Hello from Vietnam (and soon to be, Thailand)

I'm glad you are enjoying Hanoi as much as we did, jg. Keep it coming...

Sounds just great!

The best thing about Emperor when we were there was the lovely outdoor setting. The owners of that restaurant were also the owners of L'Opera ( or is it Club L'Opera?) which is almost across the street from your hotel The food there was better (in our opinion) than Emperor. If it is still there, try it. It's a white table cloth kind of place and a nice contrast to the little hole in the wall places where we ate our lunches.

I'm looking forward to more!

Thanks for the great report. We just upgraded to club rooms at the Metropole for our February trip...after hearing about it from your report, I am really glad we did....it sounds wonderful.

Enjoy!!

Can't wait for the next excerpt.

Looking forward to more as we follow in your footsteps in November

Loved reading your report. Will plan to stay on the Club level when we get there in April. We're also planning to do Thailand so I can't wait to hear where you go there. Keep the details coming.

excellent start, looking forward to more...

Club level @ Metropole: I can't recommend this enough! The service is impeccable without being overbearing. We don't feel like workers are "hovering" as some upscale hotels lend themselves to do.

There are 2 computers in here (we don't ever travel with a laptop on vacation) and we haven't had any problems getting on whenever we wanted.

Hanoi --Dinner Day 2

Another dinner mishap. We ventured to try Bobby Chin's at the end of the lake... just a short walk from our hotel. Unfortunately, even though we read great things about it in various guide books... it was CLOSED. No sign. Just boarded up windows. What a disappointment. We thought about going to Club de L'Oriental, since we missed out on it the night before... but we couldn't remember where it was. While the people are very friendly, we were hesitant to ask as language seems to be a barrier (in that we don't speak the native tongue!)

Dinner was a bowl of pho at Pho24. We recognized the name and settled on it after we passed it a few times looking for Bobby chins. Honestly, the only reason we ate there was because we also stumbled by Fanny's nearby. So, pho was just fine but the ice cream was worth staying in the area for!

SIDE NOTE -- We read about the exercisors around the lake in the early morning but wrote it off thinking we'd sleep in daily. So what a surprise when we found an entire gaggle of local women doing aerobics at the Southern end of the lake! And many of them were wearing these outfits that looked like thin, cotton pajama sets (matching top and bottom prints)!!! It was the funniest thing we've ever seen! On our way back to the hotel, we saw a group of locals gathered at the lake edge so naturally I wandered over to see what was causing the commotion. It was an older man with a simple bamboo pole fishing for a very large fish at the edge! It was funny that we were all crowding to see him try to catch that fish! He had it hooked several times but the smart fish managed to get loose each time. This only added to the atmosphere...

TIP: we also stumbled by a large mall-type building. Odd layout in that it was difficult to tell whether it was one department store or a mall with various shops. Merchandise was everywhere. But we did find that the very top level is a supermarket with everything and anything you may need. The baby section also seemed large so if you're traveling with little ones and forget something, it looked like you'd be able to find it here.

HANOI -- Day 3:

Another amazing breakfast at the hotel. I opted to try the black truffle omlet with a little caviar on the side. It's not so large that you're stuffed but not so small that you're left wanting more. That with the beautiful patry basket they present (including perfect croissants and pain au chocolat!) and some fruit from the buffet -- makes for a more than filling breakfast.

Today, we're off to do some leisurely shopping. I hope to find some silk and linen blouses while my husband wants to see about having some suits made. I got a handy map from the hotel that lists some retailers. Will report on our finds.

We also plan to squeeze in another massage and try to experience high tea at the hotel (which we've missed the last two days).

As for dinner... we're keeping our fingers crossed that we'll have something wonderful to come back and tell you about!

Oh, the irony!!

We spent the morning shopping for silks, linens and a suit for my husband. For the most part, we followed the stores recommended by the hotel. Unfortunately, the shopping left much to be desired.

