Thailand Selects

This is a rooftop bar in Bangkok called the Moon Bar. It's in three sections. Two were actually a restaurant, and the third just a bar. Drinks were really expensive for Thailand (maybe $9?), but, of course, you're paying for the view, which was spectacular.

The view from my hotel room in Bangkok. This is after lots of contrast enhancement to cut through the smog.

Outside of the Royal Palace, this is a tuk tuk, sort of a cross between a taxi and a motorcycle. They come in different sizes, but I think this one will carry four passengers.

If you want to get there fast(er) in Bangkok, scooters are the way to go. Like a river flowing through rocks, they fearlessly zip through the smallest gaps between cars.

This is in downtown Bangkok, one of the craziest building designs I've ever seen. This is a severe crop. For a better image of this amazing building, see this: https://www.e-architect.co.uk/images/jpgs/thailand/mahanakhon_tower_as280709_5.jpg

This is how Ronald McDonald greets you in Thailand.

This is in the Patpong market in Bangkok. Lots of items like this for sale, lots of street vendor food, lots of sleazy bars hawking some kind of shows by young women (I passed on that).

So, the king, in the picture to the left, died last October. The whole country is in a one-year period of mourning. The Grand Palace, in Bangkok, is the epicenter for mourning. The king's body is there in a closed casket, awaiting cremation a year after his death. Thai people come from all over the country to stand in line for up to 12 hours for a chance to spend five seconds paying their respects beside the body of the king. That's what these people in black are doing.

Part of the ornamentation around the buildings in the Royal Palace in Bangkok.

Grand Palace in Bangkok.

Grand Palace in Bangkok.

Inside the Royal Palace.

At the Grand Palace in Bangkok.

If you don't have a picture, it didn't happen, right? I don't know this fellow, but he was not alone in documenting his travels with a selfie stick. This was in the Grand Palace in Bangkok.

At the Grand Palace in Bangkok.

This was at the changing of the guard at the Royal Palace in Bangkok.

Talk to the hand 'cause Buddha ain't listening.

At the Grand Palace. This is the much beloved king of Thailand, who died last October. Pictures of him are everywhere, and the whole country is in an official one-year mourning period.

Little Buddha sits in front of the gigantic Buddha, which is one of the main attractions at the Grand Palace in Bangkok.

This is the gigantic golden Buddha that is one of the main attractions at the Grand Palace. Guests take off shoes, put them in a bag and carry them to the exit to be put back on when they leave.

Military HQ by the Grand Palace in Bangkok. I don't think these cannons get used much.

The view from my hotel room in Bangkok.

My hotel room in Bangkok, AKA Dave's Massage Parlor. When in Thailand, you kinda have to get a Thai massage, so I went with what our guide was setting up. A 30-ish woman came to my room and mercilessly worked me over for two hours. It hurt. It felt great. It hurt. It felt great. There were moments I wanted to throw her out the window and moments when I was afraid we'd have to get married when she was done. Seriously, it was legit. But one go-round was enough for me.

Street food vendor in Bangkok. Our guide Nu bought us a bunch of these crepe-like things one day, and they were sweet and delicious.

Street vendor in Bangkok. The smooth round balls are tapioca. Not sure about the rest, but it's all fried in a wok-shaped bowl right there on the street.

Street food vendors were everywhere. This was about a block from my hotel in Bangkok. One of these items is chicken sausage. The rest? Not sure. But everything I bought from them was delicious.

Who's hungry? This is in Bangkok.

I took a scooter taxi (yowza!) from my hotel to Chinatown one evening. What a colorful, crowded, fascinating, busy place.

This is in Chinatown. Fresh fish and shrimp , among many other things.

Pomegranate -- fresh cut and all juiced up. Available on the street in Chinatown, Bangkok.

Chinatown in Bangkok -- critters on the barbie!

Chinatown, Bangkok. Don't know what he was cooking, but he did it with a flair (flare?).

Chinatown in Bangkok. I was told to be careful which street vendor food I ate, but that anything I could see being grilled, like this, would be fine.

Chinatown, Bangkok. Who's hungry for some grilled squid??

Chinatown in Bangkok. Yummmm!

I believe these are roasting chestnuts. I don't know what brought on the vendor's prayer to Buddha, but you see that a lot.

Where better to eat street food than right there on the street? This is in Chinatown.

This is our intrepid guide Nu. He's been doing this for about 30 years and is very good at it. He's a delightful fellow who was working all the time to make sure all the tickets and check-ins and check-outs and meals and special requests went smoothly for the 30 of us on the bus.

I showed up solo in Thailand, but soon had a buss full of buddies to run around with.

"Wat" is temple. The rest, who knows. Which way to Arkansas? No idea.

Chinatown, Bangkok.

This is about 80 percent of the group I was traveling with. It was a good bunch of folks, and some of them I got to be good friends with. They were all from the U.S. and Canada, mostly U.S. Interesting how many of them were born in other countries -- Russia, Bosnia, Iran, China, maybe Cuba.

Our guide, Nu, who was endlessly enthusiastic about the foods we could try and experiences we could have.

Nu, our tour director.

Our driver, Wit. He didn't speak English, but he was pretty good with the thumb. That and he could drive a bus in Bangkok, which is pretty impressive.

This is a delightful couple from my group, Rosemarie and Robert. Their trip was at least as well-documented as mine.

One of my traveling companions, Rick, from Minnesota.

This is Juan Valdez. Really. He and Maria Gonzalez live in Oklahoma City, and the three of us had some fun adventures together.