on the 32floor of this building with a terrace that has a south view of bangkok. it was so beautiful. you can't see it in the picture, but the canal was magical. accompanied with such good conversation and company, it was one lovely night in bangkok.

grasshopper adventures

Ae, the very fun tour guide. going up the stairs to the bridge


Wat Suthat


me on my bike!

the bike ride was all that it promised. 20 km of a off-beat tracks, small alleys and roads. Plenty of whizzing through markets and peoples "back yards." Beautifully rustic. Biked across bridges and explored less-touristy neighborhoods, i particulary loved that. Saw more gorgeous temples and found out Bangkok alone has over 4000. I ended up with a private tour since no one else signed up and they didn't cancel, it was a little awkward at first and also I was hoping to meet new folks. However, it
was nice to ask questions and get one-on-one attention.

gorgeous bangkok

so, i took a little working vacation to do some script writing in Thailand. i thought since i'm already out here, i should take advantage of it. it took only 3 hours to get here from Manila. it's incredible to just come from the Philippines to see how it is here, it's starkingly different. it actually makes me a little sad, because of the contrast.

right now i am so exhausted. my body aches and is tired. BUT this a beautiful thing though because of all of what I saw today: Wat Arun, The Grand Palace, Way Prat Kaew and Wat Pho.

wats are these gorgeous temples, there are indescribable and only to be witnessed. so much gold, so tall, ornate, exquisite, beyond my imagination. i was taken aback by it all. i got goosebumps when I entered Wat Prat Kaew and saw the emerald Buddha. it was magnificent, it was awestrucking, i was mesmerized and entranced by all the incredible beauty.

everything I saw today was. . .gorgeous. can you believe it? now my eyes were getting to tried of how beautiful it all was, they still kinda ache from it all.

boom na boom

what wonderful evening for my farewell to this visit to the Philippines. tomas and i followed the bright lights and heaps of noise to explore the x-mas celebration presented by SM Clark. (here they begin playing music and put up decorations for the holidays in September. SM is a mega mall chain strung throughout luzon, the main island.)

tomas, gullible but adventurous, came with me to scream, as I giggled on the roller coasters. apparently it was his first time, ever! I sorta tricked him by having him not realize what we were doing by distracting conversation. during this time, I paid for the tickets, climbed into the trains, and finally, we were locked in. Then he realized where he was and said to me, "oh my god." by the end of the night we went on two more rides, bumper cars, ate disappointing nachos, played games, had lots of fun. . . and I didn't stop giggling either.