who the hell is nate silver??

shorts were about $60---way toooo much $$ for thailand, even tho they are custom.

peter--its a deal... i have my plan already...

election looks dreary... we only have BBC here. i trust the majority and will not complain... have not seen any balance of power results for congress---the real problem in gov't.

We can forgive you for not knowing about Gangnam style, but Nate Silver...seriously?!?

Per the inquiry, about my german friend, I think it was someone at the beach location in Thailand who told him to check out in BKK. (they chanaged his route to return) No biggie at this point. He was disappointed in the way his trip ended.

Rhkmk, your trip sounds just awesome.

why should i know nate silver??

i just googled him..

he is the kind of person that i have no interest in. his subjects do not interest me and i suspect that he is just the kind of "know it all" that i have no interest in.

i view him as a 'new york times pseudo-expert', opinionated with a view of his view-points only, and dismissing all other points of view. good luck to him of making lots of money. I say this without having read any word he has written.

i will crawl back into my shell now.

Hmm...Not sure what you googled, but Silver is a statistician who analyzes polls and makes very accurate predictions. His findings were discussed in just about every conversation about the election (at least around here). And now, once again, he has proved that statistics is da bomb. Enjoy your trip while we celebrate!

Keeping an eye out for you at JW Marriott bfast, but haven't seen you there yet (we usually beach first and then get to bfast around 10). We are loving our stay here. Didn't rent that car, and I am glad because it "forced" us to stay here, relax, swim and gym. Loved the Thai Boxing class and had a great massage. We return to Bangkok on Friday, unfortunately for only one day. Are deciding if we should keep our reservation at ROS or move to the Anantara. Not sure how the King's Procession will effect river traffic even though we appear to be south of the route? We haven't yet seen the Golden Buddha, and I "need" to do a little more shopping. Thoughts?

IMHO if you are using points or the points + $30.00 deal then keep the ROS reservation. If you are paying all money then I would definately stay at the Anantara.

Aloha!

there will not be any traffic problems on the river around either of those hotels... i agree with HI T above.

we eat breakfast earlier maybe 8:30 or 9.

we are in room 3028--knock on our door.

Hmm... knowing your hotel's name, room number and the name you're registered with.... I can have a lot of fun ordering food and other things and have them delivered to your room! Expect some knocking on the door Bob and don't forget to tip!

Wednesday

very quiet day today... great day overall. sunny and warm.

breakfast in the breakfast room: custom banana and pineapple and honey smoothie--2 glasses; bacon; brie; 2 croissants, sliced pineapple; not good dumpling; lemon tea for me.

spent rest of morning in a/c in the room watching election returns. Girls swam the pool and then in the ocean.

i walked the lagoon a bit and stopped at sea bees office to talk about diving next year for s-in-l and daughter---$1100. per person for a 3 day, two night live-aboard.
\
We all then met up at the pool bar near our room and had smoothies and sandwiches (K&I shared a club).

By then it was mid-afternoon and i think i fell asleep on the chaise in our room.

At 6 we went to the bar for drinks and about 7 Evelyne and Jocelyn joined us. We all went into town to the candle restaurant for a thai dinner.

We had:

golden baskets
fried shrimp

yellow curry shrimp
massaman beef
chicken and cashew
papaya salad
fried rice with cashews served in a pineapple 1/2
steamed rice
water and a coke

$10 each---simply fabulous

E & J presented us with a lovely gift from canada. think small and silver. they would fit in sooo well at the boston GTG, I hope they will join us another year.

a stop at the tailor shop on the way home... the shirt is perfect as are the shorts.... i am very pleased.

bed time

2 shorts + 3 shirts for ~$300? Have tailor prices gone way up in LOS, or was this guy just expensive?

Still following along! Dinner last night sounds good! I want to get to some of the Thai beaches soon - have never been. Sounds like you've had a nice relaxing time.

Driving through Boston now, you're missing a snow storm.No a/c needed.

i love snow, but i love thailand more at this minute...

yes don he is very very expensive but i need the shorts.. he did a very good job, and at the fitting they were smack on, which never happens for me.

i do think prices are up a tad.

breakfast was an unplanned mini GTG today. not only were we there but also evelyne & J (evelyne13) and also m/m danfang from CA. We have now given away all of our Fodors goodies, the last going to danfang.

And thank you for that!
It was a pleasure to meet you, Karen and Pat. I really enjoyed your exuberance and wealth of knowledge about all things SEA!

so as i said today was another lazy day. some pool and beach... a light lunch at the big pool bar. A fun conversation with a family from bombay.

later a trip up the road to pick up a load of laundry. this was followed by a couple of drinks in the czar bar. really good G&T.

We drove back into town for dinner at Green Pepper. K had beef steak, I had shrimp yellow curry and P had shrimp and broccoli.

A totally lazy day... slightly cooler here today. lots of lightening and a few rain drops tonight... electricity has been on and off---generator back-up.

talked to P&L in bkk tonight. Their is winding down.

dinner was 1100 B.

Carol,

I know I am taking up space on rhk's stellar report but that's what happens when you are chopped liver.... ;)

Anyway I promised you an opinion and this is what we found.

L and I went to Amarin plaza today and loved the discounts the whole mall was offering at 40 to 80% off prices in ALL the regular mall shops. Linda and I bought quite a few items..... especially Linda. We also found that a lot of the regular mall shops offered shoes and clothing items at farang sizes. Linda bought a fab silk blouse from a French designer shop there for 50% off(about $60.00 US). I also bought several custom belts from a second floor vendor who sizes and drilled the holes of the belts and attaches buckels of your choice for great bargain prices,really nice.

I hope we don't offend but the Thai handicraft fair, which btw is held every Thursday and Friday on the third floor of the center weekly, we found that the kind of merchandise offered was not only more expensive but vastly inferior to the offerings at the Thai craft fair at the Jasmine center. I mean no comparison at all imho. Sorry to sound so negative but maybe it was an off week there? There were about a quarter of the vendors( we counted 14 in all)and most of the items for sale were very touristy(but we are all tourists right) ie. cigarette cases, small touristy handbags and mirrors, etc. and a very small selection of tribal jewelry that was way over priced and not very good quality. I would have to give the craft fair at the Amarin a miss but give the actual vendors in the mall a must see especially for the discounts they are now offering. I also had a much needed pedicure(ok too much info)done by one of the mall shops....very good at only 200 baht.

Aloha!