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Thank you,for starters,I feel exactly like the picture-was up for 43 hours,the flight took about 24 with two stopovers in between,and on the long one an airplane full of kids returning home from an extended Thanksgiving brake.
We took Thai Airways from Chiang Mai to Bangkok,then Korean Air from Bangkok to Seoul,and from there to New York.Each stopover was about 2 hours,but all in all it was sooooo worth it.

The Imperial Palace in Bangkok is a 1 square mile compound full of temples,gardens,palaces,reception halls, statues,ponds and galleries, etc.
One of the temples had a reclining Buddha, gold painted,which was 150 feet long,(his feet alone must have been 15 feet high),and took up the entire length of the temple,another Buddha statue weighted 5 tons of solid gold!
We took a boat ride on the river to look at the royal barges all painted in gold,and hand carved; which had been used in ancient times for battle and now for ceremonies,just breathtaking.We climbed up the Temple of Dawn and took in the panorama,went to flower markets where 2 dozen roses cost 1 dollar 30 cents (I know all the men are emigrating to Bangkok now)
After we started our drive up north,more temples,then we visited monkeys in their natural habitat,they come down from the trees to be fed,and one youngster in our group was trying to pet a mom with her baby clinging to her,big mistake,she swatted the poor lad swiftly several times.
Then we went to the Burmese boarder,to an opium Museum,bought some lacquer ware,also some fabulous silver cuff for which Thailand is also famous,and silk.
Went to a "Floating market" where you can find spices,exotic fruit we don't find here,one is called the dragon's eye,which is exactly what it looked like when you opened the shell.
Sadly I missed the elephant camp,which was on Thanksgiving,since I had been worshiping at the alter of the porcelain goddess all night,a touch of food poisoning which afflicted 14 out of the group,or a stomach virus we passed to each other.But I had been there twice before.
With another boat we went to see the hilltribe people,originally from Burma,who have their own unique culture and costume,and way of live,very fascinating.
When we ended in Chiang Mai,we intended to go to the monastery early to see the novices (monks) come out to receive food and flowers from the populace,and give blessings in return,however we ended up in a demonstration of 10 000 Buddhist monks, all in their saffron robes,what a Kodak moment!!!
The last Temple was 4000 feet up high in the mountains with gleaming gold roof.We took a funicular up,and 350 steps down.
Here you have a synopsis,it was all magical,except for the one day :)))

P.S.: I forgot,but I already put up an album from the last 2 trips on my profile page,then you get the visual.

Welcome back to the USA, Babe ..... Happy December!
I'm glad you enjoyed your trip.

Wow it sounds fabulous! I'm so glad you're back home. I was thinking and thinking, "I wonder how her trip was, and when she'll be back?" So glad you had such a magical time. I don't think I'll ever get over to Thailand, so I'll just live through you for now. lol.

Thank you ACE, sure had a wonderful time,but it's good to be back
And Gina,I'll do the same for a while,let others travel and tell me about it.
The months,and months of preparations take a lot out of you,but as you said,it was magical,and now I'm looking forward to this magical time of the year,I'm looking forward to transforming my home into a little fairyland.