Monkey City

Today was a day trip to LopBuri which is a city that has a couple of temples that are overrun by monkeys.They are adorable of course. We also visited buildings from when the city was the "second capital" during the Ayutthaya period. There are ruins of the royal temple as well as the royal palace that were built in the middle of the 17th Century. Unfortunately the museum at the palace is closed on Mondays and Tuesdays so that was a disappointment.

My guide today, Nicky, was my first guide on my trip last year. He only vaguely remembered me. He's a nice guy but very reserved so it is difficult to build much rapport since we are both fairly similar in that regard. The drive back and forth was about 2 hours each way, so it was another day with lots of driving.

Yesterday was shopping spree day. I spent way more money that I was expecting to. My guide, Mickey, happened to be my guide last year during the ill-fated, coup-interrupted ModernDog concert. He knows how to shop! We went to a couple of jewelry stores including one at which he has his jewelry made. I bought a couple of rings that are quite nice. One is another sapphire and white gold ring with little bitty diamonds and the other is a custom made green tourmaline white gold ring also with little bitty diamonds. Then we went to look at silk and I shopped more there than I was expecting to but picked up some nice gifts. I also had a shirt made that was delivered to me today. It was much cheaper than the ones I had made back home but I don't think it is quite as nice as those were.

I am a little worn out this evening. Tomorrow is my last day here and I am not certain what I will do. I think want to go down to Siam Square to shop a little at DJ Siam. I suppose I can hang out at the malls over there a little bit. I will have to pack a little as well but there's not too much to worry about there. But I will need to get to bed early for my early trip to the airport.