well, posting this from home after a great flight home through NYC and a good night's sleep. Wanted to get this last post from Bangkok with photos.
OH MY GOSH! I POSTED THIS ONE FROM HOME AND THE USUAL 4 MINUTE UPLOAD TIME WAS CUT TO A MERE 15 SECONDS! After i left the internet cafe in the tourist part fo townm, shot this to give aflavor for the crowd in this fast-paced western part of town catering to australian tourists. Wallked in a nondirection as i was trying to get lost and see the local culture with the goal of getting to the river to experience the river taxis (how can you miss a river that runs right through the north-south parts of town). Came upon a typical Thai event that i wanted to share. The people LOVE the king here and he has been good for the population in helping bring them into modern world commerce. His 80th birthday is in early december and he has had health issues recently - people are concerned. The event was a buddhist devotion of monks constantly chanting for his health and recovery in honor of his birthday - the chant started oct 15 and will continue until dec 15 - 24/7! I walked in, took off my shoes, and watched the devotion of monks and ordinary people as they read from a prepared chanting book for his health - amazed at the devotion
Walked through flower district, produce markets, street stalls and eventually came to the water taxi stand - waited a few minutes for a tourist boat, and climbed aboard for a nice tour from the river side - good boats, a narrated "guide", and lots of people in "resortwear" with cameras
- aside - another photo like the above one taken from the back of a room - poor technique on my part!
Took the boat back to the start of the skytrain and back to siam square for a shop. Went to the hightech food court and sampled some thai dishes
. The first, a combo of thai noodles in a shrimp sauce with fresh shrimp
was great - the last was a thai sweet - sort of flavored tofu the cherry-like things) with other candied fruits in a thick syrup with two scoops of crushed ice on top. I splurged and went to a movie (Beowulf, in english, digital sound and 3D!) - a great epic and the 3D added that in-your-face touch- see if it comes to your town (angelina jolie, john malkovitch, anthony hopkins).
Home to hotel, a good sleep and preparing for home.
Last posting on this adventure and will add photo albums for those interested on specific topics. If anyone wants additional information, please let me know and i'll get you what i can
Thanks for reading and i appreciate all your comments!
dennis











Photo is from a previous post about siro dhara - a relaxation technique where warm sesame oil is lowly dripped onto your forhead in a steady stream and head tilted a bit to make it run straight down and to either side - scheduled for that tomorrow (hopefully you'll get a photo in a later post)

























. His clinic in downtown KTM - open daily except sat from 4-last patient is seen. Pharmacy on site run by his brother to dispense ayuvedic medications. Consult visit costs 60 rupees and average medication charge is 100 rupees. Pt can come back free anytime in 15 days after first consult; after 15 days, visit is an additional 40 rupees for another 15 days. More on specific patients in a later post




They gave me two scrolls with gods of ayuveda and the tibetan medicine god as well as a book on tibetan medicine.



















. Cupping apparatus in photo. Next most significant procedure is called moxibustion - this involves applying a special wooden tip to the area of abnormality (could be bad blood, could be a painful focus, could be a junction point for many organs). The wooden stick is heated by rapidly rubbing on the wooden board to generate heat and then placed wiht moderate pressure on the point of interest













. Sort of uplifting though as i'd been missing home and NC sunrises. One of the thrills described in the nepal lonely plant guide is the ability to ride on roofs of busses (city busses and long distance busses) Going to doctor's office yesterday saw a goat and a kid on the top of a city bus; both looking ragged as they hung on going over the huge ruts, bumps and potholes (there is never a camera out when you need one!).

























