Kelley

On The Way Home

Suzie was to pick us up at 11, so we had time for a leisurely breakfast. The lounge had a wonderful coffee machine where we could make cappuccino, coffee with milk, or just plain coffee. We enjoyed our last morning in the beautiful hotel. We were a bit worried about excess luggage, but at least we only had our carry ons and a small tote rather than all we'd carried onboard in Hong Kong. It was about 30 minutes to get to the airport. Suzie went in with us to the check in counter. We now had 5 suitcases, so knew we would have to pay something. It was only $55 for one extra suitcase, very nice and well worth it. Suzie stayed with us until we were ready to go thru security even though I kept telling her it was OK for her to leave. She was very conscientious.

Once thru security, we had about an hour to look around at all the shops. I had a few bahts left which I wanted to spend. They had some very nice shops. We then boarded our Thai Air 747 for the short flight to Taipei. When we booked our flights, we had a choice of transferring in Taipei or Tokyo. We were very glad to be avoiding Japan after their horrible earthquake. We had an almost 4 hour layover. My Platinum Am Express card nor Mel's Delta Crowne Room card allowed us entry to any of the lounges so we found a sofa to sit on for a while. Nice that they actually had sofas in the airport! When we finally headed to the gate, we found plugs as well as free internet computers. We should have found those earlier! Once at the gate, they checked our boarding passes and passports to allow us into the lower level waiting area. We were laughing at the wheelchair brigade by the gate. We'd never seen so many on one plane, there must have been 20!!! They were mainly old, not disabled, and very well taken care of.

The flight home was long. The fasten seat belt sign was on most of the time and the flight attendants were asked to sit down several times. I'm a nervous flier, so to me it was awful. The attendants were pushy and brusque. They almost took off the guy sitting next to Mel's foot when they charged down the aisle with the beverage cart. During most of the flight I was the only one with a light on in that huge 747! Everyone else was asleep. When it was light outside, I had my shade open. The attendants kept closing it when I got up to use the rest room. They just weren't very nice. Hope we don't fly Air China again anytime soon.

Another jumbo jet had arrived at the same time we did so Immigration was very backed up. At the luggage carrousel I found someone to help us with our bags. We had too many to put onto 2 carts. It was nice to have someone else do the heavy lifting. The Customs guy looked at our huge pile of bags and asked if that was for just 2 people. We told him we'd been gone for 2 months, he said "Welcome Home" and that was it. Very nice. Brigitte was there to get us and we were on our way home. It was a great trip with many wonderful experiences but it was good to be home.

Bangkok Day Four

Our last day of touring before heading home tomorrow. It's been an extraordinary trip. Suzie picked us up at 8 to take us to the Summer Palace. This is another property that the current queen decided to open to the public. This one was well worth seeing. It had many buildings in a huge area. It was all beautifully landscaped with ponds and fountains and lots of trees. There were also topiaries, which were fun.

The first building was the residence. I put my skirt on to enter. Suzie had to put a skirt on over her slacks because pants are not allowed on women. One of the customs that drove me crazy. The other was the bowing. When we entered the hotel lobby, everyone in the lobby bowed to us! Irritating. Anyway, the palace had a beautiful throne room as well as waiting rooms, all we were allowed to see. We next went to the Chinese building. It also had a throne room. In the back was a room for the concubines to wait to be summoned by the king. There was a back staircase for them to use, interesting custom. When we went out, I wanted to shop the few stands set up. Suzie bought some food from one of the vendors. She had us try a chili sauce, giving us each a little bit on the end of a stick. Now I love Tabasco, so hot doesn't bother me. This stuff was not only incredibly hot but tasted vile. Awful for a mid morning snack! She then bought some "tacos". They were small, thin pancakes that they put a marshmallow fluff type stuff on then yellow or orange strings of something. The yellow were sweet, the orange salty. I ate all the yellow ones then gave the orange ones to Suzie, awful. I've never really liked Thai food, the food in Thailand was no exception!!!

