thedude.com

I already have w-a-y more photos than I have time to post them on my blog.

We visited the Grand Temple and the King’s Palace yesterday, where we saw a gorgeous Thai dance.

All of the images I have posted thus far are unaltered from the original camera shot with the exception of having scaled them down a bit for the web. I do not have a copy of PhotoShop with me, so I can’t perform my usual magic. That’s about to change though, because in about five hours, we will be arriving in Chiang Mai, where my friend Chris waits with his Mac Powerbook.

We hired a long boat for an eye-opening tour through the canals of Bangkok. These whacky, unweildy boats can be seen zipping up and down the river all day. They’re fine - as long as they’re going straight. Turning presents a challenge for a boat with a long drive shaft attached to the boat about six feet above the water line. Things tend to tilt wildly at the slightest hint of a turn.

On the canals of Bangkok, structures range from sublime to squalid.

We visited Wat Arun - the tallest in Bangkok, where I stuggled to suppress an almost overwhelming urge to dangle my doll.

We sweated through the heat and humidity at Wat Pho, where we visited the enormous reclining Buddha. (Sorry Joe - your advice about the massage comes a bit too late.) We ran out of steam before making it to the Grand Palace - a trip we’ll make this afternoon.

Afterward, Kelly treated herself to a massage and facial at the local spa. See how content she looks? In the evening, we scouted out the local restaurants. We have more or less settled on lord Jim’s in the nearby Oriental Hotel for dinner tonight - and not JUST because of the catchy name!

OK, we’ve been here just over 24 hours now. You’ve heard it before, but Bangkok is hot and HUMID. Not as bad as Bali, but close. The air quality has been pretty poor since we got here, but I guess that’s to be expected with the non-stop traffic snarls, and what appear to be loose anti-pollution laws.

Our room on the 15th floor of the Shangi-La is fabulous. We have a sweeping view of the ever-busy Chao Phraya River and the jam-packed Sathron Bridge. The staff is very kind and helpful. We had no problem negotiating one-half room rate for our first half-night in the hotel. The hotel seems to be less than half full. Most (if not all) of the guests seem to be westerners. Lots of Germans. One black.

The food has been excellent thus far. The “free” breakfast buffet offers enormous variety, and evertyhing is really delicious. I know - I tried it all. :-)

We had planned to visit a highly recommended Italian restaurant in the hotel last night, but jet-lag slammed us both hard at about 8:00 PM, and we opted for room-service instead.

Today we are planning on doing some sort of river tour. Maybe we’ll check out the canals or visit a temple or two. More soon!

Just a quick note to say that we made it safely and are getting acclimated to the lovely humid conditions. Our hotel room is beautiful and we will be posting photos soon!

Forty Two big ones at Thirsty Bear. Yum!

Four days ahead of schedule. Those very clever folks at Apple know how to make my day. The best thing though, has been Kelly’s reaction. She totally loves it!

The funny thing is that the things she loves the most are all things she could have done on her PC for the last 2 years. She launched iTunes and squealed, “You mean I never have to buy another CD!?” Next it was iCal. “Oh look , I can add everything to my calendar!” And she LOVES Stickies. Sheesh! Even though she hasn’t found a single thing that she could not do with her humble Dell box, she loves it to death.

From this moment on, when someone asks me what kind of computer to buy, I’ll say, “Get a Mac!”

I couldn’t help myself. I simply could not pass up the chance to finally own a Mac. I’m waiting patiently for delivery - purported to be on January 24th. Review to follow.

In keeping with our tendency to follow natural disasters, Kelly and I will be traveling to Thailand at the end of the month. We will be visiting northen Thailand - Bangkok and Chiang Mai - many miles from the tsunami ravaged south. We’ll be staying the breathtaking Shangri La Hotel during our three days in Bangkok. This hotel was recently voted 6th best hotel in the world by Conde Nast Magazine, so we’re pretty excited. :-)

We promise to do our part to help the victims by spending as many tourist dollars as possible while there. And of course, I plan to try to update the blog frequently, so please check in often!

thedude was not the only photographer at Jack and Tres’ wedding way back in July 2004. Their friend George Hartzell chose a Nikon D100 digital SLR, a black velvet backdrop and a single studio flash with a large a SoftBox to produce these beautiful images.

The New York Times has an amazing graphic with a lot of detail and photos of the tsunami. (Opera users, press F11 and rejoice.)

It seems that we have not heard the last of John Ashcroft’s schockingly bizzarre “Let the Eagle Soar”. Gee Dubya plans to have the song (and I use the term very loosely) performed during his inauguration! Look at this excerpt from MSNBC:

“The inaugural ceremony will include performances by the U.S. Naval Academy Glee Club, the U.S. Marine Band and mezzo sopranos Denyce Graves and Susan Graham.

Guy Hovis, a vocalist from Tupelo, Miss., who performed on the Lawrence Welk show, will sing, “Let the Eagles Soar”, a song written by Attorney General John Ashcroft.”

Run away!

Better late than never, I suppose.

Our party was great. We had a smaller crowd than in the past, and I took far fewer photos, but the food was certainly awesome. (Thanks, Julie!) We were also treated to a performance by gifted neighbor Eric Cheng and a few of his friends. We capped off the night with desserts and champagne at our dear friend Robbie’s.

Thanks to all who came to our party and especially to my kind neighbors who opened their doors.