Amazing Asia! Marcy's Hong kong and Thailand trip report
 

Hi Fodorites!
I'm sitting in the American Airlines Admiral's Club lounge in Dallas, trying to make my way back to Indy after 2 mind-boggling weeks in Southeast Asia.

Other than a little sleep on the plane, I've been up for 28 hours, so if this comes out a little incoherent, please forgive me.

First of all, thanks to all of you wonderful people on Fodors who were a wealth of information in planning this trip!

A little background information: The travelers were my husband and me, two fifty-something-year-olds from Indianapolis. We travel a lot, but mostly to Europe, and this was my first time in Asia. J. had been to China and Japan before.

Arriving in Hong Kong: American Airlines IND to Dallas(DFW), DFW to Tokyo Narita, then Cathay Pacific to Hong Kong.

We upgraded to First Class IND-DFW, so it was nice and comfortable. In Dallas, we were praying for the "upgrade fairy" to pick us for the long flight to Tokyo. No such luck, but as it turned out, nobody likes to fly on New Year's Eve, so there were only 40 or so people on our flight- a 777! So J and I each had a whole row of 5 seats to stretch out and sleep on!

Then on the flight to Hong Kong from Tokyo, joy of joys!-we DID get upgraded to Business class, and it was lovely, but at that point, inspite of being able to sleep a little, I was too tired to fully appreciate it.

We took the Airport express train to Kowloon- super quick, easy, and efficient. And thanks to RKKwan, we had a Cathay Pacific coupon for about half off a round trip. Then the free shuttle bus to our hotel- the Hong Kong Intercontinental, which rapidly became IMHO, synonymous with Hotel Heaven!

Time to go board our flight now. Will continue after arriving home and sleeping off some of this jet-lag.....

good start...look forward to more...by the time you read this you will be in home heaven---your own bed!!

Looking forward to your trip report, Marcy. Like you Europe is where I travel to. I am thinking of visiting Hong Kong as a favor to my son. Glad you chose an unfavorable time to travel so you could get the upgrade!

au contrare....visiting HK will be a favor to yourself....you will love it and all of asia....i do both europe and asia and for 10 years have preferred asia as our major destination

Like Bob (rmkkhk) I too visit Europe every year (twice a year) and also go to Asia twice a year. I look forward to ALL of my traveling, but I have to say that Bangkok holds a special place in MY heart!
Carol

Continuing my report: I don't think I really said, but we thoroughly enjoyed our trip! We loved both Hong Kong and Thailand, and can't wait to go back! What fascinating, beautiful, and overwhelming places!

I'll continue with the basic framework of our trip: (flights and hotels first, then I'll go back and tell about restaurants and sight-seeing later.)

Hong Kong- 4 nights at the Intercontinental-
We absolutely LOVED this hotel. It has the prime postion right on the waterfront looking out at the Hong Kong skyline. We had the nice surprise of being upgraded to a junior suite, so of course that didn't hurt a bit, either.
Our room had two complete walls of glass overlooking the harbour- a view to knock your socks off!! I loved just sitting there watching the parade of boats going by right in front of us. And it was a perfect place to see the light show that is put on each evening at 8:00.

The bathroom was huge, with a corner jacuzzi tub big enough for two, and a separate steam shower. I loved the Bulgari toiletries.

The buffet breakfast was another treat! Imagine the nicest western breakfast buffet, and then add anything Chinese, Japanese, or Indian that you could ever want: congee, dim sum, noodles made to order, curries, sushi, and a lot of things I'd never heard of.
Every kind of fresh fruit and fruit juices.
The best!!

From Hong Kong we flew to Bangkok on Cathay Pacific. Since we have Platinum status with American Airlines we got to use the Cathay Pacific lounge at the Hong Kong airport- very nice. We had noodles from the noodle bar and sipped champagne drinks while we waited. Smooth, uneventful flight.

Customs and immigration at the Bangkok airport were SLOW and inefficient. We had decided to ignore Bob's advice (sorry, Bob!) and just take a taxi to the hotel. The taxi line was pretty long, and it was HOT and humid, but we finally got through the line and had an easy and reasonably comfortable taxi ride to the hotel for 250 baht including tip (using the meter).

