Holidays in Thailand 2016

Old Dec 15th, 2015, 05:50 AM
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Holidays in Thailand 2016

We leave in a matter of hours, trip #38 to Thailand for me. This is our 8th year in a row (10 trips in all) to spend Christmas in Bangkok, 3rd time in a row to Marriott Phuket Beach Club (a huge favorite) for New Years Eve. We seem to have become accustomed to new traditions, sharing Christmas Eve with a lovely family (Thai wife, Danish husband, their 7 year old daughter) we have known for many years, having been a part of their wedding some 10+ years ago. The Danish husband will prepare a sumptuous meal, there will be lights on the Christmas tree, and presents to share, in their beautiful new Bangkok condo. After decades of Christmases with parents and siblings (now all have passed away) it is heartwarming to have new traditions to share. I truly look forward to this vacation! I have had health issues for the last year, including a brand new pace maker... so being able to travel 24+ hours and arrive in my favorite city once again is a blessing.

We were just in Europe for 3 weeks, but it was business and a very hectic pace! I literally had 5 days to unpack, do laundry, repack, tend to my duties as a business owner, host an annual Christmas dinner for our staff, and finally breathe a sigh of relief as we toss the suitcases in the car and head to Ohare for our flight to London on United, and then on to Bangkok on Thai, A380. We are booked into 1st class once again, having snagged frequent flier "saver" tickets way back in February.

I will be posting regularly if you care to follow along. There may be new restaurants to report, and perhaps new shopping places. No new hotels, however, as we will stay in the huge "panorama suite" (2 bedroom apartment) once again at Column Tower on Sukhumvit Soi 16. I love this apartment. We have a great terrace, about the size of half a basketball court, plus very large livingroom/diningroom, nice kitchen, laundry room, 2 bedrooms, 2 1/2 bathrooms, and awesome city views! Who could ask for more! For my FB friends, watch for photos!

Carol
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Old Dec 15th, 2015, 05:51 AM
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I should have proofed better...2015, not 2016 in my title!
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Old Dec 15th, 2015, 06:09 AM
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Wow! 38 trips -- very impressive. Have a wonderful time! I look forward to following along.
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Old Dec 15th, 2015, 06:27 AM
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Have a wonderful time, Carol!
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Old Dec 15th, 2015, 08:25 AM
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Bon voyage!!
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Old Dec 15th, 2015, 09:48 AM
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Sounds like you have fun times planned. Have a great trip!
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Old Dec 15th, 2015, 10:15 AM
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Have fun,Carol. And maybe we can hook up for a meal this time. You have my e-mail address and can e-mail me as I'll have my MacBook with me. It seems that we're both really busy while in Bangkok and this time my best friend will fly over during my 3rd week in Bangkok. So, that will be a busy time. However, she's been to Bangkok several times and I think will arrive after you've left.

Happy Travels!
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Old Dec 15th, 2015, 12:42 PM
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Will follow along as usual, but it may be a while before we return to our beloved Bangkok...
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Old Dec 15th, 2015, 02:09 PM
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Hey Carol,
I really love to spend holidays with family and friends. The most important thing about Christmas eve is the presents. I am not greedy but I like to get presents and christmas greetings cards from my friends and family members. Wish you all the best
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Old Dec 15th, 2015, 04:14 PM
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So glad you are able to travel. Enjoy!
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Old Dec 15th, 2015, 11:45 PM
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Made it to London, where we have a long layover. Next stop, Bangkok! Yeah!
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Old Dec 16th, 2015, 02:40 AM
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At least you have the club to relax in. Will follow both here and FB. Have a relaxing onward trip.
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Old Dec 16th, 2015, 04:38 AM
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Hi Carol Have a fabulous Christmas and great holiday. Wish I was there to catch up with you too.
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Old Dec 16th, 2015, 06:26 AM
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have a great time as usual
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Old Dec 16th, 2015, 05:23 PM
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The Thai A380 flight from London to Bangkok was soooo smooth! Food was tasty. I had Dom before takeoff and then caviar, a plate of salmon appetizers and then a main course of prawns. Dessert was a cake of some sort. More Dom, a movie (Nottinghill) and then sleep. It's much nicer to arrive in Bangkok refreshed rather than frazzled.

