Bangkok Week 6

August 7, 2008

A weekend trip to the mountainous area near Khao Yai National Park (NE of Bangkok), and a visit to the new Bangkok Art and Cultural Center.

With 6 people packed in, we headed up to Khao Yai National Park. It's actually a World Heritage site.

Once arriving at Ohm's house, Kom and Ohm rush to hook up the iPod to speakers.

With music blasting, the next task is obvious: arrange some flowers from the garden in a vase.

View and Kom puzzle over how to arrange the grape-like flowers in a vase.

The final product.

This guy came hidden in one of the flowers.

The main road in Khao Yai National Park. It was very steep and generally up-hill.

A glimpse of the view, and how large (and hilly) the area is.

I guess those posts prevent cars from driving too far.

The monkeys thought the street would be an appropriate place to hang out.

I particularly like this guy's expression.

Massage mom, ignore baby.

Mom's always having to multi-task: groom teen and nurse kid.

Apparently they're not afraid of cars.

Salt pits to which, apparently, the wildlife come to feed. See any?

Finally, the water fall (if you can call it that).

At the top of the water fall: Petch, Ohm, View and a tall outcast.

The metaphoric view from the top. Can you spot the swimming farangs?

This guy must've had second thoughts.

The two Doctors from MIT.

And here we have the famed, hyped waterfall.

Walking (carefully) down to the base of the waterfall.

Guess what? The waterfall, from the base!

The farangs enjoying the water.

It's curious that our heads aren't more wet...

A tree taking over a tree?

Group shot!

Got all this now?

Having some fun, back at the house.

Ohm and View start the hi-tech barbecue.

The chef and his domain.

Say... how does a BBQ work again?

Enjoying some vegetarian fare while the bbq smokes away in the corner.

Putting on my mosquito protection.

This is what happens when you try to grill an egg.

And this is why you should not grill corn directly on hot coals.

Deer in headlights.

Ohm's house, during daylight.

Obviously, that's a face perched on that cliff.

A banana fan.

House available. Takers?

A winery, complete with artificial Italian countryside abode.

No idea if there are actually any grapes growing in there!

The masterful garden sculpture.

And the rest of the garden.

Mountains loom in the background.

More winery, more artificiality.

The Guardian of the "Grapes".

Is the backdrop convincing?

And the voice came booming from the skies above: don't trip, it warned.

Some busy bees.

We stopped at a dairy, supposedly famous for its fresh ice cream. Umm... I think someone should help them with their name.

Their boney mascot.

And their take-away product.

The largest bill boards I've seen!

An elephant building, of course.

The new Bangkok Art and Cultural Center downtown.

Its inner architecture is vaguely reminiscent of a certain circular art gallery in NYC.

"Always Roaming with a Hungry Heart", an exhibit of the Princess's photography from the past 6 years.

A welcome, progressive policy...

... of which this guy's taking full advantage.

Enjoying photos from around the world.

Recognize these places? The ducklings in Boston Common, Trinity Church in Copley Square, a street musician in front of the Coop, and some random mountains not in Boston.

A view of Siam Square and the merging of the sky train lines.

On our way out, we took a pit stop in heaven, apparently.

A view of the interior architecture looking down from above...

... looking across from the middle ...

... and looking up from the bottom.

Street art, outside the Art Center.

Mangos in a bago.

My classmates and teacher.

And now they write what?