Clever Magazine, Vol. IV, #12 "The Kingdom of Thailand " (www.clevermag.com)

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The Kingdom of Thailand

a photo essay by Carol Delockroy
(text by Diannek)

Also, a Thailand Postscript by Judie Thomas

January is a good time to visit Thailand. Even then it's hot and muggy,
but the skies are blue and the sun is shining. This beautiful piece of architecture is the Doi Suthep Temple, just outside Chaing Mai.

Boating down one of Bangkok's canals -- another familiar Thai scene.

This photo was taken from the Bridge over the River Kwai, another popular tourist attraction, just a short day trip from Bangkok. Notice the conveniently placed tourist shopping venue just below the bridge.

This is Jim Thompson's Teak House. He was an ex-patriot American who lived many years in Thailand until his mysterious disappearance in 1967. He had served as the first chief of U.S. Intelligence in Bangkok and founded the famed Thai silk company that still bears his name. Tourists are still looking for him, but he's not home.

This statue is a monkey guard standing beside the Grand Palace in Bangkok.

This is Carol in her hotel room trying to show us how to turn on her bedside lamp. It appears that the switch is located, umm, in the doggie's rump area.

It wouldn't be Thailand without the elephant march. This day with the elephants was one of the highlights of Carol's trip.

Here's Carol and one of her traveling buddies aboard the
Dumbo Express.

Thailand Postscript...

Hi Judie!
And speaking of Bangkok, Clever Magazine heard from another Clever reader, Judie Thomas, who spent a week there last year. Here's what she had to say about it:

"I just got back from a week in Bangkok. My first venture to Asia, and only because a dear girlfriend of mine is a travel agent and she got a tour package that couldn't be passed up. (Her husband doesn't like to travel so she invited me.) Tourism is down everywhere since Sept. 11th, so we had a VIP tour that consisted of a tour guide, a driver, my friend Sandy and I!

The highlights of my trip were a ride on an elephant who sees tourists by the hundreds every day, a two hour full-body massage by a woman my age, for $10 including tip, sitting at a dinner/show next to a honeymooning couple from Canada -- he with Tourette's syndrome, shopping endlessly in their open-air markets for items unbelievably cheap (but hardly any clothes that fit me), going the wrong way on their new Sky Train and having to communicate with people practically by sign language in order to find our way back, riding through horrendous traffic on three-wheeled taxis called tuk-tuks, fighting off the urge to eat delicious smelling food from their many street vendors who cook in your face, touring many of their beautiful Buddhist temples that proudly show off numerous revered statues, and mingling with a segment of their population of ten million tiny people in one city! It was a delight to be there among them. Love, Judie"