Bill, the show sounds really great. Do you recommend it? Your "voice" sounded pleased, as I read your words.

I have never really felt cold on the BTS, but then, I don't wear tank tops in BKK. I'm always wearing something that covers my shoulders and down my arms halfway. Sometimes I have a cotton shirt on top of a tank style top. If you get on the BTS at, say, National Stadium, where the Silom line begins, you might have a seat in a half empty car, and then you will feel the AC. When the cars are crowded (as in most of the time now) you want the AC cranked up!

Carol

i agree about the cold cars but only when they are nearly empty... its always pleasing to get off the hot platform and into the cool cars....

Thanks for Sunum's number.

Yes i liked the show but to tell you the truth you will have more fun at the Calypso Cabaret so if you have to choose between the two - do Calypso.

Have fun with Ken! Tell him you would like to meet Maeng!

Day 12- Today we ventured out after breakfast to the Platinum Mall- this place is the mother of all shoe stores or should I say stalls.
Here there are 5 or 6 floors of shoes, bags, accessories, clothes- row after row of these endless!!! Olive was able to buy shoes and bags (women never get enough shoes and bags). One thing I'm seeing a lot of here in the stores,malls, markets are these things people tote around when shopping. I describe it as luggage wheels with this big shopping bag- (zippered) attached. really quite handy as it can carry a lot of stuff and you just wheel it around like luggage. There are many designs but mickey mouse seems to be a favorite design on these things. We found the best way to get there was skytain one stop to Chit Lom then walk the covered catwalk down to ZEN and then walk thru ZEN and Isetan department stores. This way you stay in air conditioned comfort for most of the way then a two block walk or so to the Platinum Mall.
After a while there we went up to the food court for a drink- the food here is very inexpensive and good- you can get a meal and drink for less than 100 Baht!. After a few hours at Platinum and my backpack getting heavy- we headed out and walked back the same way and then we continued on thru the covered catwalk of the skytrain to Siam Paragon. Here we bought some food items for our trip back home on the plane- fruits and some dried fish items that Olive likes. After getting our food items we headed over to Fuji for some shrimp tempura and beef terriyaki. We had 3 orders of shrimp tempura, one order of beef terriyaki , 3 bowls of steamed rice, two pepsi and one iced coffee - toal out the door- 841 Baht.

Day 13- our last day as we depart tomorrow morning early - very early. Today we started off with our usual breakfast buffet and as we were led into the restaurant we saw that they had reserved our favorite table by the window. Window tables have been hard to come by as there have been a large business crowd in the mornings. Before we finished the manager visited us and we informed him of our departure tomorrow monin at 3 am. He then offered to make us up a breakfast box of fresh crossiants- we will pick them up at the front desk when we leave tomorrow. That was a nice jesture and we appreciated the fine service we have received during our stay.

For lunch today we are meeting up with Ken Sato and friend at the Liu restaurant at the Conrad hotel just down the block from here. We will have an "All You Can Eat" Dim Sum lunch.

Will make our last posting this afternoon.

can't wait to read your impressions of Liu... i love it and was cheated out of eating there on my nov. visit...damn...

do you have a FF card for fuji? you certainly are their most loyal customers...

we love those breakfast baskets which we eat in the airport...or take them on the plane and people will be asking where did you get that??

i told you olive would love platinum....the shoes are so cheap and unusual that K says you can wear them once or twice and throw them away and you still have made out... 199 B is the norm, or 299B....

carol, beth, karen, nywoman and others love the jewelry shop on the 5th floor in the front corner....mostly hair items and necklaces and braclets....cheap and nice...

have a good flight....

looking forward to your trip report once you get home...

Last day report- we are leaving tomorrow morning. Ratt is picking us up at 3 am. Our flight is at 5:40 am.
For today we had a leisurley day at the club lounge and had the hotel make our reservation at Liu for 1 pm (done yesterday). We met some friends at the restaurant but when we got there they did not have our reservation. After a few minutes of explaining - we had them call the Plaza. It turns out that yes indeed our hotel did make the reservation but the people at Liu did not enter it properly- so after that we were seated with the hostess being very apologetic. The place was crowded. We ordered Olong tea and then selected a number of itmes - shrimp, har gow, sui mai , cha shu boa, etc. We also had the shark fin soup that came with the lunch. Food was good and we finished a lot of dishes as we talked about many things. We finished up - the only ones left in the restaurant- at about 3 pm. Our bill came to 3024 Baht for the 4 of us. As we left the restaurant the hostess gave us drink coupons and a coupon for complimentary Peking Duck- I suspect they were embarrased that they lost our reservation and it took our hotel people to convince them that they indeed dropped the ball. We had a great time with our friends (who will now use the coupons as they will be here for a week). We are now back in the club lounge relaxing- will get to bed early tonight as I said we are being picked up by Ratt at 3 am.

