Thailand & Bhutan

This is another story about the travels of Brenda and Tom. They are described in a prior post about Austria, Germany, Slovakia and Italy. On this adventure, they toured southeast Asia. I will break this up into two posts to keep it short so stay tuned for Cambodia and Vietnam.

The first stop was in Bankok, Thailand. Brenda is a member of a worldwide network of musicians who have their names and locations in a catalog so they can find each other and play duets together. The violinist Brenda is playing with was the recipient of a magnet.



This is a bridge made of boats leading to a market.

Bhutan is a country that does not want to be 'westernized' and thus retains its own culture. People in Bhutan still wear their traditional dress. Men wear a short robe called a goh and women wear an ankle-lenght robe called a kiri. This is a Buddist country where there are a lot of little pagoda-like temples for people to stop and pray, sometimes in the middle of rice paddies. Prayer flags can be found in surprising places.

 



A visa is required for entry and a tourist must be accompanied by a guide each day. In the photo below, the guide in traditional men's dress is eating his lunch in the company of a hopeful couple of dogs.

The fellow on the left was their guide who was given a magnet.