The playground that safety inspections left behind

This playground looked great from afar, but it's real condition was revealed upon closer inspection. For a second, I wanted to think they were just being clever and resourceful by repurposing old materials. Then, as Eliana started trying things out, I realized that it was just good old-fashioned neglect (or perhaps the thrill of danger, which I'm sure kids appreciate). At any rate, the good news is that Eliana emerged unscathed.

(the above photo seems especially cringe-worthy for those tiny future fathers out there...) 

(when someone was on the above swing, the whole apparatus swayed and buckled)

 

Grand Palace

On Saturday, before the Halloween festivities, we decided to be productive, gathering the family together to visit the Grand Palace and Wat Phra Kaew. Like adjacent Wat Pho, it is most easily accessible by boat, so we hopped on a river ferry and wound down the Chao Praya.

The pier we got off on was inundated with water, which required some balancing on planks to disembark.

The local merchants took it all in stride.

Once on solid ground, we took a short walk over to the palace, passing pungent store stalls and sidewalk vendors who were quite adept at distracting Eliana.

We finally made it to the palace without having surrendered any baht.

The main attraction of the palace is the Emerald Buddha, which is small but holds quite a mystique. However, you can't photograph it. So, without any further narration, here is a collection of shots from our time walking around the palace grounds.

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.