Sunday in Bangkok

Well it was another cultural day in Bangkok. We started off at 7.30 am, and after breakfast headed to the summer palace of King Rama IV with its mixture of Thai, Chinese and Gothic architecture. The palace is a well-preserved "museum", providing a glimpse into a time when Thailand was known as Siam. They were huge grounds with beautiful landscape, bushes cut out to resemble elephants, and of course another temple.

After this we headed to the ancient capital of Thailand, Ayutthaya. It is about 50 miles north of Bangkok. Ayutthaya was a thriving Siamese kingdom from 1350 until 1767, when it was captured by the Burmese. Today, Ayutthaya is know for its spectacular ruins and temples. Many of its temples are still intact.

At this point, some of us were a bit worn out by all the temples we had been seeing for the last 2 days. So when we noticed the elephants walking around, we got really excited, at the possible opportunity to do something unique. At first the faculty was hesitant to allow us to ride the elephants and skip the visit to the temple. After some negotiation and the fact that we are executive MBA students, and generally considered adults, our desires won out. So about 8 of us rode elephants for about 30 minutes.

Very unique experience, however, it was not as comfortable as I thought it may be. There were 2 people on each one, and I constantly felt like the seat was going to tip over... However, all ended well and we were able to safely exit the elephants...

We then headed over to a boat, which we rode for about 3.5 hours and eventually reached Bangkok. Lunch was served on the boat, and I managed to spend most of the time on the top deck, observing all the water front property and enjoying an interesting conversation with another MBA student.

Sunday night I met my USA friends again, and we headed out to a local nightclub. It was just like back home, except at one point they put on a show where transvestites danced and sang on stage.