Okay, so it's not a good picture, but I wanted to show you that we were right on the water (it's a new camera...I'm trying to get the hang of it).
Here are some of the scenes from the city as we walked to the see the Golden Buddha.
Tok-Toks and pink taxis everywhere!
Thailand is known as the "Land of Smiles". Everyone was very friendly.
Produce market
An altar in a tree I passed. 
At the temple for the Golden Buddha, New Year's preparations were underway. Women were putting together flower arrangements, people were burning incense, and and crowds were everywhere. These strings were set up outside the temple for a New Year's gathering of Buddhist monks. My understanding is that the people that attend the ceremony each get to hold one of these strings. Each string is interconnected with other strings, thus symbolizing the interconnectedness of people.
Outside the temple.
The Golden Buddha - made of solid gold, this buddha was once covered in concrete and supposedly came up out of a river. When it was being moved to a new location, a piece of concrete fell off it's hand and the gold underneath was discovered.
To me, Bangkok smells like incense. When I got home, all my things smelled like incense.
This is a female Chinese Buddha statue found in Bangkok's Chinatown, which is supposedly the biggest Chinatown in the world.
Noa and I ride in a Tok-Tok (pictured earlier in this post).
The enormous Reclining Buddha: I took this photo from one end of the Buddha. The entire temple (inside and out) is so elaborate and orante. The wall of the building are about 200 years old and hand painted. Even the bottom of the buddha's feet are inlaid with mother-of-pearl.
The head.
Here's a picture of proportion - Noa stands by the armpit.
Giant toes!
Outside of the temple, Noa had me climb up to the fertility altar. By making a wish and touching this, um, object, one is supposed to be blessed with children.
Noa and our tour guide, Michael, bring "care packages" to be presented to a local monk. The items are used by the monks during the rainy season.
Here's the monk and a funny story to go along with this photo. During the little presentation ceremony, Michael, our tour guide, kept telling me to "hold his hand" as I brought up the care package items. I was so confused because I was told that monks are never allowed to touch or be touched by women. So, as I brought up the items, I reached out to the monk's hand - the monk kinda looked at me with uncertainty and I quickly pulled away, as Michael and Noa gasped at my sudden movement toward the monk. So I crept back, never actually touching him. Thank goodness too. Michael meant that I was supposed to hold Noa's hand while presenting the items to show that they were from both of us. Oops.
Buddha, buddha, buddha....
Lastly, this Buddha is located in one of the most decorated temples, which is designated for the royal family. More about the royals in later blogs....
