Looking forward to waking up to your report tomorrow...

1234.. in you opinion where is the "embassy area" and why are you "glad" that you didn't choose that area?

yea what is this area?? they are spread all over the city..

two days ago they said there would be 100,000 protesters, but with only 7,000 it is tiny..

we see no affect at all...

Looking forward to your details on gaggan and on the orphanage visit.

WOW!! I have just made the epic read from the Boston fall, around SE Asia, with flights on Korean Air, stops in China, a riotous read about the stay at the Sheraton Krabi and other hilarious comments, along with a food blog sufficiently detailed to make my salivary glands start working even though I just ate. And how timely......as I will be making my 1st trip to SE Asia in February. Thank you Bob, Karen, and all of your Fodor friends. Its so much fun to read about your circle of Fodor's friends as this forum is something I've just recently discovered.

I tried to cut and paste the restaurants, shops, hotels into some kind of useful framework of reference as we will be visiting Bangkok, Vientiane, and Krabi (no, not the Sheraton), but I'd also love to talk/correspond with you directly once you return and are recovered from your fantastic trip. I don't know if that's possible -- but if it is, please let me know.

Meanwhile, I'll just say thanks for such a terrific and amusing travel post. I look forward to reading about the rest.

The McBeanies just spent an hour with us and we had lots of laughs..

BACK TO MY REPORT

We took a taxi to Gaggan, which wile located almost directly in back of the St Regis is on a tiny dead-end soi. We allowed 35 min. for the ride and it took that entire time with the heavy traffic on Wireless and Plenochit (Langsuan is one way starting from Plenochit). Pook and Mony were just inside the front door at a lovely corner table with a full view of the tiny restaurant (only 30 tables total on 2 floors).

I had champagne and the others had long island iced tea a la gaggan (the booze is fast frozen into a ball and placed in a large cocktail glass, hot tea is poured over it and the booze slowly escapes into the drink, allowing for a refill of tea)---unique and oh so Gaggan as we were to learn.

We were constantly attended by a very friendly effeminate older thai man in immaculate dress and jewelry and an assistant or two. Gaggan, the very funny, creative, and likeable Indian owner was often at our table during the meal with explanations and funny tid-bits to share with us. Pook is certainly their #1 customer and cherished client. Our attendant gave clear explanations for each of the 13 course, often bite sized treats.

Pook brought his usual supply of wonderful wine with him, this time a young delicious italian red which would stand up perfectly to the food without over taking it.

So to the meal....

Course one: on individual asian soup spoons a yogurt infused white egg looking mound was individually fed to you by our attendant who perched himself on the arm of your chair. We were instructed to bite directly down onto it to release the wonderful flavor. YUM...

Course two: curried potato puree on a rice cracker served individually on a large stainless twisted tray... good

Course three: small lamb burgers were fried on hot stone table side. they were served on the most amazing bite sized tomato air bun with a shelf life of minutes before it would self destruct. It simply melted in you mouth and the delicate lamb taste flowed.

Course four: a small individual cheese souffle with truffle oil... yum, yum.

Course five: two wooden boxes were placed in the middle of the table. they were opened and in each was an oyster shell sitting on a bed of sparkling salt with a lemon foam covering the oyster. individual oysters were presented to you on a small plate... delicious..

Course six: next a plate with 2 pieces of foie gras with a line of freeze dried foie gras granules on one side and a wide paint brush stroke of red something on the other side...

POOK PLEASE CORRECT MY DESCRIPTIONS...

more courses to follow---eat your hearts out!!

Shades of El Bulli!

You got it crosscheck! Gaggan and 2 of his chefs did work at El Bulli. IMO after the closing of El Bulli you have the Bazaar in L.A. and Gaggan in Bangkok. The Bazaar I think is more El Bulli like, I've not eaten at El Bulli, where the food are pretty much of Spanish influence while Gaggan has Indian influence.

Course seven: a small white interestingly shaped bowl was presented to each of us next. In it was a single egg which had been cooked at 62 degrees C for 2 hours. It was topped with truffle foam. Interesting--- egg was very much like a coddled egg.

Course eight: two pices of chicken tikka served over green chutney and covered by another foam

Course nine: a piece of sea bass poached in a spicy curry sauce and served with naan.

Coarse ten: a small dish of rich risotto with truffle pieces.

Course eleven: Mango mousse with crunchy cereal like bits on top.

Course twelve: Mystery box desserts. two ceramic painted boxes were put on the table. each had a few small drawers. you got to choose your own drawer. Inside you found a dessert treat covered in tin foil, which was actually an edible substance which dissolved in your mouth. Under it was a piece of carrot cake with freeze dried carrott decorations on the side... unique for sure with great presentation and delicious, but not as good as karen kimball's karrot kake...

course thirteen: a frozen orb was placed on the table. it was cut in half and then quarters. it was white chocolate and truffles combine... very rich and delicious...

all of this coupled with the most wonderful company and a fabulous staff and congenial owner made for one of the most pleasant evenings for us.

cost: about 5000 B for 2.

not to be outdone by peter and linda, pook drove us home to the st regis in his new BMW. It has get up and go, superb comfort and great sound.

Sounds unreal....... Not sure I would have survived all of it. Food allergies... Thanks for the in depth reporting. And now I want to hear all about the visit to the orphanage!

