As I mentioned in the previous blog, Sheila and I set off for an anniversary trip to Southeast Asia. Our trip included three days in Bangkok, two nights in Siem Reap, Cambodia, three nights in Phuket, Thailand and an overnight in Singapore. We were trying to see as much of Southeast Asia and the Malay Peninsula as possible. There are a few places we didn’t make it to, such as Myanmar and Malaysia – we will hit them on the next trip.   We wanted to share photos from our trip.

Photos from the market we visited on Saturday, May 27

We arrived in Bangkok at the start of the rainy season. On Saturday afternoon, there was so much rain that the street we were staying on was completely washed out. We were unable to walk on the sidewalks because of the level of water. 

The shopping malls in Bangkok were amazing. They were organized, clean and not very crowded. In addition, the mall had crazy amenities like a beach of bubbles and lounges for the movie theaters. 

We didn’t visit many temples in Bangkok. We were wrestling with how to fit it with our faith. So the only temple we visited was Wat Pho, the temple of the reclining Buddha. We said prayer and I had a quick walk through of the temple. 

My favorite activities in Bangkok – having clothes made (my fancy dinner jacket) and getting a massage. We had two of the most relaxing massages while we were in Thailand. This massage spa was across the street from where we were staying in Bangkok.

On our last day in Bangkok, we had lunch with the IRI-Thailand Country Director and his lovely wife. It was great catching up with him and trading IRI stories. 

One of the benefits of living in Southeast Asia is the ridiculous number of discount airlines. We were able to get a cheap ticket to Cambodia to visit Angkor Wat. So on Monday, we said our goodbyes to the Goods and headed off to Cambodia. I think I was most looking forward to Cambodia because of the country’s mystic and horrific past under the Khmer Rouge.  Off we went on Air Asia Thailand.