We next went to the ruins of a temple. It was quite large and interesting. The Kingdom of Siam was on our itinerary but Suzie explained that there are only low walls left at that ruins, these were more interesting. Probably right, but seeing Siam would have been interesting also. I was in The King and I as a kid, as were Kevin, Mel's son, and Brigitte when she was little. We'd seen pictures of the young prince in the wooden palace in Bangkok. Oh well, a ruin is a ruin! One very interesting thing at this particular location was a Buddha head that was encased by tree roots. They said it is rising about 2" yearly. Very cool looking.

Our next stop was another ruin. Some lady got in our face and took our pictures when we first got there, that was odd. By this time is was so hot and humid that I felt like I couldn't breathe. We were walking in the direct sun to see the place. It was interesting, another ruin. When we headed back to the van, the picture taking lady approached us with souvenir plates with our pictures on them! I had a look on my face like "why the heck are you talking my picture", Mel just looked goofy. Too bad they didn't tell us so we could have been together on one plate. I bought them anyway since they were only $3 for both! Very funky.

We drove about an hr to a boat dock. We boarded a very nice boat for lunch. The boat belonged to the Shangra La Hotel which is a very elegant hotel. The lunch was quite a spread. Mel enjoyed it, especially the lamb. I ate a lot of dessert. The ride was nice but way too long. They only had the tables and chairs, no comfortable chairs to sit in to watch the scenery. It was interesting seeing Bangkok from the water. At one time, that was the main mode of transportation. When we arrived at the hotel, the owners daughter was getting married that evening, so the lobby was bustling with activity..There was a HUGE chandelier of all flowers on a balcony, just gorgeous.

The day we arrived in Bangkok, we told Suzie that we needed to buy a suitcase and possibly a knock off watch for a friend. She kept saying Monday would be the day, our last day. We walked thru the hotel out to the street. There right in front of the hotel were several shops filled with suitcases. We met up with someone who took us up some back stairs to see knock offs, kind of like Canal Street in NYC!  Their handbags and watches were more expensive than we'd seen in Hong Kong and China. Made us wish we'd looked in Hong Kong, but everyone has always said that Bangkok has the best shopping, so there we were. Mel didn't find the watch he wanted but we did find a large duffel to put our excess items in. From there Suzie took us to another shop with a hidden door behind which were gorgeous handbags. Mel found his watch and I bought a purse, really nice.

Suzie was to pick us up to take us to the airport the next day. Our flight wasn't until 2:30, so she said we still  had time to see the Golden Buddha and the Reclining Buddha. We both felt like we'd seen enough Buddhas and I didn't want to arrive at the airport feeling hot a sticky for our flight home. I think she was put off that we were content not seeing those last 2 Buddhas. Oh well, maybe next time.

We pretty much finished our packing then had dinner in the concierge lounge. We then headed out to the corner by our hotel. There was a Buddha where people came to give offerings. It was packed! The incense was a bit overwhelming but the flowers were beautiful. Some young women were dressed in the traditional costumes and did a dance which was nice. We did some window shopping on our way back to the hotel, then finished packing. Tomorrow we'd be heading home.

Bangkok Day Three

We were up early again to be picked up at 7:30. Seems like the major sites around Bangkok are about 2 hours out, so a lot of driving. Our first stop was at a special market in a small town. They built the market ON the train tracks! It was on both sides also, but as we walked along the tracks, there was food right on the track. We were told that a train would be there any minute, so slowly all the food carts were pulled back, the awnings were folded up, along came a full size, BIG train, just 2' from where I was standing! After it passed, all the food came back out, the awnings back up, and it looked just like a market again. It was odd and amazing all in one. I guess a train passes twice a day, so they do that a lot. We looked around a bit, bought some socks (I love buying unusual socks in different countries around the world!) then got on the van to continue on to the floating market.

