Lopburi me a G

This weekend Jason and I went to visit some friends from Central Heights Church back home. They are a family that have come to Thailand as missionaries and have spent the last year in Lopburi studying the Thai language.

We took a van from Bang Saen to Victory Monument in Bangkok. This is a major transportation hub in the city. It is always uber busy and can be confusing for a forong that has never been there before. Jason and I figured it out the long way when we travelled to Lopburi. The way back was easy after our learninbg curve on the way out there.

So we arrived in Lopburi in the evening. The next day our friends Amber and Amanda took us to see the sights in Lopburi. This city has a population of about 300 000, but it has a very small town feel. Other then it being a military focal point as well as having a museum and a monkey temple...there wasn't much else.

The above picture is of Amber and Amanda with their Thai friend. We had all just entered this old palace for a tour. A^2's (amber and amanda) Thai friends took us through a tour of the museum. I learned quite a bit about Thai history, which was pretty cool. Apparently this palace is the palace in the movie/story "Anna and the King".

A bush elephant placed right where the real elephants used to be kept.

A random tree in the courtyard. I love the shape of these trees, so I decided to take a pic of it...whatevs...its just a tree...no big deal.

Jason standing by a huge clam shell in the museum at the palace.

A skeleton in the museum.

After we went to the palace, we travelled to the monkey temple. This temple is very old and in the middle of the city. There are hundreds of monkeys that live in and around this temple. Apparently there are three gangs of monkeys and they all live in different abandoned buildings near this temple.

Monkeys climbing on a building close to the Monkey Temple.

Jason, myself, and the Monkey Temple.

This is a small part of the Monkey Temple.

The Monkey Temple.

This monkey has a huge....stomach.
Random monkey pics...

Jason and I.



Monkey's gotsta have his cocanut.

This is where they feed the monkeys.


Some monkeys that we were bugging from behind a cage.



Us inside the temple.

The floor of the temple.

A statue inside the temple. Most statues of Buddha here in Lopburi are missing heads. I think the Burmese chopped the heads off once when the came through during a war.

This is our batminton crew. Two of the 3 days we were in Lopburi we went to the military base to play batminton. Each time we played for about 3-4 hours. By the time we were done, everything on me was soaked with sweat. It was a fun workout!

Jordan, Pi Wan, Amber, and Jason.

The SBK

(Sweaty Batminton Krew)

We also played many a game of Marbles. This game is a lot like the game Trouble. Like Trouble, it was also fun getting into it.

This is a pic that was taken in the middle of our 7 game tournament. It was Amber and I vs. Jason and Amanda...and the best team won.

The Marbles action didn't end there...we had a big game with some Thai friends. Jason and I were on a team and the best team won :P

All in all, it was an awesome weekend. We got to see our missionary friends, work out, monkey around and meet some new people. Also, the food Judy cooked for us that weekend was phenom delish.