I got to practice speaking Thai a little with the driver, and he understood me! I was so happy, after weeks of listening to tapes and studying!

We stayed 4 nights in Bangkok at the Oriental. Once again, a lovely, top-notch hotel, with seemingly 4 or 5 people waiting to take care of each guest. Fresh flowers everywhere. We were handed fragrant little jasmine flower garlands on arrival, and brought a fruit juice drink. Check-in is in the comfort of your room, which I thought was nice.

Our room wasn't huge, but beautiful and luxurious, with every amenity, and a nice view of the river.

We had an invitation to a cocktail party in the Author's lounge that evening- another nice touch- the management form a receiving line to meet you, and there are cocktails and hors d'oeuvres with other guests.

After Bangkok we flew Thai Airlines to Chiang Rai and rented an car there to drive up to Anantara resort in the Golden Triangle for four nights.

Our flight to Chiang Rai was delayed, so we decided to upgrade to Business class (around $35 each), mostly so that we could wait in their lounge. We were glad we did, beacuse the flight ended up leaving 2 hours late, so we spent that time catching up on the internet, and with decent snacks and drinks.

Uneventful flight, then picked our rental car from Avis at the Chiang Rai airport (very easy)- a nice Toyota with automatic trasmission. We found driving in Northern Thailand to be no problem once you get used to driving on the left side of the road. The roads are good, and well marked, with major road signs in English as well as Thai.

Anantara is about one hour from the Chiang Rai airport, and we found it with no difficulty.

Another beautiful hotel! Our room looked out past the Mekong River to Laos and Cambodia, with a private balcony with a daybed, table and chairs. The bathroom could be opened up to the bedroom with sliding glass panels over a huge stone bathtub.

The hotel has a wonderful spa, and we took full advantage of it, and had massages every day- fabulous!

Our flight back to Bangkok on Thai Airlines was a disaster! We thought about upgrading to Business again, but decided against it, since it was just a one hour flight. Big mistake!

The flight was about a half-hour late leaving Chiang Rai- no big deal. We flew to the Bangkok area, and then the captain came on the PA, saying that we were in a holding pattern because of an airshow rehearsal at the airport for Childrens' Day celebrations the next day.

We circled for over an hour, then the captain said we were going to have to go to Chiang Mai to refuel !!

After refueling, we sat on the runway in Chiang Mai for about an hour, then finally took off for Bangkok again, only to circle and circle AGAIN before finally landing, about 5 hours behind schedule!! So our simple little one-hour flight ended up taking about 6 hours!!

The next day we read in the Bangkok Post that the airshow rehearsal had fouled up all air traffic for several hours, and caused so much uproar that they had canceled the actual airshow. You have to wonder what they were thinking in the first place- just crazy!

Of course we had planned to do all sorts of last-minute shopping on our last day in Bangkok, and weren't able to do any of it- how frustrating! (I guess we'll just have to come back to get that jewelry I wanted ;;) ) We also had some clothes that we HAD to pick up from the tailors that day since our flight home was early the next morning, and they were scheduled to close soon!

We grabbed a taxi outside of the long main taxi line, negotiated a not-too-outrageous fare, and dashed to the tailors to pick up our clothes - calling them on our cell phone from the taxi, so that they would stay open until we arrived. We showed up on their doorstep, luggage in hand, about a half-hour after the scheduled closing time, but they had graciously waited for us. (Cotton House then even did a few final touch-ups on my things, and delivered them to the hotel that night!)

We had planned to meet fellow Fodorite Gloria that day as well, and that had to be scrapped due to our late arrival.

Our last night, we stayed at the Oriental again. We had decided to try a slightly more expensive room in the Garden Wing that night, to see how it compared to the River Wing, but when we arrived we found that they had upgraded us to a suite in the River Wing, so we weren't about to complain.

Our suite was absolutely gorgeous, and with a much better view of the river than our other room. And the same great service: people greeting you by name, anticipating your every need, always smiling and pleasant. They really know how to spoil you at the Oriental.

Our flights home: Japan Airlines from Bangkok to Tokyo. These were the most cramped seats I have ever been in!! I was fighting claustrophobia the whole 5 hour flight. The food was good, but it was a struggle to lift your arm to eat it, it was such a narrow seat. I had bought a book of Sudoku at the airport, and only by concentrating on them did I get through that miserable flight.

