We were up and ready to go by about 8:30. We didn't have to leave for the airport until 10:30, so after breakfast (with BREWED coffee!) we took the shuttle to the other hotel in HK Disneyland, the Hollywood Hotel. It is done in deco style and is beautiful also. We walked the grounds a bit. They have a Hollywood sign out back and 2 old cars on a "freeway". The pool was enormous. The Disneyland Hotel actually has 2 pools, which I forgot to mention. One is large and outdoors, the other is indoors! They have water slides at both hotels. We returned to our hotel to deal with the luggage and grab a taxi. It was amazing that all of our 4 large suitcases and various carry on's all fit in that small car.
Once at the airport we checked in with Thai Air. They state on their website that passengers are allowed 1 bag weighing 50 lbs each. We were worried. The gal at the counter said since we are flying international (she looked at our confirmation going back to San Francisco), we could have 2 bags and she didn't even pay attention to the weight. We got away with it and were very happy. We were happy too soon......
I went to use my Starbucks coupon. I had bought a travel mug with a dragon on it but not drink, thus the coupon. I bought a mug in New Zealand with a kiwi on it. Hadn't thought about going to Starbucks for souvenirs before! When I came out of the store, there in front of me was a Shanghai Tang OUTLET! What a find! We'd visited the Shanghai Tang store on Madison Avenue in NYC where I bought one gorgeous sweater. At the price we paid, I didn't think I'd own another one. The sweaters at the outlet were reduced by up to 70%, I bought 3! They make very fine, beautiful items. We then headed to the men's Shanghai Tang outlet where I persuaded Mel to get a shirt. It's very nice also. We then headed to the gate.
Along with the Shanghai Tang bag, we now had 7 carry on's between the 2 of us. We started to go into the security line when a guard standing there said we couldn't go in with that much carryon luggage. Oh, oh! She called the counter and told us to return upstairs and talk to someone there. The gal at the counter said we would have to check something. I told her it was impossible since everything in our carry on's were fragile, not to mention carrying my jewelry and other valuables. We asked to talk to a supervisor. That lady weighed our small suitcase carry on's. We are allowed 15 lbs, ours weighed 30 lbs, each! She was saying we would have to reduce our weight and number of items. We were thinking of the expensive suitcases for sale around the corner. She looked at her watch and said since we only had 10 minutes (we still don't know what those 10 minutes were to....our flight wasn't scheduled to leave for an hour) she'd give us an exception. She put special tags on our bags and off we went. She said she let us go but we might be stopped at the plane. Whew, one more hurdle passed. At the gate we got in line, boarded the plane and a nice gentleman hoisted our very heavy bags into the overhead. Whew again!
The flight was uneventful except for the food. They served fish in an AWFUL black sauce. I ate the salad, Mel ate my fish. Yuck. After just over 2 hours we landed in Bangkok. We were in Thailand during out 2009 World Cruise but in Phuket, a beach town in the south of the country. We'd never been to Bangkok. It took over an hour to go thru Immigration, grab our bags and exit. Our guide was waiting for us with a sign with our name on it. He helped with the bags, called his driver, and we got into a very nice, large van for our trip into the city. It took about 30 minutes to get to our hotel. We used Marriott points for our stay. Mel chose to stay at the Renaissance instead of the GW Marriott because it is a newer hotel. Our guide said it is in a much better location, so he chose well. Mel is a Gold Member, so we were escorted from the front desk to the concierge level to check in. We were upgraded to a special room. We walked in and a WOW! We had total windows on 2 sides, overlooking the city. The bathroom wall and toilet and shower doors were all glass, making the room look even larger. And I thought the Disneyland Hotel was beautiful! We had dinner in the concierge lounge then took off walking to see the area.
We walked about 6 blocks, taking our life into our own hands when crossing each street. The traffic was awful. We saw a few small shops that were closed and that was about it. On the way back, we saw a department store so went in just to check it out. I headed to the baby department, which seems to have been the theme this trip. Brigitte is due in a month. The area was divided by designer, all very expensive. Guess Piper doesn't need designer clothes. We checked out the luggage and the Thai Craft department then returned to the hotel. We were to be picked up at 8:30 the next day. It'll be nice to stay in one location for five nights, and in a beautiful hotel too.
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