Bangkok Week 4 July 24, 2008 A long weekend in Trad! (Not really Bangkok, and not fully Week 4.) View fullsize We headed to Trad on a 4.5-hour bus that departed Bangkok in the late-morning. This is the lunch box the bus company provided to each rider. View fullsize And these are some of the stylish seats the bus company provided to its riders. View fullsize A view of the front of the bus cabin. Window curtains, ample leg room, and crummy horror videos for all! View fullsize A view leaving Bangkok. Note the number of riders on that motorcycle... View fullsize A view crossing into Trad (the province). View fullsize Main street Trad (the city). View fullsize Woah! We found a car with MIT bumper stickers! What are the odds? View fullsize 2/5 of the diners at dinner on the first night at a "suki" restaurant. View fullsize Another 2/5 of the diners at the restaurant. View fullsize Taking the plunge? View fullsize Filling the monks' rice containers before a ceremony at the temple the next morning-- it was the first day of the Buddhist Lent. View fullsize Some of the monks. View fullsize Filling our own rice bowls, back at home. View fullsize First breakfast! View fullsize The brothers dine side-by-side. View fullsize The men, expressing various degrees of shock over... who knows what! View fullsize A view of the sea. View fullsize A genetically-inherited pose. View fullsize Walking through a swampland park. View fullsize Some of the swampland trees. The area can be flooded during some seasons. Here, it's just muddy. View fullsize These are lizard-fish creatures. They have one fin, one set of feet, and move by shimmying their bodies (leaving those funny tracks in the mud). View fullsize Not actually the sea-- more like a reservoir. But nice and tropical, nonetheless. View fullsize A typical road. This one happened to have a noodle house... View fullsize ... where we stopped for lunch. View fullsize Back at home, in front of the store. View fullsize The store! View fullsize A view from the store, of the land across the street. View fullsize Assembling a Thai dessert-- it's bleached-blonde-like strands of sugar that get rolled up in a thin, savory pancake. View fullsize Another dessert, from a relative's stand down the street: sticky rice and coconut. Really delicious when warm! View fullsize Longkong. View fullsize At the market in downtown Trad. Are those limes or oranges? View fullsize An eager lad waits in a parking lot. View fullsize Trying sushi! View fullsize At a fish sauce factory. No free samples here. View fullsize Restocking the ramen stand. View fullsize The aftermath of one evening with the mosquitoes. They sensed farang blood. View fullsize At dinner Chez Sukkasi. View fullsize Looking through photos with dad. View fullsize A curious (and ominous) sky across the street. View fullsize Sipping coffee from a spoon that was dangerously large. View fullsize The father-son water delivery service. (Note: Driver Dad is wearing a Hello Kitty shower cap.) View fullsize Aww. The modem's not working with the prepaid internet! View fullsize The store's back door, back lit. View fullsize Group shot! (Taken by an unsuspecting customer.) View fullsize The house (and the mystery car), through the store's back door. View fullsize Yogurt-milk drink, aptly represented by a cat with a propeller on his head. View fullsize A fly enjoys some yogurt, too. View fullsize Stove top ramen. No pot needed! View fullsize A snail leisurely goes for a glide after a heavy rain. View fullsize Taking a "mazda" truck taxi into town. View fullsize The only escalator in Trad, at the Trad "Department" Store. View fullsize What's going on under there? View fullsize As opposed to the fake kind. View fullsize A side street... reserved for motorcycles? View fullsize A temple entrance on main street. View fullsize More main street Trad. View fullsize At a covered market behind the main street. View fullsize Rumor has it that brown eggs are healthier than white ones... but what about pink ones? View fullsize Off-main-street Trad. (That blue truck is a typical taxi.) View fullsize More downtown Trad, and more motorcyles. View fullsize Riding home again. View fullsize Pinwheel flowers. View fullsize A ghost in the living room! View fullsize Reading the next day's paper in front of the store. View fullsize Some Mexican influence mixed in, at the rear of the store. View fullsize Chillaxin' at the store. View fullsize The Last Supper. View fullsize At the Trad bus terminal. View fullsize The sign at our bus's parking spot: "Trad - Mo Chit"