To top it off, we had to circle for what seemed like forever in a bad thunderstorm with lots of turbulence, and then had to abort our first landing attempt, circle around some more, then try again- SCARY!

We had to hurry to catch our connection to Dallas, and made it with no time to spare. (unfortunately, as we were to find out later, our luggage didn't :( )

Our AA flight from Tokyo to Dallas was delayed on the runway for quite a while, but once we took off it was uneventful. We were in Coach, but in exit row seats with lots of legroom, so it was pretty comfortable. We slept a lot of the 10+ hour flight.

Because of all the Tokyo thunderstorm snafu, we missed our connection in Dallas and had to wait another 3 hours for the next flight. The AA lounge is pretty nice, though, with free internet, so it could have been worse.

After an uneventful flight from DFW to Indianapolis (upgraded to First class using points), we arrived without any luggage, but grateful to be home. We had been in transit for about 30 hours when we arrived home.

Next: sights, food / restaurants, and impressions....

Yipes! You had some bad flight experienes - sorry to hear that. It is a reminder that the best planning can't make up for the little snafus that are out of our control. We spent 6 hours in the Malaysian Air Lounge in KL when our flight from Kuching was delayed. Were we ever glad we were in Business Class!

Marcy, thanks for the great details about your trip. The IC is wonderful! Of course, you got lucky and got a suite, but it sounds like a really great hotel for sure.

Now you have to split your traveling between Asia and Europe...

loving the report....the air show was something that i arranged to foul you up after you did not take my suggestion to use the limo... too bad you caused all your fellow passengers all that trouble...

this is typical of thai thinking....schedule an air show and rehersal for the major airport of the country???????????????????????? why do i love this place so much...

Marcy-thanks for both the wonderful report and ignoring Bob's advice. We just got back and I had the realization that we were on 10 different planes without any snafus. It really is hit or miss. We've never had any delay on Thai. I'll bet the air show would have been special.

the real reason the air show was cancelled was that tiger woods was coming over to play golf at the airport

rhkkmk- LOL ! :))

Day 2: Hong Kong-
We were moving pretty slowly today, feeling jet-lagged. Went for a stroll along the waterfront "Avenue of Stars" in front of our hotel, and found the handprints of Jackie Chan, Bruce Lee, and others, although most of the "stars" we had never heard of.

Rode the Star Ferry across the harbour to the Central district. It was pretty hazy, so not the greatest views today, but the ferry is a fun way to see the harbour.

We didn't really intend to go shopping today, but we stopped in Shanghai Tang and couldn't help ourselves! I love this store! Nothing here is cheap, but they have beautiful things. I bought a bright green silk jacket for myself, and lots of gifts for our family, including a totally impractical but absolutely darling little silk pajama set for our new baby granddaughter.

For lunch, we had Dim Sum and tea at the Luk Yu Teahouse- very good, and great old-fashioned atmosphere.

Next we wandered all around the western area of Central, down narrow streets with little shops selling ginseng, all kinds of herbs and spices, deer antlers, shark fins, birds' nests, mushrooms and dried fish.

We walked into a temple where the air was hazy with huge coils of incense hanging fromm the ceiling.

Everything seemed so exotic, and we definitely had the feeling now that "Toto, I don't think we're in Kansas anymore!"

We took the Star Ferry back to our hotel, and we were planning to go out to dinner, but we were so exhausted that we only managed to stay awake long enough to watch the light show at 8:00, and then fell asleep.

Day 3- Woke up at 3:30 AM and couldn't go back to sleep. I'm not doing too well dealing with jet-lag.

We enjoyed a fantastic early breakfast at the Intercontinental's buffet-- I tried seafood congee (rice porridge) for the first time, and found it to be delicious with the various condiments: pickled vegetables, shallots, and other condiments that I couldn't identify, but were very good.

Dragon fruit was another new taste sensation- it's very pretty, with a bright hot-pink rind and white flesh dotted with little black seeds. It tastes a little like watermelon.

After breakfast we set out to explore Kowloon. We walked through Kowloon park and watched people practicing Tai Chi, and a group of women doing a graceful dance exercise with colorful fans.