Anyone we talked to about Thailand said we had to make a visit to the floating market. I had no idea what to expect, except for maybe boats full of goods for sale? We boarded a boat at a boat rental location. The boats were all long, with maybe 4 or 5 seats, and with shade. That was a good thing because it was very hot. We traveled along a number of channels before starting to see any markets. There were a lot of shops set up along the shore as well as boats carrying food and/or goods. There was a lot of souvenier type items, big tourist attraction! Our guide took us to her favorite painter.

I bought a beautiful painting of the floating market, very nice. We finally arrived at the main location. There were markets on either side of the canal plus vendor boats and GRIDLOCK! We didn't move for at least 20 minutes. I noticed a couple in the boat next to us taking pictures of each other. I offered to take a pic then handed them my camera so they could take a picture of us. We weren't going anywhere anytime soon, that was for sure! Once out of the gridlock and past the bridge, we got off the boat to walk thru the market. Someone had a baby elephant there for pictures. Poor thing, it was standing in the hot sun, on hot pavement, very sad. We saw 2 guys with huge snakes for picture taking. I immediately hauled out some $$ and took the largest snake to wrap around my neck. It must have weighed 25 pounds, it was big. I was a tourist after all! We looked around the market for a bit then headed back to the van and back to Bangkok.

Back in the city we went to the weekend market. We'd heard a lot about it, that you could find anything there and that it is very inexpensive. We weren't really looking for anything so just wandered around. We didn't see any knock offs that we've enjoyed looking at in other countries. We bought some grilled meat on sticks that were pretty good. I had coconut ice cream served in a fresh coconut shell, it was very good. We then walked thru an upscale market that had A/C and bright lights. The fruit was individually wrapped and looked top quality. I saw some durian. I'd seen it in China also, but had never tried it. They say it tastes like heaven, smells like hell. I didn't get a chance to smell it, but did buy a small one to try. It was pretty good, not wonderful. Glad that I had the opportunity to try it.

We arrived at our hotel earlier than usual so headed right back out to the department store we'd discovered the first night there. We had seen a jewelry area, but hadn't thought to look for a tiger, that was our mission. They only had silly looking tigers, or tiny ones, not what I wanted. While the clerks were talking to Mel (more sign language than talking, no English) I looked thru the case. There was a gorgeous tiger on a tie...a tie tack! I'm sure my jeweler can make it into a pendant or I'll just wear it as a pin. VERY nice, and 24k Chinese gold.

Back at the hotel we took much needed showers then went to dinner in the concierge lounge. I'm not very fond of Thai food, so ate a lot of desserts while there. At least they were delicious!

Bangkok Day Two

This was the day I'd been waiting for. We were visiting the Tiger Temple! I'd made the reservation almost a year ago and was really looking forward to it. About a month before we left on our trip, there had been a report on CNN that they were abusing the tigers and selling parts for various medicines. It sounded awful. There is also a web site which talks about the horrible way they treat the tigers, how they are drugged, etc. I almost canceled our visit, not wanting to support such a place. I'm very glad we found out for ourselves how they treat the tigers.

 

We were picked up at our hotel at 5 a.m.!!! We had a 2 hour drive out to the temple. We just had a driver, our guide lives near the temple area so we picked him up at the market. The itinerary said we would buy breakfast for the monks at a market. I wasn't imagining a 7 Eleven! We bought coke, beer and snack cakes, interesting breakfast food for monks! Our guide, Jackie, didn't speak English very well, but enough to get by. About 30 minutes from the market we went thru a HUGE tiger mouth arch into the area. The temple was started when someone found a tiger cub after killing it's mother. They gave that cub to the head monk at a monastery. He raised it and decided to dedicate his life to saving the tigers. There are so few left in the wild, it's pretty sad. They now have about 95 tigers of all ages. They are in the process of building an amusement park type place for people to visit, with a huge "island" for the tigers to roam free. There was a lot of construction going on. They are even building a hotel.

 

We stopped at the entrance where they sold T shirts, etc. They had tables set up for offering the food to the monks. They arrived and we were to place 2 items in each monk's container. The containers were pots with cooked rice. It was strange putting coke in with the cooked rice. We were to give any left over food to the last monk. The table next to us had a lot left over. The girl put 2 items into the monks container. He said very bluntly "You have to give the rest to me, that is the rule!!". He was from New York, with the accent, interesting monks. We then walked up to the temple area where the monks would have breakfast.

