Greetings from Khao San Road, the famous foreigner district depicted in the book and movie "The Beach". At least, I think this is Khao San road. After dropping off Nicholas and Ying at their first day of preschool, I wandered off to take the bus and ended up wherever I am. I can't find any street signs, but I was trying to go to Khao San Road, everything looks like Khao San Road, and I see lots of non-Thais here.

On Saturday, I made a day trip to the old capital of Thailand, Ayutthya. It was the Thai capital from the 14th to 18th century. The old buildings are in ruins now, and there is a new city beside the old ruins that seems to be funded mainly by tourism. I thought the trip might be too much for Nicholas, but now that I have done it, I think he would really enjoy it. He has a day off from school on the 6th of April, so we will probably make the trip again as a family. There is certainly enough there to interest me for a second day.

Yesterday was a kids' day. In the morning, Nicholas and I went to Ocean World at Siam center, a new attraction for families, while Ying did some shopping at Mah Bon Krang. Ocean World was very well done -a miniature version of Sea World on the ground floor of a mall. After that, we met our family friends Oh and Odd and their kids Oat and Ahm for Thai language Disney on Ice at the new Bangkok arena. All the Disney songs were in Thai, and the ice dancers did an occasional wai (Thai greeting) with their hands. I think the Thai dancers in "It's a Small World" got a little extra stage time, too. Needless to say, all the kids loved it. It's interesting to see Bangkok with a 2.5 year-old.

Nicholas is very excited when he sees Oat (boy, age 7), and Ahm (girl, age 3). He calls them his "new friends". They have had to find a language-neutral way to communicate, so Nicholas has taken to roaring like a tiger, and Oat pretends to be scared. It works, and it's an ingenious way to get around the language barrier that only kids could invent. Other than that, conversations are pretty much limited to "let's play", "stop", and "go." Before we left the states, I was concerned that all the changes might be too much for Nicholas, but he seems to be having a blast.

We stopped by a Buddhist wat over the weekend and saw monks with orange robes and shaved heads. Being a monk is a rite of passage for young men when they become adults. A few men like the monastic lifestyle enough to adopt it permanently, but most men become temporary monks for only a few months before they get married. When we are out in the morning, we see them going around the streets with their begging bowls collecting food for their one or two meals a day. Ying told Nicholas, "when you grow up, you can be a monk, too." He replied, "No, I don't want to be a monk. I just want to be a kid."

Bangkok has definitely changed since the last time I was here 10 years ago. It's much more international and easier to navigate. There's a new sky train which is quite easy to use, and the traffic problem has ameliorated due to new roads and the sky train. It's a modern city.

This picture shows one of many small shrines near our hotel.