..SouthAsiaRocks..

There is a really cool park in Bangkok called "Lumphini Park". It's a really big park and reminds me a little of Central Park (even though I've never been there). You can read about it here if you're interested. Anyway, it's a neat park that has all kinds of things in it. Food places, big areas to run or bike, exercise areas (even a free weight area), and a lake in the middle. Around the lake there are tons of Monitor Lizards. We had heard about them, so we just had to go see them.... Anyway, when we got to the lake area we started looking for the lizards. The first one we saw was a baby. he had a little crab in his mouth - it was cool! Then we saw a big one - MAN! Those things are HUGE! Diya wasn't sure what to think about them :) At the lake they had all kinds of paddle boats. We rented one for the hour and paddled around the lake. Aashini sat in the middle and steered. She thought it was fun :) See... I really did paddle! :) It was cool to ...

We love going to Bankok. It is quite a unique city. This trip was a little different. A few months before we came there was some political unrest in Bangkok. It was lead by a group called the Red Shirts . You can click on that link and read about them if you're interested. Anyway, they burned down a lot of really cool stuff in Bangkok... it was sad... This below is one of the biggest malls in Asia (it is really HUGE! I've only seen some of it). From what I heard, about 1/3 of the mall burned. They have the whole mall closed down and they're working on fixing it now. Here's some pictures for those that are interested. They covered the front of it with these billboards to cover it up while they fix it. You can see left-overs from the fighting. These are holes from rubber bullets. Another burned building... And another picture... Sorry for the depressing post :) A friend wanted to see pictures... it's pretty crazy!

So I had a few pictures of some things that made me laugh while in Thailand :) This picture below was actually from our last time in Thailand but I forgot to post it - it was during the first part of the Swine (H1N1) Flu scare. Everyone was wearing face masks - especially on the SkyTrain. This guy's mask made me smile :) Something you don't see everywhere... These guys were in a store in the mall putting on make-up :) They were advertising an event that was taking place on another floor of the mall. It was so funny - this picture definitely doesn't do it justice. They had music playing while the people with the balls (with advertisements on them) moved them in a choreographed manner while the 3 people in the back just stood there holding cell/mobile phones (and not moving)... it was really funny :) This made me laugh :) They had special Adidas shoes for sale in Bangkok. These were the Darth Vader shoes - they also had the "Skywalker" and about 5 other kinds...

I still have a few more pics from our trip to Thailand that I wanted to post ;) The place we stayed at in Bangkok was right on a canal. It's pretty nasty water, but I really do love being near water - there's just something about it that makes me happy :) Anyway, they have water taxis all around Bangkok in these canals. Here's the one we saw through our window all day from our room :) We've ridden it before - it's pretty fun. The water is stinky though :) Thailand is almost 95% Buddhist. You can find places of worship all over the city. People will stop by them during their busy days and offer incense, flowers and prayers. There was a ton of incense burning in this one worship site. It seemed like it was really foggy there because there was so much smoke. One thing that was interesting at this worship site was that there were Thai dancers there. People could pay extra money offerings and and the ladies would do singing or dancing while the people that paid s...

Here are a few things we've seen around this small town of Bangkok the last few days :) One of the malls had a really cool Lego display set up... this picture made me laugh :) They built all the famous landmarks in Bangkok and some other things out of Legos - it was way cool! Aashini LOVES Legos now!! She callse them puzzles ;) haha! The girl loves her puzzles ;) Here are some street vendors cutting and selling jack fruit... such a strange fruit :) That's it for now :)

We finally made it! We definitely had a rough time getting here! We were scheduled to leave the Capital at 1 am ... but we were delayed because of the fog. We have a lot of problems with fog at the airport... as you can see, there were a LOT of delayed flights! Look how long they're delayed! Our flight that was supposed to leave at 1 am, didn't leave until 11 am the next day! (yes, that's 10 hours later)... so, since we didn't want to leave the airport and go though all that "stuff" again to come back in, we spend the night in the airport... and what a joy it was!! haha! Aashini did NOT want to sleep! I don't blame her though... those seats were hard as ROCKS! She finally fell asleep at 4:30 am! She slept for about 2 hours :) haha! Here she is finally sleeping! But... we eventually made it to Thailand! On the first day, we began dealing with Diya's passport visa stuff.... so the next day, we took the girls to the Children's Discovery Mus...

We flew to Bangkok, Thailand today! The flight went well :) Aashini cried a little, but did awesome! We got the bulkhead seat and they even had an extra seat next to us! Aashini really only set in it for a pic or two, but it was fun anyway :) You can see the Buddhist monk in red behind Aashini. The guy that set next to us was a Monk also, he was actually the translator for the Dalai Lama ! Cool hunh? It was funny because he was typing on his laptop the whole flight (and Aashini was grabbing at his robe - haha!) This picture below cracked me up so I had to post it :) When we got here we had to go get a few things at the grocery store :) Aashini went to her first grocery store in the Middle East, but this was her first time getting to ride in a cart!!! She LOVED it!! She was swining her legs, babbling up a storm and looking at everything! Thai people LOVE babies!!! She got a lot of attention today! I have a feeling she's going to get a lot of attention the next coupl...

We're back home from Bangkok! I had a couple of pics left that I thought needed posting... so here they go... :) This is a pic of me on a motorcycle taxi... It is a good walk from the guesthouse to the SkyTrain station... so to save my feet, we took these sometimes.... I know what some of you (mom) are thinking... "You're pregnant and riding on the back of a motorcycle!!!" - but don't worry mom, it was a very short distance via taxi, we went slow and were only on small back roads :) (Oh, and I sat the "proper" side-saddle style... so easy to get off if I needed to :) One night we were in the mall and they had some sort of "Save the Earth" thing going on. They had plants, ponds, birds, butterflies and all sorts of other things on display, it was cool! While we were there, the "President of Bangkok" and his entourage were there. So I got a pic :)

Adam and I went out to the night market last night with some friends... we enjoyed food, shopping and some very interesting Thai music :) We took a picture towards the end of the night :) Just thoought I'd pass it along :)