Bangkok, Thailand

Back in Thailand for the last time and still relieved that we don't need to know what 80% of this keyboard means.

After days dedicated to fruitless inquires, "Swan Siam" awaited us on the tail end of an hour long bus ride out of the city (our first attempt landed us at a mall that looked a lot like the one we saw pictures of in the news lately.)

Despite evidence of recent decapitations, Sarah and I judged this to be one of the safer activities on offer at Siam Park.

Let's run!

I would sooner advise a safety concious person to walk through the open fields of Cambodia than ride this slide.

Think that's plastic? Slick when wet, with some give? It's painted concrete. Think this was designed for anyone weighing 200 pounds? Not in Thailand. The concrete channel walls left my arms pretty raw. At my weight, my flight path and the cotour of the slide diverge at the end of each plateau, meeting again at about half-way to the next plateau. Turns out, that feels just like what it is: falling 10 feet and landing flat on concrete. At the end of the ride, my plank-like body would skip along the receiving pool to the deck where I could plant my feet and use my remaining momentum to propell me to a standing position. I never quite got that to work, but it sure hurt trying. Bloody arms, feet, knees; stunned and dizzy from hitting my head, we rode this ride as many time as we had the constitution for. I recommend this park to everyone I know who mentions Asia.

We spent many a long hour sitting or lying on this floor waiting for a train under the careful watch of the king in this station.

Mangosteens. Nothing like mangos. The bag in Sarah's right hand is of the white, sweet, super-yummy middles.