We wandered through the market streets, with rustic food stalls where people sat eating in alleyways at folding tables. We sampled a fried bread stick- kind of like a doughnut, but not sweet.

At a 7 Eleven store we were able to buy a SIM card for our cell phone. It was a great bargain- about 3 hours worth of calls to the US for less than 8 US dollars.

We stopped in the Jade market, and would have loved to buy some jade jewelry, but the selection was too overwhelming, and I didn't have any idea what the prices should be, so we just looked.

There was a fabulous old temple, with incense, gongs, and beautifully painted carved wood trim. It seemed somehow out of place surrounded by highrise buildings.

John was ready to keep exploring, but I was experiencing sensory overload, so we took the MTR (subway) back to the hotel- clean and efficient, but we were packed in like sardines.

After a brief rest, we took the Star Ferry ( I never got tired of riding it!) to the other side, had a quick lunch at the Landmark Hotel (very nice), then took a double decker bus to Aberdeen. There we found a little old woman on a sampan to take us for a ride around the harbour.

There apparently aren't as many people living on their boats as there used to be, but it was fun to see all the boats, and the huge floating restaurant.

Later that afternoon we had scheduled a couples massage at our hotel spa- just what the doctor ordered for jet lag!

Dinner that night was at Hutong- a beautifully decorated restaurant with a great view over the water- very stylish and trendy.
The food was all inventively prepared and beautifully presented, but pricey.

We had gorgeous spring rolls, super-rich lamb spare ribs, and string beans with bean curd-- all very good.

We also ordered Szechuan-style soft-shell crab that arrived on a huge bed of dried hot chilies. We like spicy food, but this was so hot that we each had a couple of bites and couldn't eat any more because our mouths were on fire!!

Overall, our dinner was good, but I didn't think it was a great value at more than HK$1,000 (~$130US).

Still jet-lagged, we felt like it was an accomplishment to stay up until 10 PM before collapsing into bed.

Great report Marcy except now I need to get back to Hong Kong myself!!

i could go to HK a thousand times and never regret a minute...

great report...

Hong Kong,Day 4:
Started the day with a 6:30AM Tai Chi class at the hotel (complimentary- offered 3 or 4 times a week)
Tai Chi is harder than it looks! The instructor was a little old man who probably weighed about 80 pounds, and as graceful as a cat. He made the movements look easy, but after about 10 minutes I thought my arms were going to fall off from holding them up in the air, and my thigh muscles were burning from all the knee-bends.

So far our weather had been very cloudy and foggy, but this morning it cleared up a little, so we grabbed the opportunity to take the tram up to Victoria Peak.

The tram is really fun- SO steep! At the top there are lots of super-touristy shops and restaurants, but we escaped them by taking the loop walk around the peak.

It takes about an hour to walk the whole loop, and it's very peaceful, with great views, and signs labeling the different trees and plants. I highly recommend it.

We took the peak tram back down, then a taxi to Central. We had lunch at the Kau Kee noodle shop, which had been recommended by rkkwan, and it was a memorable experience! The restaurant is a little hole-in-the-wall, with no English signs or menus, and no tourists in sight. We each had a bowl of beef tendon curry with egg noodles, and it was delicious, and very inexpensive. Thanks, rkkwan!

We wandered around the western Central district again, to see the things we missed the other day- browsed the junk shops on Cat Street, and bought a couple of inexpensive carved jade pendants for our daughters, and browsed the antique shops on Hollywood Road- beautiful things.

Took the MTR back to Kowloon, and relaxed in the hot tub/ pool at the hotel- what a great view of the harbour!

That evening we had a drink in the hotel bar, listened to the jazz group play, and watched the light show- very enjoyable.

We had dinner at Spring Deer, and easy walk from the hotel. This is a big and bustling restaurant, very basic decor, full of large groups of locals, including one big group having a birthday celebration.

They have an English menu, with so many choices it's mind-boggling! The waiters were very nice, and helped us decide, though. We had spicy prawns, sweet and sour pork, Chinese broccoli with smoked chicken- nothing fancy, but excellent food, and very reasonably priced. We really enjoyed the dinner and the people-watching.