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All around the temple platform was a railing and tied to the railing were about 20 tiger cubs of various ages, 6 weeks old being the youngest. We each had our own tiger to feed a bottle of formula to. They were SO darling....and messy. I had formula all over my top and shorts but it was worth it! There were a lot of volunteers who took our cameras so we could concentrate on the cubs while they took pictures. Once the cubs had their fill, they all fell sound asleep! After a bit some were wrestling with each other, so cute. We sat thru the monk's prayer. I asked a volunteer from Germany how long the prayer would be. She said anywhere from 5 minutes to 30 minutes, we "lucked" out with a LONG one, I thought it would never end! After that the monks ate while we continued to play with the tigers. When they finished, we were offered a buffet breakfast. It was AWFUL!! I ate some rice, that was about it. When we finished we were each given a cub to walk back to their cage. Some could walk on their own on leashes, the tiny ones had to be carried. I was the first to head to the cage. My little guy didn't like being carried so I grabbed it by the scruff of the neck and he settled down. I was the only one who actually went into the cage and put my little guy down. They had cleaned the cage while the cubs were out with us. Not a great enclosure, but they were taken out to play daily, so not bad.

 

Next we went to where the older cubs lived. They were about 10 months old, so maybe half grown. We bathed them with shampoo and a hose. The volunteer with me shoved me around to stay away from the tiger's head. They treated the tigers nicer than the people! We were then led to the play area. They had rice sacks attached to bamboo poles to entice the tigers to play. There were at least 10 of them, running around the enclosure, not on leashes or anything. Most were attacking each other in the water. I didn't know tigers enjoyed water so much. I got one guy to grab the bag on my pole. He wouldn't let go so we had a tug of war, he won. I was almost pulled into the water. If I'd have fallen, I would have had tigers all over me, playing like they played with each other. Since they probably weighed about 80 lbs at that age, it wouldn't have been a good thing. Smart that I dropped the pole. The volunteers were screaming and laughing at all the tiger antics. I think they were having more fun than we were and the tigers were definitely having a great time. It was a lot of fun.

 

The next tigers we encountered were adults. They were on leashes for us to walk down into a canyon they have set up for tourists. These guys were big, but walked nicely on their leashes. They had been raised to do so from cubs, so pretty well trained. This morning tour was only open to 12 people and sells out daily. The 12 humans were put into a "cage" while the volunteers played with the big guys. They were running around attacking each other as well as chasing the rice sacks, jumping off rocks into the water and having a great time. It was fun to watch. We were told that if we return in the afternoon we could have pictures taken with the big guys. I don't think that was to be included in our tour but the guide agreed to take us back after lunch.

 

We went to an outdoor restaurant whose owner is the vet for the Tiger Temple. I ordered fried rice with pineapple and chicken. It was served very simply, a pile on a plate. It was better than the expensive meal we'd had the day before, yummy. We watched a video about the vet and how he takes care of the tigers. We looked around at the store without finding anything of interest. We had over an hour to kill before returning to the Temple. Our guide finally said it was time to go.

 

There were a lot more people at the area when we returned. We walked by a cage with a huge bear in it on the way to the tigers. Not sure what kind it was, it had a white stripe across it's chest. All the large tigers were laying around with volunteers standing by to keep visitors at a distance. We were all corralled into a "cave" while they prepared the tigers to walk down to the canyon. These were the males and enormous! We all got in single file lines, 15 people behind each tiger. One at a time we were allowed to walk right next to the tiger for a picture. Once in the canyon, we all sat on seats. Every time a tiger arrived at the canyon we were told to stand and look at the tiger. We weren't supposed to  have our backs to them, just in case. They weighed 300 to 400 lbs and were walking on leashes. If they wanted to go after someone, not much could stop them! Our guide pulled us to the front of the line for pictures. We were led to a tiger where a volunteer would put his head on our lap for a picture. They were sound asleep, so they were hauling those heads around like dead meat. The tigers were so huge, it was pretty cool to be that close. We had pictures taken with about 5 different ones, then headed out. What an AMAZING experience!!!

