Last day in Bangkok or how two women used up the last of their Thai money, October 20, 2015

Today we went by bus to the Grand Palace. Holy cow!  Holy elephant!!!  This place is also home to the emerald Buddha. All the structures are covered in mosaic file. Picturing how that happened is quite difficult. Below is a closeup picture of one structure.  

This row of gold buddahs runs along the side of one of the temples. Not to worry about them as they are all protected by snakes.

There were several Buddhist monks here to visit the temples.  Easy to spot a buddahist monk

Betsy took a selfie of herself with this guy

As a way too cool off we picked up the lotus plants, dipped them in water and sprinkled ourself.  Marginally effective.  90 degrees and humid.  When I stepped out of the hotel today, my glasses steamed up.

In the afternoon betsy and I took the local rapid transit to visit Jim thompsons home.  He was an American who put Thailand on the map for its silk business.  On the train I sat down by a Thai man who was reading a book "confessions of a school nurse"  I asked him about the book and a new friend was born.  His english was American, not Brit.  Turns out he was a visiting professor at NYU during the first Clinton administration.  Sweet guy. Was on the train with 10 year old son on school holiday. They helped us get off the train at the right stop, not an easy thing to do from listening to train speaker.

Photos not allowed in Jim Thompson house.  Our guide was cute and friend,y.  Our group of english speakers was about 10 people.  After the tour was over, the guide stayed with betsy and I and we went back through much of the house and learned more from her.  Ask and you shall receive.

After a cool respite in the hotel our mission was to go the Asiatique market to find dinner using the rest of our Thai money.  Total less than $10.   We found two dishes to share. Omelet with onion and a shrimp noodle dish.  We had brought our water bottles.  We still had enough to to stop at a 7/11 on the walk back to the hotel to buy half a dozen snacks for tomorrow's travels.  We got a free ride to this market in the hotels tuk tuk taxi.  That's a golf cart like machine.  The driver made weird sounds each time we went over a speed bump or dove through the traffic.  He was quite the comedian.