Thailand - Part 2

On our way out of Bangkok, we stopped in Ayutthaya.  Ayutthaya was the capital of ancient Siam.  Now, there are just ruins.  We spent some time walking around the ruins.  It was pretty neat!

Lusby photo op

Buckeye Nerds

Buddha face embedded in tree roots

 On Monday of our second week, we went to Big Buddha Mountain (not to be confused with Big Buddha which we saw the previous week and was also on a mountain)/hill.  This Big Buddha was drawn (?) into a mountain.  I was not expecting this and it was quite the sight to see.

 After that we went to the Chinese Museum.  There were many Buddhas in the museum.  I learned while there that Thailand and China have a good relationship, and this museum was a way to honor that friendship between the countries.  The Chinese Museum is also home to some of the Terra Cotta soldiers.  The soldiers were discovered in the 1970s (I think).  They are pretty neat in that each of them is different and represents a different person, so no two faces on the soldiers are the same.

Buddha

Terra Cotta Soilder

Two more Terra Cottas

Another Buddha

On Tuesday, we went to Nong Nooch which ended up being all of our favorite activity.  We went there for the Elephant show primarily.  We started in a theater because we were told that was the right place to go.  Brian started to get nervous that it was all a big lie especially when the dancing/singing girls came on the stage.  I thought the show was pretty hooky...the performers were not in sync at all.  Drew really liked it though probably because of all the bright colors the girls wore.

Brian really started getting into the show when the fighting started!  There was a few muay thai fighting/boxing performances that he really enjoyed.
 

Thai Dancing

Muay Thai Boxing

It was after these performances that we were ushered to another arena - the elephant arena!  Before the show started, there were elephants available to get your picture taken with or you could also feed them some bananas.  We enjoyed watching the different people getting picked up by the elephants!  The elephant show was pretty neat.  The elephants are really smart and they like to show off.  Whenever they would get cheers from the audience they would know it and start dancing around!  The elephants did all sorts of tricks: played soccer, played basketball, threw darts, even rode bikes!
 

Bike riding elephants

Mary feeding an elephant

After Nong Nooch, Grandma and Drew stayed home.  Drew was quite a trooper, but he was definitely ready for a nap and to play with his toys at home.  Brian and I went to the Sanctuary of Truth.  It was a really neat museum.  The place isn't completed yet so we had to wear hard hats.  According to our tour guide, it may never be finished, but that's ok because it means jobs for people.  I'm not quite sure on the whole concept of the place - it was built to be a museum, and I think it's goal is to show how different people are all really the same.  We had a great tour guide but the point of the place was lost on me.

Sanctuary of Truth

Ringing the bell for good luck

After that, Brian and I headed to Walking Street/Beach Street.  We had been there earlier in the trip, but it was hard to manage with Drew in a stroller.  So it was a nice opportunity to go back and see some of the night life of Pattaya.  Brian and I did some street haggling and ended up with some more souvenirs and t-shirts.  We decided we needed to go get dinner before we ran out of money!

My parents' condo from Beach Street

Dinner at the beer garden

On Wednesday, we took a hiatus from sight-seeing.  Drew's eyes had gotten quite gobbery.  By Wednesday we decided to take him to the doctor.  We went to the hospital which is where my parents go when they have a medical issue.  We didn't have an appointment, but it was no big deal.  We were registered, seen and picked up eye drops all within 35 minutes!  On top of that, the entire visit including the medicine, costs us $60 (without insurance).  I was pretty impressed with the efficiency of the place and how little it cost.

On Thursday, we headed for the beach which we accessed from the Thai Navy Base.  There is beach accessible from my parents condo, but no place to really enjoy the sand/water like we were used to.  However, the beach on the base offered just that!

This was Drew's first visit to the beach and he loved it!  He was unsure of the sand at first.  But after a few minutes he was all over it!  Grandpa and Grandma had bought him a bucket and some toys.  He had a lot of fun shoveling sand into his bucket!

Drew also really liked the water.  The water was warm and really pretty - that blue green that you might see in the Caribbean.  We all enjoyed our beach day!

Brian's corona-ish picture