Halloween, Bangkok-style

 

We celebrated Halloween here in Bangkok the two days prior to actual Halloween. On Friday, the embassy set up tick-or-treating and a party afterward and, then on Saturday, the kids got to go up and down in our building to participating candy distributors and then to a subsequent party.

First on Friday, the kids got ready at home. Eliana was in the first of her two costumes--a bumblebee, and Shane was either a skeleton or one on the bad guys from The Karate Kid.

Then, they came in to meet me at work.

Then, they followed a spooky parade route of trick-or-treating through two floors of offices.

Then, there was a party set up in the cafeteria afterward with games, food and contests.

Shane won the costume contest for his age group but was fairly nonplussed about the first contest win of his life.

Eliana won a cupcake in a musical chairs-type contest.

And then on Saturday, Eliana switched things up for our building's local trick-or treating and went as Snow White.

She went up and down to the various floors (note the double meaning) of the building.

In the end, she got herself a nice little haul. Of course, trick-or-treating in a foreign country means getting some new and interesting treats. Of note are the gummy everything (hot dogs, fangs, hamburgers, bugs, etc.), buttered corn-flavored crackers, restaurant after dinner mints, Toblerone, seahorse and dolphin-shaped colored sugar water, gold kroner chocolate coins, and proliferation of cola-flavored candies.

However, Eliana proved to be her Uncle E's niece and discovered Pixie Sticks (which might explain her 3-hour-later-than-usual bedtime and madcap playing with the neighbor kids).

Meanwhile, Shane rehashed the previous day's costume for his first Halloween.

Lumpini Park

On Sunday, we checked out Lumpini Park. As we didn't make it there as early as we had planned, it turned out to be an abridged visit as it was very, very hot. However, Eliana needed some green space and we probably did too.

Lumpini is filled with large ponds and Eliana quite enjoyed feeding the fish the sugar cereal-looking fish food they sell at the park.

Also swimming and basking about were 6-foot-long water monitor lizards.

After that, Eliana got to engage in some old creature comforts at the playground.

We also checked out some of the cool plant life in the park.

Eliana brought her own camera and was taking some shots.

Some of her snapshots (aided by her camera's various special effects):

We took a break from the heat at the fried chicked restaurant on Soi Polo, which has some of the best chicken I've ever tasted, followed by a swim back home. We returned to Lumpini in the evening to check out the Lumpini Night Bazaar--do some shopping, initiate Samantha to the fish foot massage and meet up with friends for dinner and drinks at its beer garden.

 

Wall of Fame

We went for Mexican food the other night and it wasn't half-bad. Maybe about the quality you'd find at a chain place outside a mall in the States, which is actually pretty good considering we had resigned ourselves to not really eating Mexican for two years.

However, the great thing about the place were the silkscreened portraits hung on the wall of famous Mexicans. Look over Sam's shoulder and you see none other than Mario Lopez and Ricardo Montalban. If a former "Saved by the Bell" writer is reading this now, they're probably kicking themselves for the long lost creepy uncle of Slater episode they could have penned. Someone would have learned a valuable life lesson. If only...

Wat Pho

On Saturday, we took the sky train down to the Chao Praya River and hopped on a river taxi.

Our destination was Wat Pho, but in the meantime, traveling by river offered some great sights along the way.

Wat Pho has bearded stone giants guarding its entrances as well as scattered about its grounds.

However, it is most famous for its huge reclining Buddha statue, which Eliana couldn't wait to see.

 

(his feet)

Wat Pho has more Buddha images than any other temple in Bangkok, and probably Thailand, so Eliana was able to get her Buddha fix.

She also did her best to fit into her environs via active participation.

Even Shane was awake and into it.

The wat grounds themselves are beautiful, extensive and intricate.