After a long overnight flight, Bangkok, Thailand welcomes us.  We clear customs and immigration, claim luggage, find our new guide, get on bus and head to our hotel.   We are staying at the Menam Riverside Hotel.   We enjoy the hotel buffet.   So many great selections, but we ducks are amazed by these giant shrimp.

Huge shrimp, or prawns, on buffet table

Mom ate them and declared them delicious.   Our group is taken to Chinatown where we explore the street activities, a food market and the flower market.

In Bangkok’s Chinatown

Street is fascinating and so different than the streets in Denver.   And look at all the motorcycles.

So many motorcycles

We will see so many more motorcycles while in Bangkok.  Here are our new friends.

Zeb and Soapy with taxi drivers.

These guys are taxi drivers.   Motorcycles power the taxi, but passengers sit in the cart.   A tuk tuk.    And another new friend.

New things and new friend in market

Great stuff in here to sell to everyone.  But wait.

Fish heads??

Mom, are these just the heads of fish?  I believe so.  Now we are walking through the flower market.

Aisle in flower market

Flowers being sold everywhere.  And food too.

Wonderful smells from cooking food

The aromas here are a pleasing combination of flowers and cooking food.   Unusual for us, but very appealing.  On the street we see tributes to Buddha.

Buddha shrines on streets

This is great.   It is hot in Bangkok, so selling fruit and juice is great for locals and tourists alike.

fruit and juice

We want to help.

We are helping arrange flowers

This lady is preparing flowers for sale.   And here are some others, marigolds I believe.

Flowers ready for sale

Arranged, wrapped and ready for sale.  This store offers food.

Food is always available

The owners have packaged so many different types of food, all ready to carry and eat elsewhere.   Here is another Buddha shrine.

Buddha shrine on street

We will soon learn that Buddha shrines are very prevalent in Bangkok.   We think Bangkok is a very busy city, but the people we met have all been very gracious.   We look forward to seeing more.