Hello, everybody! I'm going to tell you about the Thailand you haven't heard about yet. Here are the five highlights of our Thailand trip, starting with the best.

Coming in first place, is the bat cave we visited before Halloween. The bats flew around and squeaked. The cave also had cool rock formations and stalagmites, the big pointy rocks on the ceiling of the cave. We were guided through this cave by gas torch and floated down the rivers on bamboo rafts.

Coming in second, is our boat trip in the canals outside of Bangkok. We went around in a boat. It was a strange trip because merchants grab boats with their canes to display their stock.

In third place, comes the Bangkok Traditional Puppet Theater, where we saw "The Birth of Ganesha." The show was about how the god, Ganesha, got his elephant head and saved heaven from the demons.  From then on, Ganesha became one of the most famous gods in Thailand -- the God of Wisdom.
 
Coming in fourth place, I chose the temple ruins in Sukothai, where we went to see all of the old city ruins. Sukothai used to be the capital of Bangkok, dating back to the 1200s. Although the city is in ruins, some of the Buddhas and temples remain. Many Buddhas were repaired because they are considered sacred items.
 And last, but not least, in fifth place, comes the reclining Buddha at Wat Poh temple in Bangkok. Laying down, the Buddha was 45 meters long (135 feet ... about half of the size of a football field). The entire Buddha was painted in gold leaf except the bottom, which is black and has 108 scenes carved from mother-of-pearl. It was cool on the way out of the temple because people would put tiny coins into metal pots, so all you hear is the soft clang of the coins landing in the pots.

So, there are my highlights from Thailand (and all the elephants of course).



Now, we're off to New Zealand!