We always eat at Spring Deer too , so glad you enjoyed it and have to agree that walk around the Peak is lovely. I have been going to Tai Chi classes for years now and still have not perfected it!

marcy - Sounds like you had fun in HK. I am honored that you enjoyed your low-cost meal at Kau Kee. Few foreign visitors eat there, but I've seen some expats. Last time when I went there with my parents, we shared the table with a Japanese guy.

My dad is now 70 years old. He's been eating at Kau Kee since he was a kid, sitting on wooden stools and watching the original owner cook the noodles. It's still run by the same family. [I believe it used to be a "da bai dong" - not a real store, but like a big tent, close to its current location.]

Spring Deer restaurant is our favorite, too. We always eat there at least once when in Hong Kong. One time the restaurant was totally booked on our last night. To accommodate us, they had us come early during a birthday party for one of the workers. We thought that was nice that they didn't turn us away. Now we try to book ahead.

Day 5:
Checked out of the Intercontinental (sadly!), took a taxi to the Airport Express station, and then the Airport Express train to the airport for our flight to Bangkok.
Once again we were impressed at how comfortable, clean, and efficient the Airport Express was.

Some parting thoughts about Hong Kong:
I loved Hong Kong! I hadn't really expected to like it so much. It's such a vibrant city, but very clean and safe. And what an interesting mix of Chinese and British culture and history.

Public transportation is terrific in Hong Kong- we only took a taxi once, and the rest of the time we used the MTR, buses, and ferries.
The Octopus cards are the greatest idea! I wish every city had something like them. They're so easy to use- I just kept mine in the outside pocket of my purse, and I didn't even need to take it out for the card readers- I just slid my purse across the scanner and it was able to read it.

I was amazed at all the high-end and designer shopping. We didn't choose to do much shopping this trip, but there was no lack of opportunity to shop for everything from electronics, to cheap knock-offs, to designer clothes.

I'll definitely return to Hong Kong. There's so much we didn't see yet, and I find the city exciting but comfortable. And we definitely would stay at the Intercontinental again- I LOVE that hotel.

From the moment we got off the plane in Bangkok, the contrast was striking- the chaos, the noise, and the heat hit us the minute we stepped out the door.

I was glad that we hadn't come directly to Bangkok all jet-lagged -- I think it would have been just too overwhelming. At first I wasn't at all sure that I was going to like Bangkok, but in the end I was won over by its exotic charms.

Getting our bearings in Bangkok was a little tricky at first. We were really glad to have our Nancy Chandler map. We had another more usual type laminated map, but we ended up using the Nancy Chandler one all the time instead. It was helpful to have all the restaurants and sites printed on it.

For dinner the first night we walked to Harmonique- not too far from the Oriental. We thought this place was really fun! It's in an old sprawling house and courtyard, with very quirky decor and atmosphere. It was very crowded, and we hadn't made reservations, so we had to wait a short time for a table.

We had an appetizer assortment, pomelo salad, Tom Ka Gai soup, grilled shrimp, Pad Thai, and rice. It wasn't gourmet food by any means, but basic and good, and our bill with beer, wine, and bottled water came only to 1,000 baht (around $24 US)

Marcy, Hong Kong has you in its clutches now! I, like you ,was seduced by HK years ago and am now a Hong Kong aholic. I can't give it up so just give in! Great report and cheers!

harmonique is not for everyone but i love the food and the bill is always a pleasing surprise....there is always lots of activity there and many ex-pats eating there which is a good sign in my book

anxious to read more about what you did in bkk...

Thanks for the nice comments.
I'm already scheming to figure out when we can get back to Southeast Asia!

Day 6, Bangkok:
We were still waking up early every morning, so we were at breakfast by 7AM. The breakfast buffet at the Oriental is wonderful, and we had a ringside seat along the river, where we were fascinated by watching all the boats coming and going.

Then we took the Chao Phraya express boat to the Grand Palace from the Oriental Pier near the hotel- It's a little tricky to figure out at first, as there are lots of boats stopping there, and you have to figure out which one to get on. There is a map of the routes, though, and each boat is marked with a flag on top to tell which route it is.

Taking the boat is a great way to see Bangkok from the river-- great people watching, too, and much cooler than on land. After you're on board someone comes around to collect the fare, and it's really cheap- 11 or 18 baht depending on the boat.

