Bangkok, Krung Thep, "The City of Angels"

Mark is consulting on an exhibit for UNESCO and the National Science Museum of Thailand and we are living in the center of Thailand's megalopolis. The Guinness Book of Records registers Bangkok's name as the world's longest name for a capital. It can be translated "the city of angels, the great city, the residence of the Emerald Buddha, the impregnable city, ...the grand capital of the world endowed with nine prescious gems..." It is also a city built on and around canals, with 5.7 million vehicles and less than 5% of its space for roads, about one-fifth the percentage of most American cities. We live in a quiet soi two minutes from one of the busiest corners and most popular night street food markets in the city. We travel on the back of motorcycle taxis driven by men in orange vests, by Skytrain, tuk-tuk, taxi and boat. The most incredible beauty exists inextricably interwoven with poverty, squalor and the evidence of years of wear and tear and pollution on this once graceful city.



We miss the children of Shanghai, and the fulfillment that came with teaching them, but our life here and work with UNESCO are great growth opportunities.



Some Bangkok children