 

On the way back to Bangkok, we stopped at the Bridge Over the River Kwai. It is now a huge tourist attraction with shops and a market set up. We walked over the bridge taking pictures. There is a colorful train that goes back and forth for the tourists, pretty built up. We were back to our hotel well after 6, it was a LONG day. Our clothes were covered with tiger formula, mud from sitting down, dust from running tigers, and just filthy in general. What a great day!

Bangkok Day One

We met our guide at 8:30 in the lobby. With a name like Suzie, I wasn't expecting a short, stout, older lady, but there she was. Her English was very good, which is very important. And she turned out to be very knowledgeable, so just fine. I had on capris and she nicely asked if I could change into pants. The guy who picked us up the day before had told us that they have skirts for rent to go into the temples so I told her I am agreeable to that, it is WAY too hot for pants. Off we went.

 

Our first stop was Chinatown. We walked thru the markets, looking at the knock offs and all the food. It was fascinating. We then went to the flower market which was unreal! You could buy a bouquet of a dozen stems of orchids for about $3. There were women making bracelets and bouquets which are used for offerings at the temples. I'd never seen so many flowers. Great place to visit.

Our next stop was the Grand Palace and the Emerald Buddha Temple. After renting a wrap around skirt for me we entered with hundreds of other people. Suzie gave us commentary the entire time, telling of the history and purpose for the various buildings. It is a huge complex. The various temples were covered with gold leaf or china mosaics, absolutely gorgeous! The Emerald Buddha is actually jade. It is about 2' tall and sits in a place of honor high on a "throne". It was dressed for winter, with a gold lace cloak. They have a big ceremony to change his clothes for each season. Interesting. The walls were covered with beautiful murals. Many of the coaches and clothes were in gold leaf. We spent about an hour in that complex then headed to the pier. I ended up buying my skirt so I could use it in other temples, plus it was nice fabric with elephants all over.

 

We got on a long, narrow boat to see the sights from the river. Years ago, the canals and rivers were the main transportation in Thailand. It was interesting to see the tall buildings and small homes from grand ones to shacks along the river bank. We were dropped off at a beautiful place for lunch. It had been a private residence but the Mandarin Oriental Hotel across the river bought it and turned it into a luxury restaurant. It was buffet so we helped ourselves. I've never been fond of Thai food, and wasn't impressed with the selection there, regardless of price! The shrimp was delicious and they had ball pancakes, like I make (Danish ableskiver) on Christmas only these were coconut flavored, also very good. We ate then took the hotel's shuttle boat across the river to the hotel. The owner's daughter was getting married there that evening, so the lobby was full of people decorating the place with flowers. It was gorgeous.

 

Next stop, the Golden Teakwood Mansion. That building had been pretty much unused since the 20's. The current queen decided to reopen it as a museum which was an excellent idea. It would be sad to not share that beautiful place with the world. The building was entirely built with wood. There were original antique pieces in every room. There were also photographs and paintings of the royal family, consorts and children. Every room held something to oooh and aaah over. Once again I was using my wrap around skirt, shoes left at the entrance.

 

I was on a quest to find a gold tiger charm so Suzie took us to a very nice jewelry store. They had a nice gold cat with ruby eyes but no stripes. It wasn't tiger enough so we moved on. We stopped at one of the tourist places we've been to all over the world where they have a workshop first so you can see how the jewelry is made, then a HUGE store. They did not have one single tiger to look at. Since it is one of the Chinese zodiac symbols, I was pretty surprised. Suzie said maybe they were sold out since last year was the Year of the Tiger. Who knows. We were back at the hotel at about 6. We had dinner in the concierge lounge, showered and went to bed. It had been a long day.

Hong Kong to Bangkok

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.