When you get off at the stop for the Grand Palace, you pass through a street market area, then run a gauntlet of souvenir vendors and tuk-tuk drivers before arriving at the entrance.

On our way to the entrance we were told by at least three different "helpful" people that it was closed today- one said it was closed for a special "Buddha Day" and wouldn't be open until the afternoon!

We just chuckled and walked on, having been well-warned about this scam, but I can see how people would be fooled if they didn't know better.

Just inside the entrance at the Grand Palace, we were approached by a man who asked if we needed a guide. He showed us his license, and he spoke English pretty well, so we hired him.

"The Captain" gave us an excellent 2 hour tour of the Grand Palace and Wat Phra Kaew. (the temple of the Emerald Buddha)
What a beautiful and fascinating place!
And definitely worth it to hire a guide.

Even the first thing in the morning it was sweltering hot, so we bought cold drinks at a nearby 7 Eleven, and also a SIM card for our cellphone, then took the Chao Phraya express boat back to the hotel to cool off a little.

We had a great lunch at the Gallery Cafe a short walk from the hotel. Pad Thai with prawns, fried morning glories, green papaya salad, and mango with sticky rice and coconut milk for dessert. With iced coffee, beer, and water it was about 1,000 baht.

I hadn't realized that the coffee in Thailand was so good! At home I'm hooked on Starbucks, and I was surprised to find Thai coffee to be every bit as good.

The second floor of the Gallery Cafe is a spa, with very inexpensive massages, so we came back later that afternoon for a Thai massage for John and a foot massage for me. 350 baht (about $9 US) each, for one hour. Heavenly!

Also that afternoon we went to O.P. Place for initial fittings for some custom-made clothes. I had two silk blouses with matching camisoles made at Cotton House, and John had two sportcoats made at Tramp. (the shop right next to Cotton House)

Our things turned out very well, and I regretted not having more things made. Next time!

That evening we enjoyed a drink in the lobby of the hotel, with a string quartet playing in the background. People watching at the Oriental is fascinating- it's a very international crowd, and very elegantly dressed, in general, although you see everything.

I see posts here all the time asking about the dress code at the Oriental. There is a sign posted at the entrance drive requesting no shorts or slippers/ sandals in the lobby after 6 PM. My interpretation of that is no flip-flops, and no sandals for men. Almost all of the women there wore dressy sandals in the evening, and that was certainly not a problem. In general, though, casual elegance seems to be the norm in the evenings.

That night we had reservations at the Supatra River House for dinner, and they sent a boat to pick us up.

It's very festive to ride on the river at night- beautiful views of the temples and the Grand Palace all covered with lights, and lots of dinner-cruise and party boats. All the grittiness of the city disappears at night, and it's replaced by a beautiful wonderland.

The Supatra River House is very pretty, and we had a table on the terrace, overlooking the river. After our appetizer course, everyone was escorted to a little outdoor stage area to see the traditional Thai dance performance. We were enjoying the performance immensely, when it was unexpectedly cut short by a sudden cloudburst. The rain stopped as quickly as it had started, but everything outdoors was drenched, and we all had to move indoors.

I felt sorry for the restaurant staff, because they had to move the entire crowd of people to indoor tables, trying to figure out where everyone had moved so they could bring them their orders!

We had a very nice dinner of spring rolls, pomelo salad, massaman curry, and pad thai. With wine, beer, water, and the boat trip it came to 1600 baht.

Since the weather had cleared up, we went next to the Sky Bar, the open-air bar at the top of the State Tower building, an easy walk from the hotel.

WOW! What an incredible view! Actually, it's not just the view, but the fact that you feel like you're floating above the city. Instead of railings there is just clear glass between you and the edge, and you feel like you could just walk off the edge of the building from the 64th floor! It's dizzying! Drinks there are expensive, but it's so worth it for the experience!

Glad to hear you liked the Gallery Cafe. Wec always stay at the ROS and eat often at the GC. The massages are also quite good and cheap.

now you know why we all love bkk...great report..keep it coming

Day 7, Bangkok:
Ratt picked us up promptly at 8:00 in the hotel lobby. We had hired Ratt for two days, and after reading posts on this board I was afraid that she would send somebody else, but she came herself, so I was relieved. Ratt is a delightful little dynamo, and we enjoyed our time with her. She speaks English pretty well, but with a heavy Thai accent, and John particularly had a terrible time understanding her. I had studied Thai for our trip, so she seemed to get a kick out of teaching me all sorts of helpful phrases, and quizzed me on my numbers- so sweet!

