A typical home
This is the living area for my friend Bom's family--it's a middle class home, perhaps a bit on the higher side. In the house live two married couples with one young daughter each, as well him and his parents. It's surprisingly quiet with so many people around.
Garden View
A view of the garden from the same position as the last shot. Greenery, even inside Bangkok, was everywhere. At least, compared to Qatar.
Relaxing
Light Reading
That's one of the two family maids there. She later made us a special traditional barbqueue sort of dinner which was excellent--there will be pictures of that later.
The Daughters
They were facinated by my little digital camera. After I showed them that they could see the picture I just took on the screen, a look was practically demanded after every picture. By the end of the trip they were starting to pick up English with my accent, as I did spend a fair bit of time with them--and I also picked up the most memorable Thai phrases from them. :)
Rain
It did rain while I was there, even though it was the period between the Rainy and Summer seasons, and they'd been having a draught this year. Perhaps it's my Pittsburgh Karma helping out.
Yes, they have malls too...
Yes, McDonald's
As one of my habits, I always take a picture or two of McDonald's whenever I travel to a place I haven't been before. At least, if the McDonald's in question is different somehow.
Aroma Therapy
Appearantly, Aroma Therapy is extremely popular in Thailand, mostly for relaxation, but also for all sorts of other purposes--it's viewed as something that can help anything, to a degree.
Cheap Furniture
Ikea, eat your heart out. This stuff is actually *nice*. This particular shop was in a mall and thus probably somewhat expensive, but for the nice places up in Chiang Mai, photos are verboten, so I have to settle for this as one example. This is actually chinese-style furniture made in Thailand.
Ooh...
I adored this table. This is a table with 8 chairs, inlaid multi-color mother-of-pearl. Probably could negotiate to $1500 or so.
Ah, alcohol.
Coming from Pennsylvania and Qatar (two alcohol nazi-type areas...really, Qatar isn't much worse than PA) I was floored by the openness of alcohol and such. So, I just had to have it. That blended iced coffee with rum cost 60 baht, or $1.50.
Hmm...
I'll take "Signs That Make You Go Hmm" for $100, Alex
Nice Shirt
They were having some sort of contest for local amatur bands in the mall. But I really took this picture for the t-shirt of the lead singer...
Switch on!
And I thought it was a Japanese phrase...
The Family
My friend's family took me out while he was working the first weekend I was in Thailand. This is a real Thai-style restaurant. I was able to impress by having a high enough tolerance for spice that I could eat some of the dishes some of the others would not...ah, years of Indian Food, wasabi, and other spice, all add up.
Karaoke
Gratuitously Cute
Old-skool
Public Transportation, Old Skool
Scenery
Scenery
"Bus" Stop
Scenery
Military Boats
There is semi-mandatory military service. If there aren't enough volunteers for a particular year and you're in the acceptable age range, you can be drafted.
Royal Boat
That's the boat they would use for the king during official events. Locomotion by rowing.
Outside the Royal Palace
While the Royal Palace grounds are not used as a normal living area for the King anymore, they are used for official functions from time to time. Mostly, it's for tourism, locals and others alike. I liked this particular shot for the guy working on the shrubbery.
Me and Scenery
Seriously beautiful. That golden thing on my left (from this perspective) is a chedi. It's used by Thais to hold and store important and/or sacred objects. They are typically elaborately and opulently decorated to signify the importants of the objects contained within. This is a traditional Thai-style one.
Read the Sign
We promptly tried walking through and got rebuffed by Mr. Guard over there. I had actually seen it, but Bom hadn't.
Temples
Dig the dark blue on the roof.
Green and Gold
I love the contrast between the plants and the gold, both exceptionally crafted.
Me again.