Bangkok touring...

Today marked the last full weekend I am spending in Bangkok and to honor this day I took the express ferry up to Dusit (part of Bangkok that resembles many European cities) and visited the Vimanmek Palace--a palace made entirely of golden teak in the Victorian style. The palace was originally built in another location in Thailand for the royal family and brought to Bangkok by King Rama V. The mansion is gorgeous and contained artifacts from all over the world--now a collection of the possesions of many different kings and queens. The area that the mansion resides is a green oasis among the concrete and smog of Bangkok.

Following the mansion, Chris and I made our way back down the Chao Phrya River on the express ferry to the start of the sky train and took the sky train to the Suan Lum Night Bazaar (where we will be revisiting on Tuesday for Mai Thai) and found the Traditional Thai Puppet Theater (otherwise known as the Joe Louis Theater) and saw a traditional Thai puppet show re-enacting the Birth of Ganesha done by professional Thai dancers. It was really impressive. There were 3 dancers to control each puppet and their movements and facial expressions reflected those of the puppet. The music and story telling (in Thai) was all performed live.

After the puppet show ended, we grabbed a cab and went to a really nice dinner where the food was good and restaurant had a great ambience. Then...the rains came right as we were leaving and hailing a cab. Rainy season has started...early nonetheless.