It's the end of my second (maybe third?) day in Thailand and it's been rather action packed... Since my post this morning, I've had, as the post title suggests, lots of bananas and other fruits (street vendors are the best) and I've seen literally hundreds of Buddhas. One of these Buddhas stands out from the rest because, despite the fact that he's laying on his side he rises a majestic 15 meters and extends another 46. That is a half football field of Buddha. Impressive...
That being said, we did have to fight the obligatory hordes of tourists (mainly Chinese and Spanish, which was odd) to see the really big sights. However, all you have to do is go through one obscure archway and you're free of the crowds, the noise, the jostling. I don't know why it is, but it is much easier to appreciate the beauty of a bejeweled spire when you're absolutely alone rather than getting literally mowed down by a particularly aggressive tour group (i.e. all of them).
One of the sights was the Thai royal palace (and I mean ROYAL- these people love their king. He is everywhere, pictures portraits, photos of him when he was a baby and little kid adorn the median of one of the main roads downtown. It's pretty impressive). Anyways, where there is a royal palace, there is bound to be royal guards. They mimic the British Palace guards at Westminster (or so I'm told) but I don't think anyone told the guards. One of them was standing erect, eyes straight and MP5 held rigidly. His buddy was resolutely cleaning dirt out of his fingernails while tourists snapped shots. Not very impressive. Anyway, I guess I notice these things...
Other than that, we walked another 8-10 miles, had more amazing food and just generally sweat all over the place. Tonight we're jumping on a bus to Krabi, Thailand to enjoy the beach. Later!
what bananas!?!?
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