A very relaxing 2 weeks in the land of smiles. The hotel was great, the service superb- in every department- I give it a resounding 5 stars! We leave with 4 full suitacases and some carry ons.

I'm glad you and Olive had a great trip. Wishing you guys a pleasant journey home!

Sounds like everything went well for you. I'm so glad you "discovered" Platinum Mall. Such a fun place! You got there exactly the same way I do it... staying inside the AC at Zen/Central World, and then crossing the canal and rounding the corner. I'm wondering what is going up in that corner... construction has been going on at least my last 3 trips to Bangkok!

Have a safe trip home! Your take out breakfast sounds good. The Adelphi has said they would prepare fruit/pastry, but I've never taken them up on it. Maybe I will next time!

Carol

i take a cab there, its far easier....but then i am lazy....it is a different story getting a cab from there....there are lots of cabs, but they want a flat fee or will not drive you where you want to go....i just go down the line until one says ok...

great report...

glad you loved the hotel, i knew you would

Departure day-January 29-

We woke up early as Ratt is picking us up at 3 am for our 5:40 am flight. The hotel made us up some nice breakfast boxes with crossiants. Drive to the airport was quick no traffic. Lines at the airport were not as bad as we expected.
Our return route was BKK to Narita, then to Detroit, then Houston. We lucked out on the Narita-Detroit leg as this was a 747- the flight was a cattle car but to our surprise the middle seat was vacant so we had some room to move and that helped a lot. Our Detroit to Houston flight was cancelled due to mechanical failutre and there were other flights cancelled due to the stormy weather in the country- but we lucked out again as they had us booked on a later flight- about 3 hours later. Arrived home - weary but safe and sound and all our luggage arrived ok.

Next trip - Berlin and Paris May 2011.

Bill, glad you and Olive made it home (and your bags too!). Now the jetlag will settle in...
Thanks for taking us along on your trip.
Carol

Nice report, Bill and welcome home. We leave for Bangkok and India on Tuesday. Thanks for sharing.

Thanks for sharing. I am going back to Bangkok on business the end of April and will be by myself since other co-workers are going the week before.

You have given me ideas to try and find the Platinum Mall along with looking into maybe going to Siam mall. Have you ever been to the flower market where you get there at 3 am????? I also want to hit Wat Pho and the Palace since last time I did the canal tour.

Sunshine, you will enjoy Platinum. I'm not sure which mall you mean by "Siam mall." There are a number of malls in the "Siam" area. Siam Discovery, Siam Center, Siam Square, Siam Paragon... you get the idea. Anyway, I'm sure you will enjoy shopping in Bangkok.

I'll be back in BKK myself, the last 10 days of April, and first few days of May.

Carol

Hi Carol,
You are correct that I didn't mention which mall. I have heard alot about Siam Square and Siam Paragon. I need to view how to get there but work must come first.

I will be there the end of April and a few days into May also.

Have a good weekend,
Kari

The flower market you're probably referring to is the one at Pak Klong Talat - the main fresh market. While the market is at it's liveliest in the wee hours of the morning, you don't have to get there at 3 am. They sell flowers there all day long. Mornings are still the best time, but 8 am will do.

The easiest way to get there is by river boat to the Memorial Bridge pier. The market will be on your left as you exit the pier. Flowers are sold along the street in front of the market, on the side furthers away from the river.

Thanks Michael - I will have to look it up and see how far it is from the Oriental. I just love fresh flowers and want to see how beautiful it is.

its probably a 15-20 minute boat ride from the oriental... just be aware of the pier at which you need to get off on... its just after you go under the large memorial bridge and is on the right bank of the river...

we often go mid-morning or in the afternoon... still plenty to see and buy.... an armful of flowers for $10 or less..