The prices were quite high for the quality (more accurately, lack thereof) of the goods. For example, a simple woman's linen shirt was priced anywhere from $35-55 USD. Silk shirts ranged similarly. No lining and without quality sewing/stitch work. The men's suit retailer "Duc" was a bit pricey but my husband doesn't wear suits on a regular basis so it's hard to say whether $300-$500 for a jacket and pant in the materials offered were good prices or not.

Oh, my big shopping find turned out to be some customized stamps! I bought a few of them for myself and friends. I didn't have to bargain hard to get 4 for $15. But we did have to kill an hour waiting for them to be made.

Lunch was a two-parter! First, we had silky steamed rice crepes filled with minced pork and shrimp paste at a stall in the Old Quarter (Banh Cuon Gia Truyen @ 14 Pho Hang Ga). This was from our guide book: Hanoi & Halong Bay Encounter by Lonely Planet. It was tasty and not nearly as sketchy as the Bun Cha place. It was packed and we could see them making the crepes right in front. We had purchased our own set of chopsticks from a store at the Museum of Ethnology... and they came in very handy since many of these food stalls reuse the disposable-type of chopsticks.

Then we stumbled upon a Cha ca restaurant filled with locals so we decided to give it a try. It was very tasty... would highly recommend trying it.

We stopped for a condensed milk coffee and sat on a tiny little plastic stool on the street waiting until our stamps were made. Then it was back to the hotel (via cyclo, very fun and highly recommended!) for a nap, then afternoon tea.

High tea was fantastic! Since we were pretty full, we just tried a few of the offerings. Everything was presented beautifully and tasted just as good. And the loose tea selection was dizzying... I tried 2 types: Lotus and rose buds. Both were fantastic!

Since the shopping was a bit of a disappointment, we decided to check out some of the shops in the hotel.

Side note: in our room, there are 2 types of robes. One is a standard terry cloth, the other is a silk kimono. The kimono is soooo soft and light. I loved it.

Turns out, they sell these in the hotel boutique! Very reasonable prices ($40) and the quality was better than anything I found in the old quarter. Needless to say, it was very ironic that I made my purchases here! The shop will gift wrap them so now I have at least 3 Christmas presents already checked off.

Lastly, we finally had a successful dinner!! We went to Club de L'oriental (near the hotel) and it did not disappoint. Food was great, atmosphere was lovely and prices were reasonable by western standards. We tried lots of dishes but the 2 that really stand out include stir-fried morning glories with garlic and the vegetable noodles. Also, I loved a dessert called "sweet soup with longan stuffed with lotus seed."

Mmmm, now I'm stuffed and headed to bed. Hanoi continues to treat us very well...

Hanoi -- Halong Bay Day 4 & 5:

Sadly, our last breakfast in the amazing Metropole lounge. I ordered the pho and it was fantastic!

We booked with Columbus for a 2 night cruise on the Pinta Gold. After a long 3.5 hour bus ride to Halong City, we used a tender to get to the boat. All the junks pretty much looked the same. When we got to ours, I was a little surprised by just how small the room was (literally a bed and a small bedside table). Lesson learned: YGWYPF! I knew I didn't want to stay aboard for 2 nights so we asked if we could change it and "Sally" at the office was very nice and charged us half the original amount for just a 1 night stay.

Overall, I just have a few observations about Halong Bay:
1. Yes, it is definitely worth the trip to see the bay.
2. Surprise cave was a huge SURPRISE in that the last cave is soooo large!! When you're first shown caves 1 and 2... you think it's just something they turned into an attraction but as soon as you enter the last cave, it is really a unique experience.
3. Yes, we saw some litter in the bay but it wasn't quite the amount we were expecting. We were thinking the water would be so gross that we wouldn't want to touch it. Rather, we saw some trash floating in certain spots but for the most part, Halong bay was clean and beautiful.
4. Kayaking is definitely a highlight. If you're going to make the trip there from Hanoi, don't skip the kayak.
5. Water was warm. Our guide made a face when I asked about the water temp when he told us we had "free time" to swim after dinner. Because I'm such a wimp, I chose to hang out on the top deck and lounge. But the next morning when we went kayaking, the water was so warm that I realized that I HAD to swim in it before leaving.
6. Lastly, our experience on the Pinta Gold was a mixed bag.
It was fairly inexpensive for 2 people. It included transfer, meals, kayaking and the caves. When we booked, we put in the booking that we would be celebrating our wedding anniversary while aboard. And after dinner, they really had planned a wonderful surprise. There was sparkling wine and a large cake!! We were able to share with all the passengers and it made for a lovely experience.

