Me love you long tail

I wanted to post at least one normal picture from Bangkok. This is from one of the temple complexes (I think the one with the Emerald Buddha.) The picture really does not do the scene justice. Maybe if you zoom in you can see some of the incredible detail on the center and right buildings. And this is just a tiny section of a vast area of buildings like this. I think gobsmacked best describes how I felt.

Next we took a ride on a long tail boat. If you are not familiar with them they are long and narrow (like a gondola but longer). They harvest engines from cars or trucks, extend the driveshaft and stick a propeller on the end and then mount the whole thing on the back of the boat. Like something out of Junkyard Wars. In the mornings/evenings they are used by commuters and in between they give rides to tourists.

Here's a little clip from our ride. Note at the end our driver is talking on the phone though how he can hear is beyond me.

Did I mention the lizards? The giant monitor lizards? We saw a few of them lining the canals. And when I say "We saw" I mean our guide pointed to them and we stared and stared and eventually distinguished them from the rocks.

Yeah, I wasn't too sure what this was either as our V8 truck engine long tail wizzed by but I still like the pic enough to post it.

The reclining Buddha. (The World's Largest Reclining Buddha, I believe...there are a lot of "World's ____est Buddhas" in Thailand.) As our guide pointed out, Thai Buddhas are thin, unlike the Chinese Happy, Fat Buddhas. Each culture makes Buddha their own.

Here's a cool bridge. It is a single tower, asymmetric  cable-stayed bridge. Gave me a bit of a nerd-gasm.

If you've seen the little baby bananas at the store, these are much smaller. Unfortunately, I did not get a chance to taste one (or ten). :(

We also had a ride on a tuk-tuk, the half-motorcycle, half rickshaw taxis of Bangkok. With no doors and a crazy driver, I felt like I took my life in my hands just trying to snap a picture.

Safety rules in Thailand are apparently open to interpretation. Such as "Workers must always wear a hardhat!"