In late 2009, I traveled to Thailand for the first time. At first, I was dreading the 19 hour flight from Los Angeles to Bangkok, but Thai Air made the trip as pleasant as possible. I spent a week in and around Bangkok, then headed down to the island of Phuket, where a tsunami hit in 2004. The area had recovered, but water marks on the walls of inland restaurants served as reminders of the devastation that nature can cause on our civilizations. While walking home from dinner one night, I came across a group of local musicians performing their version of the popular song by Beyoncé, “Single Ladies”, which I found amusing:

I posted a few other videos of a tuk tuk ride through Bangkok, trying out new foods from street vendors and children playing with blown up condoms.

As I explored, as always, my camera was in hand. (surprise, surprise) Here are a few shots from my explorations of Bangkok markets and temples (click to expand):