Now, the other aspects...
From the time we arrived to the time we left, it was a comedy of errors! It rained in the early am (2:30ish or so) and we woke up to huge water droppings from our ceiling to our bed (where our pillows were). So we laughed it off and used a towel to collect the rain. Within the next 15 minutes, we had at least 2 other drippings so our towels were stretched from drip to drip.

Luckily, we had nothing of value near the water. And even luckier, it was just rain water. When I first felt the drips, I panicked thinking that it was from the room above us!! ICK!!!

Looking back, now it makes sense why the bed was "crunchy" with a plastic-type cover under the sheet!!

Overall, we have mixed feelings about having used this company and we're not sure that we would recommend it. The woman from the company was very accommodating but it seems the company philosophy wasn't being passed through the ranks (ie: no soap or TP in our room; towels & sheets of dubious cleanliness etc).

One of the biggest PROS is that we met some fantastic travelers! Everyone was nice and we really enjoyed chatting with so many different groups!

But our last few minutes of the tour has left a bit of a sour taste in our mouths.

We had asked if we could be dropped off at a different hotel after the cruise. They said no problem. But when it came to the drop-off, we were the very last passengers and the driver and some other guy (did not speak English) tried to drop us off several blocks away from our hotel insisting that we can easily take a taxi. Yes, we could have but we were traveling with ALL of our bags and we had already confirmed that this wasn't a problem so this really irritated me. The two men stopped the bus and told us to get off. We refused. Then one of them called the Columbus office and I spoke to a woman about our booking and she said, no problem. But the two guys clearly did not want to continue. So then, they called someone else who spoke English. We were handed the phone and were told "you get off and there is nice pagoda for you to walk around and sight see."

WHA???!!! Um, with 2 suitcases and 2 carryons?? I calmly said no, our hotel is in the area (West Lake) so we want to be dropped off at the hotel. But when I wasn't getting anywhere, I had to pull out the "ugly tourist" side and began speaking very loudly and clearly. I suspect that I could have been reciting my favorite cake recipe and these men would have no idea what I was saying. I guess that was my point.

I played bad cop and my husband jumped in trying to "soothe" me to calm down. It was actually kind of funny if you knew what was going on.

After my "tirade" the driver somehow managed to turn a few blocks and dropped us off in front of the Intercontintal. So, the moral of my long, boring story: I guess, You Get What You Pay For.

We've now checked in and enjoyed cocktail hour at our "home" for the next 3 nights.

Ah, it just wouldn't be a memorable trip without these minor stumbles along the way...

We're back home now... we didn't post from Thailand at all because our hotel charged a small fortune for internet time.

So I'll try to go off my notes to fill in the gap from our 3 nights at the Intercontinental after Halong Bay -- to our 7 nights in Bangkok at the Peninsula.

Jgalore-thanks for your report. Loking forward to the Thailand portion. The report is clearly timely and no penalty. Keep it coming.

Hanoi Day 6: Intercontinental Westlake

Had a great view of the lake, pool and overwater rooms (exactly as pictured on the website). We also opted for the executive club, highly recommended! The evening cocktails weren't as impressive as the Metropole but still nice. The homemade taro chips were my favorite.

Day 6 was Sunday so we walked to the Presidential Palace since it would be closed Monday and we were leaving for BKK Tuesday.

It was interesting but since the nearby mausoleum was closed, I'm not sure you're really missing much if you don't see it.

Next we headed to the Temple of Literature... but first stopped off for lunch at KOTO (Know One Teach One -- a nonprofit restaurant developed by a Vietnamese-Korean who grew up in Australia. KOTO employs street youth and gives them work skills for bettering their lives) across the street and everything was excellent! Well priced and the food was great. And you could tell everyone was really working hard on the service.

