Monkey Mountain

A four hour van ride south of Bangkok is the nice town of Prachaup Khiri Khan. We spent 4 days here on the rented motorcycle exploring rural Thailand. Right in town was what I called 'Monkey Mountain Temple'. Hundreds of stone steps led to the small temple complex and a amazing view. We timed our visit for the end of the day when the light would be the best.

This monkey statue stands at the foot of the mountain. We zipped past here everyday to check on the local monkey population.

This shy monkey would turn its back whenever i tried to photograph its face...bad monkey!

Most of the monkeys hung out near the street where people would feed them. Only a few were found up at the top.

Sunset from the top of the mountain. See more temples down below.

The steps up to 'Monkey Mountain'

'magic hour'

Theres Jelli in the bottom left hand corner.

Sunset

Prachaup Khiri Khan

Eat Pray Love

     EAT

Julia Roberts had to travel 3 continents for her complete Eat Pray Love experience.  We found one can achieve the three enlightenments all in Thailand [and in 8 days!]

Street pancakes are a late nite favorite in Bangkok.

Spicy fish at a Kao San Road restaurant Bangkok.

Typical Bangkok restaurant. 
Think your favorite local curry shrimp with vegetables then multiply that flavor times 1000 and you are still not close to how good all this is!

One of thousands of noodle shops in Bangkok.

Various insects for sale at a Saturday nite street fair in Prachaup Khiri Khan.
Crickets, grasshoppers and grubs.
No, we did not try.

Grilled fish and cold beer. 

     PRAY

The temples of Thailand.

Found this temple on a motorcycle adventure near Prachaup Khiri Khan.

I called this one 'Temple of the Dog' for the dog statues on guard plus the amazing amount of skinny street dogs which hung out at this complex.

 'The Temple of the Dog'

Jelli with a temple guard.

The Royal Palace in Bangkok.
This place was great. Full of tourists it still awed us at every turn.

These monkeys guard the main temple of The Royal Palace.

The Giant Buddah statue in Bangkok. 

     LOVE

The symbols of Love can be found everywhere in Buddhist Thailand.

A typical day in Bangkok. Hot and humid weather leads to a cold beer at lunch!

The Giant Buddha from the rooftop of hotel in Bangkok.

Typical nightly entertainment in Bangkok was watching all the strange people wander Kao San Road.
We came here often for the front row seat.

 Phranakorn Nornlen Hotel in Bangkok.
The best hotel on this trip. This little gem is in a great neighborhood. The organic breakfast was always different and wonderful. The staff made phone calls for me to arrange directions, taxis, vans and hotels down the coast. 
If you ever need a room in Bangkok...go here  http://www.phranakorn-nornlen.com/index.html.
super website too!

Jelli

Peter

When we arrived at the Royal Palace I had not remembered the dress code...I was wearing shorts and Jelli had on a tank top [both not allowed here]. For a deposit we were loaned the blue pants and dress shirt you see here. We wondered how many sweaty tourists had worn these clothes since the last washing?

Flowers of Thailand

Thailand is the land of flowers.
Here is a sample...

A Week in Thailand

A few weeks ago my filipina girlfriend Jelli and I went to Thailand for a week. My visa was set to expire so we originally had a flight booked for Viet Nam. We arrived early on a Saturday morning only to find I could not board the plane without a visa for Viet Nam. [didnt the Americans liberate this country from the evils of communism back in the 70s? and this is the thanks I get? Jelli didnt need a travel visa]
The embassy was closed till Monday so we rebooked to Thailand as no visa was required. [the lesson here is to always check with the embassy before going to the airport]

Thai Temple

We had some nice travels in Thailand. The temples are everywhere and amazing.
Great photography everywhere one points the camera!

The Royal Palace was a collection of stunning temples.
Together we took hundreds of photos like this in one afternoon.

We could see this Giant Buddha Temple from the rooftop garden of our hotel.
I have many more photos from the Thai journey so check back soon for blog updates!