Tabitha's Non-European Adventures: Bangkok (part 2)

We went to Wat Phra Kaew Grand Palace and Wat Pho, two buddhist temples in Bangkok.  It is an adventure just getting to the temples to enjoy their splendor.  Unfortunately, Bangkok is filled with people trying to scam tourists.  As tourists approach the temples locals try to "help" by asking where you are going, then telling you the attraction is closed, and according to the guide books they will then take tourists to jewelry stores and make people buy things.  We never got to a jewelry store, however we did encounter many pushy Thais.

Once we finally go to the temples we were in awe of their beauty.  

I am in Thailand!

Did you know that there are elephants in Thailand?

And cool Asian sculptures?

Or daemon guards?

Elephant guardians? Check out the noses!

Talk about a handrail.

A close up of the handrail.  A five headed dragon?

Cool dudes holding up the temple.

Hello, I would like to receive a complaint, please.

A beautiful hallway that surrounded the complex.
There is a gorgeous mural in the hallway too.

Elephants on the mural.

Warrior daemon monkey!

More warrior monkeys!

A Buddha at the corner of one of the buildings.
Check out the building! They were all this ornate.

Another daemon guard.

Bonzi trees!

Again, there are elephants in Thailand!

The ball in this guys mouth actually rolls around!

Are you sensing a theme?

There were some snazzy lamp posts.

The BIG reclining Buddha at Wat Po.  It has 10 foot feet!

If you put a coin in each pot
 you will have good luck.
Mary and I decided that we
needed good luck to get to Cambodia...

There are four of these statues and they
 are supposed to scare away evil spirits.
They were modeled after Europeans.

An elephant and monkey worshiping a Buddha.

In case you were wondering,
it is the monks who vacuum the temples.

Tabitha's Non-European Adventures: Bangkok (part 1)

Bangkok Day 1:

Since I was already in Asia for the IEEE VR conference I was planning on having a little adventure.  Fortunately Mary Whitton, one of my PhD advisors, had the same idea.  So, we decided to head out to Bangkok and Cambodia.  We arrived in Bangkok and after finding our first hotel to be unsatisfactory (dirty, scary, and too unsafe) we upgraded and ended up in a hotel in the middle of China town.  

Bangkok is a busy, dirty, loud, chaotic city with over 9 million people, and China town fits in beautifully.  The area is filled with street venders and markets that sell anything and everything.

Welcome to China town.

Mushrooms cooking on the street.

What are the fruits that look like fish?

Duck anyone?

The city has interesting electrical wires.

Kids taking a nap by a canal.

To attempt to find some peace and calm in the city, Mary and I went to the flower market just at the edge of China town.  The flower market is HUGE!  It coveres four blocks and is where all of the hotels and restaurants come to buy their flowers in bulk.

Roses wrapped in newspaper (30bht is ~ $1).

There were many stands with people making
beautiful flower things by hand.

One of the many stands that was filled with flowers

And below you will find some of my favorite flower pictures that I took at the market.

I promise that the rest of my Asia posts will have fewer flower pictures.

Tabitha's Non-European Adventures: Singapore

Tabitha went to Singapore (unfortunately without Dave) to attend the IEEE Virtual Reality conference.  She presented the paper  "An Evaluation of Navigational Ability Comparing Redirected Free Exploration with Distractors to Walking-in-Place and Joystick Locomotion Interfaces." It is a very interesting paper and you will surely find it an entertaining read.  Some people did find the paper interesting and it was awarded "Honorable mention for the best paper" at the conference!


Most of the time in Singapore was spent attending the conference, however I did get to do some site seeing while there.  I went to the Singapore Botanical Gardens (pictures of pretty tropical flowers!) and on a night safari at the Singapore Zoo.  Unfortunately I didn't get any good pictures on the night safari (a flash will disturb the animals) so you are going to have to take my word for it that the safari was amazing.  There was a giant flying squirrel that flew just over my head, lions, tigers, bears, many different kinds of deer, and of course, elephants!  

Bats!

A cool fire show at the zoo!

I think this is a picture of a flying squirrel.  It was dark...