I had a yummy lemongrass iced tea and bun cha. My husband had several tasty fruit drinks and a dish called Bun Bo. Both dishes were excellent!

Temple of Literature -- Vietnam's first university founded in 1070. It holds a number of statues with the names of those who received a doctorate at the school. It was fun exploring courtyard after courtyard. There is a snack area and gift shop here -- where you can find a very detailed Hanoi map for only 10,000VND (less than $1USD).

We then headed across the street again -- this time to Craftlink. Oh Shopping Heaven! It's not difficult to spend hundreds of dollars in these stores (2 separate stores). Everything inside is handmade by various ethnic groups in Vietnam. I bought a beautiful black linen dress with stitching done by Hmong people. Also found beautiful square, silk pillow cases. I bought just about all of them to give out as gifts. The quality of everything in the store seemed to be much higher than the stuff we saw on the streets.

One of the women inside said she thinks they get higher quality goods because they promote fair wage for the ethnic minorities who produce the items.
I found wonderful ceramics -- cups, bowls, teapots, etc. Also brought home dozens of various noodle spoons made from buffalo horn.
All in all, this store is not to be missed! Every single item was carefully wrapped and made it home safely!

With too many bags in tow, we cabbed it back to the hotel and enjoyed the pool.

Dinner -- we decided to try Sen, a sister property of Quan An Ngon. It was a bit pricey by local standards (170,000VND per person). We enjoyed trying little bits of everything, including grilled snails and sparrows. And they had plenty of sweet soup options, yummmm! If you're staying in the Westlake area, I'd highly recommend Sen.

Hanoi Day 7:

Another great pho breakfast in the lounge!

My husband decided to hang out at the lovely pool while I ventured off to a spa. I ended up at a place called "Exotical." Despite the seedy name, it turned out to be a beautiful place. I think it was a 90 minute massage for $35+tip.

Dinner was at Highway 4 in the Old Quarter. We tried a couple of the rice wines and didn't really care for them. But the food overall was good.

TAXI TIPS: from the Intercontinental Westlake, it cost us between 45,000-60,000 to get to the Old Quarter. The hotel has cabs ready but each time, we had minor issues with their drivers (such as them not dropping you off as requested, instead, they would drive past the point you wanted or flip a U so that you ended up on the wrong side and have to cross traffic. I suspect they did this to drive up the meter past an even dong point... so you'd give them money and they'd claim "sorry, no small money.") After several times, we just asked concierge to call us a CP Taxi. Never had any trouble with them.

This was our last full day in Hanoi as the next day we flew to Bangkok. I'll write more later.

Thanks Gpanda. Btw, thanks for your BKK restaurant list. I have updates on Harmonique, Tongue Thai, Thiptara and several others!

Craftlink is a shopper's heaven, isn't it? We bought lots of stuff. I agree it is very high quality. Some of the ethnic crafts are hard to find anywhere else.

Love the update we will be on our way to hanoi in exactly 5 weeks YIPPEE

Kathie,
I loved that it's a fair wage shop (I'm guessing benefiting mostly women). Personally, I don't enjoy haggling and the quality of items in CL was so much better!
I'm now looking over everything I bought and really don't want to part with any of it-- even though I bought most of it as gifts!

Smeagol, I hope you'll enjoy Hanoi as much as we did. We really thought the service and accommodation at the Metropole far exceeded even 7 nights at the Peninsula Bangkok. I thought the only think the Metropole lacked was a view but everything else certainly makes up for it!

I'll now get to our Bangkok portion...

Minor revision: The massage I had at Exotical was a bit pricey because I opted for the 4-hand massage. I basically had 2 women work on me the entire time. One massaged my legs the whole time while the other worked on my upper half. OH! I forgot, I had a bizarre experience here!!! This was the FIRST time I've ever had someone massage my chest!! I don't mean the portion near by collar... I mean, she full on massaged my breasts!! Out of all the massages I've had in my life -- this was a first!