First we went to Wat Po- just beautiful, with it’s HUGE reclining Buddha, where we learned about “making merit,” and put coins in bowls for each of the many monks of the temple.

Next we went to the Jim Thompson house, and had lunch at the restaurant there- excellent food and iced coffee, reasonably priced. We enjoyed the tour of Jim Thompson’s house- that man had an incredible sense of style, and it was interesting to learn more about traditional Thai houses, too.

We browsed a little in the gift shop there, but decided to go to the JT Main store to do our shopping, for greater selection. We LOVED the Jim Thompson store! The things are expensive by Thai standards, but excellent quality. John bought three shirts and a tie. The cotton shirts there are SO soft and comfortable that after he bought them he wanted to wear them all the time.

Then we went to the Vinmanek mansion (the admission is included with your ticket to the Grand Palace), and walked around the beautiful grounds. We started the tour, but decided it was too long and tedious, and our time was limited, so we left.

Next we went to the Peninsula pier and Ratt arranged a klong tour for us for 700 baht for an hour and a half. I know that some people have bargained for lower prices than that, but we didn’t care enough to make an issue of it.

You see a different side of Bangkok from the klongs: more every-day life away from the tourist sites. There were shacks interspersed with nice houses, and kids swimming naked in the canal who would wave at us as we passed by.

We stopped at Wat Arun, and it was just magical! The sun was dropping low in the sky, so the light was muted, a breeze was blowing so that the bells hanging from the temples were tinkling, and there a tiny crescent moon visible above the temple. After a day of taking zillions of pictures, my camera battery picked that time to die, so we have no pictures at all of Wat Arun, but great memories of how beautiful it was.

I had told Ratt that I wanted to try local foods, so she had us stop at a vendor selling sweets, and we bought squares of coconut custard over sticky rice, and a coconut pumpkin dessert. The woman made a neat package of each by wrapping them in banana leaves secured with a toothpick. Delicious!

That night we had reservations at Bed Supper Club. Took a taxi there- no problem. We thought it was lots of fun- a mostly young crowd, excellent entertainment- very creative, and our dinner was very good.

great time in bkk...more??

Sorry I’m so slow, just posting this little bits at a time!

An aside: Last night, since we’re going through withdrawal, I tried making Pomelo salad at home. If I do say so myself, it was pretty good! We had to search a little to find pomelos, but now we know of two stores near us that carry them. I love that combination of fruit and spiciness.

Day 8, Bangkok:
This morning Ratt was supposed to pick us up at 6:30 to go to the floating market, and unfortunately she overslept and was almost 45 minutes late! She was very apologetic when she arrived.

The floating market is about a 1 1/2 hour drive outside of Bangkok. On the way we stopped at a place where they handpaint Bencharong pottery, and it was interesting to see the painstaking work that goes into it. The finished pieces were beautiful.

We really enjoyed the floating market. It is definitely a tourist destination, but for good reason. Interestingly, maybe because we were there on the weekend, a lot of the tourists were Thai. It was funny, because we had three different groups come up to us and ask to take our pictures! One group of Thais wanted to pose with us, especially my husband- could it have been the Tilley hat, or the goatee? Or were we just the stereotypical specimens of middle-aged American tourists, and therefore “picturesque”?

One of the things that we enjoyed at the market was sampling different foods. I know that not everybody here is willing to eat the food at the markets for fear of getting sick, but we decided to take the risk, although we did try to stick with things that had been freshly prepared. Neither of us experienced any stomach problems at all.

Ratt was really helpful in pointing out things to try- otherwise we might not have known what a lot of things were. At the floating market we had fried bananas, palm sugar candy with peanuts in it, bowls of spicy noodles, and sticky rice with mango. Ratt showed us how Thai people dip fresh fruit in a mixture of sugar, salt, and dried chilis. Thai food rarely has just one flavor, she said, but is a combination of different flavors, like sweet, salty, and spicy. I approve-- It was all delicious!