Thai first class arrival service in Bangkok is tough to beat. Golf cart ride to immigration (fast track lane) followed by helpers to collect bags and push the cart to the AOT van service outside. A speedy trip into the city, and we are back "home" on so 16 at Column Tower.

Time for this vacation to begin! It's great to be back I Bangkok.
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Old Dec 17th, 2015, 01:58 PM
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A much-needed nap for all of us! Waking up around 6pm, and feeling like it is the start of the new day... ah yes, jetlag. It will hang on for several days, I'm sure. The older I get, the harder it is to get back to a regular schedule after traveling halfway around the world.

Anyway, off to the Pickled Liver for quiz night. DS and I were a team of two (most teams are 5-6 people) and our name was Marge & Bart. We didn't end up in last place!! Yeah!! A nice next-to-last place tonight. There are some really smart trivia guys on a couple of the teams, so the competition is really fierce. Quiz night is a regular affair for a bunch of ex-pats that we know, and it is always fun to give it a try when we are in Bangkok. Our best category tonight was "The Wizard of Oz"...didn't realize we knew soooo much about an old movie! Haha! There are always questions about sports figures...we know NOTHING! Music trivia is usually the best category for DS. General knowledge is also pretty good. I like categories dealing with geography, but there weren't any good geography questions last night.

I had my first taste of Thai food at the PL and it was delicious, and not spicy. I tried pork, cucumber and egg, served with rice. There wasn't really a "sauce" to speak of, just some tasty "juice" from cooking the meat. I ate up every last bite of it.

Bangkok is busy, as always, over the holidays. Lots of tourists in the city right now.

According to an ex-pat friend who lives here, winter arrived just as we were getting off our plane yesterday morning. The humidity suddenly disappeared and the temps dropped. Perfect!!

Bob, I'm going over to Amarin Plaza today to try out the salon you said was a good one, as my new European pixie haircut needs a trim to tidy it up a bit. And then I need to get a nano sim card for my new unlocked Thailand/Europe Samsung S6 phone. Hoping someone at D-Tac can give me the new sim and keep my same Thai phone number. They were able to keep my same Swiss number when I took the new phone to Swisscom at Zurich airport a month ago.

DH says he is ready to go to breakfast. It's just now 6am in Bangkok, and we've been up for at least an hour... Let the new day begin!
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Old Dec 18th, 2015, 04:45 PM
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How did the haitcut trim workout?
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Old Dec 18th, 2015, 07:46 PM
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Bob, I ended up getting it cut at Terminal 21 instead. I like it!

We had dinner at Monsoon on soi 8. Delicious as always. I tried their lasagna. DH had pizza. DS had duck. Friends had musaka and Thai food. All of it was good. Two lava cakes and 5 spoons made for a lovely shared dessert.

To bed fairly early and a great sleep!
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Old Dec 19th, 2015, 05:40 AM
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We had a mostly relaxing day around our fabulous apartment with enormous terrace.

A new Mexican restaurant has just opened along soi 4, in the same building as the Rajah Hotel. We decided to try it. They just opened so they don't yet have their act together. Service was pretty poor, chips were served in too small a quantity and the salsa selection was different than we are used to. But DH liked his nachos grande, the corn/tortilla soup was good, as was the queso. You can get a tasty mojito as well. The dessert of cheese cake with mango and whipped cream was awesome!

The Margarita I had was pretty sour but I added my usual shot of orange juice and it was then quite drinkable. We will consider returning in the future, after they have gotten the kinks out.

The name of the place is The Mexican.
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Old Dec 19th, 2015, 08:09 AM
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Carol, we were on a Thai A380 from Bangkok to Narita and I thought about you saying it was your favorite plane - I can understand why! We enjoyed a very comfortable flight.

We passed that Mexican restaurant on our travels. Not a place I would try - and your report on the meal confirms my suspicions.

Glad to hear you are enjoying yourselves in Bangkok!
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