Day 8 Bangkok

A cab to the Peninsula from the public taxi stand cost us 400 Thb plus 65 for tolls. They ask you where you're heading and the woman at the stand tried to tell us that her taxi driver will take us to the Peninsula for 700baht. We were a bit surprised this happened at the official stand...
We got in a cab and just asked for the meter.

Check-in was a breeze! We were taken to our room (grand deluxe) and did all the paperwork there. We were greeted with a platter of fruit, fresh juice and a tin of cookies (soooo yummy). We were asked what times we preferred daily cleaning and evening turndown. We chose noon and 8pm and that worked out really well the entire trip!

I didn't eat the food on the plane so I was actually hungry so we set off to explore and find a nearby restaurant.

We took the Peninsula's private boat across the water to the pier (wow, seriously nice lounge/shop).
I had ordered a Nancy Chandler map from Amazon before we left but you can easily buy one in the Peninsula shop (for cheaper). The map became our Bangkok Bible in that we never left the hotel without it! We looked for Tongue Thai but it was closed because it wasn't quite dinner time. A nice guy in a cook's uniform at the Italian place next door suggested a place called "Harmonique" just down the street.

We loved Harmonique. We ordered several dishes (caution, the Tom Yum Goong was super spicy). Everything was really reasonably priced and the girls who worked there were very nice! The atmosphere was also lovely with a very eclectic decoration that somehow seemed to work.

We needed laundry done and unfortunately, the Peninsula was very expensive, especially compared to the hotels in Hanoi. Because my husband needed lots done, we asked the older woman at Harmonique if she knew of a laundry nearby. She was so nice and wrote down something in Thai and said we should show it to someone near the Shangri La (also near the Peninsula Pier). And sure enough, there's a little laundry shop just steps away from there. We took a huge bag and it cost us 785 baht and she said it would be ready the next afternoon.

To find the laundry shop: If you're walking out of the pier -- it's a soi right by the Shangri La. You make a left at the foot massage place (with a green sign). The shop is on your right hand side.

Overall, I would highly recommend Harmonique. We were just sad that we didn't get a chance to go back. But it is definitely on our list for next time!

So it took all of a couple of hours before I decided that I LOVE BANGKOK! Of all the cities I've visited, I would seriously consider living in Bangkok. As a first-timer, I really didn't know what to expect. But it was such a mixture of people, food and city. The sky train and the huge malls reminded me of Hong Kong while the parts that are still developing reminded me of Bali. The dollar goes far and the people are so pleasant that it's tough not to love it all.

LOL, join many of the rest of us who dream of moving to Bangkok!

Harmonique is often recommended here. It's an interesting, atmospheric little place. It has a reputation for slooooow service, but it sounds like your service was ok. I'm glad you enjoyed it.

Day 9 Bangkok

We had an early breakfast (oh breakfast heaven!) at the hotel since our guide Tom was meeting us at 7am.

We booked with the "Tong" that's so often recommended here. But since she was already busy, she paired us up with Tom, a high school teacher who happened to be on break. Tom said he and Tong were in the same class when they were training to be guides.

We headed out to see the railway station market on the way to the floating market.
But I guess the train always runs late so we only stayed for a few minutes and never got to see the train come

We spent about an hour at the floating market. We had our own boat and by the time we were leaving -- the crowd was beyond crazy. I could see why Tom was so eager to get us here and out.

The floating market was interesting because it's the iconic picture of Thailand/Bangkok you see in guidebooks (ladies in boats). Is it worth the drive and cost?? I guess only you'll know after you do it. But if my best friend were to ask me, I'd advise her to skip it because there's so much more to see and do in Bangkok.

