Another picture

here's another picture from the King's Palace.

Our last day in Thailand

On our last day in Thailand, we got a one hour foot massage with reflexology/pressure points for $8. The person giving Mark his massage looked at his feet twice and jokingly said she might have to charge him extra.
In Thailand, they really know how to relax! I think we could get used to this...

We also went to a restaurant that had a Thai "honkey tonk" band. The food was amazing and the music was incredible. I had not seen many of the instruments that they used and would like to find out more about them. I did my best to ignore the fact that there were a herd of black cats running through the eating place...

In front of our hotel

This is the shrine in front of our hotel. Thailand is a predominantly Budhist nation and there are shrines in the streets and in the middle of shopping areas.

Various forms of Transportation

 

Today I visited a school called The City School, which has an amazing approach to learning. They follow the Reggio Emilia approach to learning, which emphasizes building relationships and gives students the opportunity to guide their own learning collaboratively. On the way back, we could not find a cab, but there were motorcycles for us to take. It was a bit frightening and I don't know if I would advocate this form of transportation for the weak at heart. I was terrified as he zoomed through traffic and up the side of a driveway at one point! Anyway, we made it to our destination...

Lumphini Park

 

 

 

 

This morning, we went walking at Lumphini Park, a park near the hotel we are staying at. It's in the middle of Bangkok. I don't know if you can tell from the picture, but they have an outdoor gym (that's the first I've heard of that!). We wanted the kids to see that there is a playground here. They also have groups of people exercising together.

 

 

My pictures today are not going to be as exciting as yesterday's pics. Today we went to a school - the Pataya British School which was just amazing. Unfortunately, the kids were out on holiday, so I toured it, got copies of the curriculum, and spoke with the director.
Then we looked at some different apartments. This is a view from the roof of one of the places which has an amazing pool looking over all of Bangkok.
We finished up our day meeting with Mark's colleague at an amazing restaraunt that was set up like a traditional Thai house. They served Indian food on one side, Thai on the other, and had a spa in the middle. Spa treatments are a big deal here - much more important than in the American culture.

Evening Boat Cruise

 

 

 

 

We went on an evening boat cruise tonight and had a Thai dance performance. I enjoyed it, but the jet lag started to kick in and I felt like I was going to fall asleep at the table! Fortunately, as I began to "head bob", we pulled in at the pier. This was a great day! We saw a lot of the city and learned some lessons about the culture!