First day in Bangkok!

Coffee...

Erica told me only to drink Starbucks ... That the coffee you buy on the streets will make you go to the bathroom like a 1000 times...so before Thalia and Lizbeth woke up, Joshua, Erica and I walked to Starbucks. Three coffees...380 baht!  (About $11). Many things are less expensive, but not Starbucks!

On the way back, we walked through a food market...wow!  The foods... So many things I had no idea what they were!  Erica said everything is so fresh!

As we walked, Erica pointed out the wires... Even on the street named Wireless!

Joshua had to go to work for awhile...so Erica, Thalia, Lizbeth and I took off walking.

 (notice all the wires!)

 A rain shower decided to drop water on us ...so we huddled for a bit under an awning.  When it passed, we went on to a Thai restaurant for lunch...oh my gosh...it was SO GOOD!  We all chose a dish (or two) and shared them... YUM!

Joshua came and met us as we finished lunch...and then we took off walking.  We passed a McDonald's...and Ronald McDonald was there...

 welcoming us.
"Sawatdee-ka" which is hello...and also just a greeting.

 Thalia pointed this statue out.  They're all over...on top of buildings... to protect...

 We headed to the BTS, (Sky Train), one of the mass transits for Bangkok, and headed toward Siam.

 We headed into a mall...Siam Peragon... which was pretty amazing...especially the bottom floor...the floor that has an unknown (to me) number of restaurants.  I told Lizbeth we could eat there every day for a month and not eat at all of them.  Most of them looked incredibly good.

There's also Ocean World...we didn't go in, but we took some photos outside of it.

This is the inside of the mall at Siam...you can only see a small part of it.  The very top, where it's dark, is where the theaters are...

We were walking across a bridge...and there was a great view of the traffic...Joshua said this was normal... 

 Pictures of the king are everywhere...and you DO NOT talk about him...one guy who had talked bad about the king...went to prison for 10 years!

 Lizbeth taking a photo from the elevated walkway...

 Thai Police Headquarters

This large open area in front of this mall is used a lot for festivals, dances, food fairs, etc.  At the far end, are some shrines..

 Big C is the name of the grocery store where Erica does her grocery shopping...

 Erica said these brooms do an amazing job!

 One of the shrines...  People were praying in front of it...burning incense...

The street markets...they're everywhere!

 You'll see a slum area...

 right next to a beautiful area....

 These are Tuk-Tuks...which are used as taxis..

 As the day was winding down, we walked to the market.   Again, as we were walking across an elevated walkway, I had to stop and watch the traffic..

Once we got our groceries, we decided to take the Tuk-tuks home.  Joshua could have called in and requested a driver, but because of the traffic, he didn't.  We had to get into 2 Tuk-tuks...

and Joshua and I were in a separate tuk-tuk...

We walked a lot...which I loved...ate some great Thai food...which I loved...but most of all, I loved hanging out with Joshua, Erica, Thalia, and Lizbeth...in Bangkok!