For the most part, Tom got us a few nibbles of food from the various boat ladies. Then we went through a few of the canals in front of private homes. Other than that, it was a market full of tourist junk. ((I know, my name here is JG and it's often mistaken for one who likes to collect stuff but it's actually my junk email address that I give to everyone who is not friend or family. ))

Then we headed off to the Tiger Temple. It was a loooooong drive there. Then a very *QUICK* "stand behind tiger and I take your photo" experience. Yes it was neat in that it's not something you can do here at any old zoo... but really, it didn't do much for me. Visitors are given the opportunity to do this several times with different tigers. I passed and just opted to walk around to watch them.

Then I saw a water fall area with younger cubs. And that's when we opted to pay the 1000Thb pp to do a "cub feeding."

There was 7 of us who were taken to a private area (cage) where there were 4 baby cubs (3 mo old). We were asked to wash our hands first then we were led into the cage.

The cubs are just freely roaming so you can play with them. You're given a few instructions about safety but unfortunately, my husband got bitten by one of the cubs within the first few minutes. The skin didn't break but he ended up with a huge purple/red bruise on his arm. It was just a reminder that these are wild animals. It was a very unique experience but my husband got spooked after the bite so he pretty much kept his distance and took pictures. ((which I plan to post as soon as he sorts through them)

Then in the last few minutes, we were given bottles of milk to feed the cubs (they do this 3x during the day and we were the first feeding, which they say is the most "active.")

Then Tom took us to a nearby restaurant which he said was for locals but I'm not sure about that. We saw other tourists and our guide didn't want to eat with us even though we invited him to. Our food was fine but whatever I had went right through me. Thank goodness for the pepto pills I carried in my backpack!!!

Costs: Tour with Tong (actually Tom) 5000
Tiger Temple 1000 for entrance for 2... and 2000 for the cub feeding.
Lunch: 450

As a Bangkok First-Timer, I soooo wanted to see what all the fuss was about the floating market. And the Tiger Temple. But now that we've seen it, I don't think I'll ever want to do that again. Those guide books really need to STOP using that same picture of the women in the boat!!!

We came back to the hotel and enjoyed some of their yummy homemade ice cream by the pool.

Since we ruined our dinner we went to a "HealthLand Spa" for a massage, as recommended by our guide.

By the time we left -- it was after 10 and everything was closed, except a McDonald's. We went in looking for something foreign but there's no special McThai burger or anything like that. But there was a coffee/pastry stand right next to it and we had the most gorgeous pain au chocolates there. I guess if you're going to ruin dinner, might as well ruin it all the way!

Day 10 Bangkok

I forgot to mention, we tried tuk-tuks and LOVE them. For the most part, we had driver that seemed to offer fair fares. And boy do they go fast! We learned that these (along with most cabs) are probably pretty dangerous because of the type of fuel they use (as I understand it, the same stuff that you use in your BBQ).

Anyway, we found tuk-tuks to be very efficient. We only had a few drivers who quoted crazy amounts when we tried to take them near big tourist attractions (ie. Wat Pho, Mango Tree restaurant). It's such a unique transportation system that we've never seen before... I would highly recommend trying it at least once!

With our days in Bangkok quickly counting down -- we opted to take advantage of the great weather and visit the Grand Palace and Wat Pho. I guess it had showered on and off while we were gone on our tour the day before.

The Grand Palace was really beautiful and my husband had a fantastic time on a photo safari there.
The dress code -- we saw a sign that stated that if you're not dressed properly, there's clothing you can borrow for free.

The entrance fee was 350 baht and you also got tickets for other places. I'm not exactly sure what these were as we never used them.

Next we walked over to Wat Pho... and accidentally entered through the south gate (opposite end of the reclining buddha). Entrance was 50baht each. We were told there are 3 buddhas to see: sitting, standing and reclining. The others are small but be sure to look for them if you are there.

The reclining buddha is really as magnificent as it looks in the pictures. You have to remove your shoes outside before entering the room containing it. We walked around marveling at the sheer size of it... and the details like the inlaid mother of pearl at the feet. On the way out, we saw people dropping coins into the individual prayer bowls. It made for an interesting background sound while viewing the statue.