On the way back to Bangkok, we stopped at the craft place where they make carved teak furniture. It was fascinating to see all the work that goes into the teak carvings.

That afternoon we went to the Prasart museum- having made advance reservations a couple of days before. We were the only ones there with a wonderful young woman who spoke excellent English as our guide.

Mr. Prasart has an impressive collection of Asian art in a tranquil and beautiful setting, and we thought it was well worth the trip.

Ratt explained to us that she doesn’t like Mr. Prasart (basically he was rude to her in the past, and she thinks he’s an eccentric jerk!), but she was willing to take us there.

Next we stopped at the weekend market. WOW! What a huge, hectic, overwhelming place! A friend of mine had asked me to look for some silk for her to make curtains, and we found some that matched her fabric swatch almost exactly, for less than a third of the price that it would have cost at our local fabric outlet! So I came home with 30 yards of Thai silk in my bag- heavy, but more compact than I expected.

There were tons of tempting food stands! We enjoyed skewers of chicken and pork, and little balls of pork on a skewer with a spicy barbecue sauce.

There was so much to see at the market, but we’d already had a long day and I was tired, so we didn’t stay long, but we’d love to go back to the weekend market and spend more time there.

What better way to feel relaxed after a long day of sightseeing than a massage! So we went back to the spa above the Gallery Cafe. I opted for a warm oil massage, and John was going to have another Thai massage, but he had a different masseuse this time, and she told him that “old men walk funny” after Thai massages, so he let himself be talked into an oil massage, too! Between this and the Thais taking his picture, I don’t know whether his ego could take much more abuse in one day!

Our massages were very relaxing, but somewhat less discreet about draping than some places we’ve been, so I wouldn’t recommend this place for anyone who isn’t comfortable with some nudity.

Dinner that night was at the Thai restaurant at Face. We had a CRAZY taxi driver for our ride to the restaurant- our only bad taxi experience our whole trip. A short way into our ride he started coughing and almost retching, squirming all over his seat, putting wet rags on his head and neck, and driving erratically. I don’t know if he was sick, or on drugs or what!

Then I realized that he hadn’t turned the meter on, and I was kicking myself for not noticing earlier. Of course he swore the meter was broken, but surprisingly, he agreed a fare of 80 baht, so I thought that was pretty reasonable. We were relieved to get out of his taxi, though!

Our dinner at Face was good, but not outstanding: Pomelo salad, massaman beef curry, cashew chicken, and mango with sticky rice for dessert.

Thank goodness our taxi ride back to the hotel was uneventful!

Next, off to the Golden Triangle...........

Enjoying your report Marcy.

Welcome to the "Our Stomachs Can Handle Street Food" Club.

I too loved the fruit in dippy stuff.

We had a great pomelo salad in Chiang Mai that had bacon bits, basil, tomatoes and coriander. Did you try the papaya salad?

Man, I'm Jonesing for some of that stuff!

Ooh, yes, I loved the green papaya salad, too!!
And that Pomelo salad sounds interesting. I wish I'd paid more attention to what was actually in the pomelo salads that we liked so much.

I need to go back just for the food, if nothing else!

I love pomelo salad and often make it for parties. The classic recipe does not include things like bacon, basil etc.

Yes, this was not a classic version; that's why I mentioned it. It was wonderful.

Gloria, What do you put in your pomelo salad?
The one I made had pomelo, shrimp, and shredded coconut, with a dressing of Thai fish sauce, sugar, lime juice, coconut milk, red chilies, and cilantro. I garnished it with chopped peanuts, fried scallions and a little dried shrimp.

Marcy-- that's pretty much the recipe I use and it's the classic one. I sometimes put some shredded chicken in as well. I think my recipe is from the Oriental. If you can't find pomelo, pink grapefruit is a decent substitute.

did you like the prasart?? its a unique place really...

Yes, we liked the Prasart. I think he's a bit of a Jim Thompson wanna-be without the same sense of style, but he does have an amazing collection. I also think it's a nice respite from the hubbub of Bangkok, with it's peaceful gardens.

quite agree....he is odd...but pleasant...our guide referred to things as "pre and post" prasart...in other words he has altered things...