We then cabbed it over to a place called Hong Kong Noodle for a late lunch/early dinner. It was on the Nancy Chandler map and I had also read about it somewhere. There's a non-air conditioned area downstairs and an upstairs portion with a/c. For some reason, I was thinking it was a bigger place but really, just a small mom and pop type of place. Sitting upstairs and watching the crazy traffic was fun. Very good and cheap.

We walked around China town and somehow managed to completely miss the Golden Buddha. I'm sure we must've either passed it or come very close to it... but we just couldn't find it. We ended up walking around heading towards the river making our way back towards the hotel pier. Then we had one of those travel moments you can't ever plan or foresee. We stumbled onto a group of people putting on elaborate makeup at make-shift tables on the sidewalk outside of a temple. No one really spoke English but we managed to learn that it was a Chinese Opera that was going to be performed in about an hour and that it was free for anyone who wanted to see it!

We had no plans for the night and we didn't want to pass up seeing such an authentic performance that we found a nearby internet cafe to kill some time. This in itself also turned out to be a neat experience! The place was filled with neighborhood kids all playing various games. Young girls and boys were playing a dance competition type game, sort of like a guitar hero -- but dancing all controlled with a keypad. Some were in their pajamas!

We headed back to the show and it turned out to be one of those experiences we'll never forget. It looked like a tent was made in the courtyard of a local temple. The stage was an elevated platform with virtually no props. But the performers were in the very elaborate chinese opera costumes/makeup. We were clearly the only non-locals there. And actually, there was only a few other people in the "audience"-- a couple of older women and some kids. The musicians were sitting just a couple of feet away from us... smoking and playing their instruments. Kind of fun watching them too.

Later a man who was eager to practice his English tried to fill us in. From what I understood, he said there were going to be performances at alot of different places because of the Vegetarian Festival. We still don't fully understand what we saw and why it was being put on... but we felt fortunate to have stumbled upon it.

We ended our night with a blissful foot massage.

Day 11 Bangkok

We had a tour booked with the bicycle safari group called Absolute Tours.
We met in the lobby of a hotel by the rail station. I guess the girl we booked it with forgot that we had changed dates so they weren't expecting us. After a quick call, the guide, Panida ran to the hotel to get us. She said luckily, the train was running way late.

We ended up sharing the tour with 2 sisters traveling together... so just 5 of us altogether.

The train out to the countryside took about an hour. Then we walked to where the bikes were kept. I wasn't sure what to expect as I didn't really research this well. I just saw that it got rave reviews on TripAdvisor. Panida told us that since the kids were on school break, we would just do a 1/2 day tours instead of the full day... so no visit to local kids at school. (1/2 day tour cost us 2400 baht total, not including tip)

I forgot my hat back at the hotel and she offered me a conical straw (?) hat to wear... and I took her up on it because it was incredibly hot!

The ride itself was not difficult at all. It was neat passing farms and making little stops. Panida would stop us occasionally to point out shrimp farms, the various birds and commonly used herbs (lemongrass, ganangal (?), thai basil) growing on the side of the roads. We also made a stop where a local woman made us a shave ice-type of treat.

We biked some more and finally ended up at someone's home where we had lunch. We had a delicious shrimp dish and we could see in the backyard where the shrimp had been raised. There was lots of food and we also tried an interesting dessert made from egg yolks.

Then it was back to the train station for our long ride back.

We didn't feel like heading out again so we decided to have dinner at the Thai restaurant at the Peninsula.

It ended up being a good decision because it started pouring while we were eating dinner at Thiptara. The entire restaurant is basically "outside" and you're sitting under individual pavilions. It was a neat experience and the food was good but the service was super slow. We weren't super hungry so we only ordered 3 dishes and it turned out to be way too much food. My husband ordered his standard Pad Thai and it came beautifully presented with the fried egg webbing on top. I had a minced pork dish with thai basil and some stir-fried morning glories. All that with a lychee martini and I was too stuffed to order dessert. Our bill was 2600 baht...so pretty expensive for a few simple dishes.

The atmosphere is really lovely. They brought us some spiced cashews with our cocktails and they were yummy! Next time, I'd either go hungry and try the set menu or just go for drinks.