Amsterdam is very windy and grey today. We might just vedge out at the Renaissance (our favorite Renaissance, by the way).

Bob, why am I thinking that you are at the Marriott apartments on soi 24? But it sounds like you (and mcbeanies??) are at the St Regis?

BTW, that was our Thanksgiving dinner.


Friday, Nov 23--

we were changing hotels this morning and also beth and maureen were rejoining us from laos.

K & I had a lovely swim in the St Regis pool before breakfast. the black bottom has white/silver spots in it that makes for a sparkling appearance. The pool over looks the Royal Sports Club with its green lawn, golf course and horse track.

Roger came for us at 10 and drove us to the marriott sukhumvit park serviced apartments on soi 24, sukhumvit. We had a 2 bedroom unit reserved for our final 4 nights in Asia.

Problems started the minute we walked in the door, and 5 minutes later B&M arrived. for some reason they had no 2 bd rm units available even though i made my res on 1/24/12. I was back and forth with the front desk staff until the manager of operations became involved and progress was made. we ended up with 3 rooms and 20,000. FF pts---THUS FAR, because it did not end there.
The next day we were to be moved to a 2 bd rm unit while we were away for the day. we put our valuables in a safe in the lobby.

Fast forward to the next evening... we returned from our day at the orphanage around 7.... beat, hot and tired the last thing we needed was more room issues.

our newly assigned room stunk of smoke. I refused it. also K & my suitcases were missing from the new rooms... Now i was made, really mad---i did not yell, but i wanted to.
In the end we ended up back in our original 3 rooms and our suitcases were found in our original room.

Remember that 20,000 points.... well in my mind that is now only a starting point of an apology.... and this time some cash has to be added in... the brass will be back to work tomorrow and will for sure want to talk with me...

Sat. Nov 24---a day 2 years in the making..

Some background.... Andy Levine, a Boston attorney, and much beloved on this forum reporting under the name GPanda passed away after a short illness 1 1/2 years ago. Memorials to him were collected to benefit the Moo Baan Dek Orphanage in
Thailand. Many fodorites as well as the boston legal community contributed to this fund... In 2011, K and I brought the proceeds with us to Thailand, but because of the unprecedented floods were unable to make the trip out to the Orphanage.

So this year we were prepared again to make the trip and andy's widow, beth, was here to join us.


So we had two vans full of the 4 of us, tong, one of her guides and two drivers and we set off into the country about 8AM... tong wanted to go earlier---NO!!!!!!!

After about 2 hours we stopped at a Tesco/Lotus store to use up the rest of the funds---about 10,000 B... We bought some sweaters (polar fleece), blankets, quilts and 4--24" bicycles. we squeezed all of this into the van and set off again for about another hour's ride. We had sandwiches and cheese along the way which we had brought.... boy did that smoked salmon and cream cheese taste good.

We arrived just before noon and the kids were already lined up, sitting on the floor, awaiting their lunch servers---us..

Through tong we had ordered lunch for them (1500 B): rice; fresh chicken and the giblets, which they love; chicken coconut milk soup; sliced cucumbers and water.

Tong also bought 4 large cakes, which the kids really love.

The kids were orderly in line and had been taught to say thank you to us. some asked for bigger helpings than others... there was plenty of food. each kid come through the line with a large cereal bowl..

During lunch our contributions were piled high on tables under a banner which had been painted to greet us. The kids eyes were big looking at all the bags.

After the cake was given out by karen and maureen we asked the kids to sit on the floor around the administrator after having taken a book or two out of the boxes which Fodors had sent directly to Tong last summer. RANDOM HOUSE, PARENT OF FODORS, AND ITS EMPLOYESS HAD SENT 4 LARGE BOXES OF BOOKS IN ANDY'S MEMORY. I took tons of pics of this. the kids loved the books and we had added a bunch in thai as well. I don't mean liked the books, I mean loved and horded them.
they just sat there and "read" and looked at those books for the longest time.

Near the end of this time, I went to the tables and unpacked some balls and hulla hoops and threw them outside and the kids were off and running, having a ball..

more later

Great start! Wish I had been there. I'm sure Beth was really enjoying this, and I'm so very glad she was able to be there!!!

Bob... what is it about YOU and hotel rooms/managers???? Sometimes you get what you get!! Travel is an adventure, after all.

but carol with 4 and 5* places there is an expectation and level of service...

i find it my responsibility to remind them

Beth did the same thing... we all tossed balls, etc and generally encouraged fun...

one very touching moment happened when tong identified to me the young boy who had attached himself to andy on our last visit.... he remembered andy's muscle trick and after i reintroduced him to beth (touching moment as you might expect) she was photographed with him holding her arms up in the same way as the muscle trick..

FYI, the muscle trick was an andy's by-line---he held his arms up and whistled jingle bells while alternating bulging his arm muscles to the tune of the music...

We were all very tired and decided we needed some a/c relief so piled into our vans and headed out. We stopped near the tiger temple for a good meal at a nice restaurant which tong favors... her treat...

The 3+ hour drive to bkk was far too long and ugly... roger knew a few short cuts which saved us tons of time...

We needed a little something to eat upon our return so we ate in the marriott restaurant which is quite good actually. I had really good minestrone soup, K had indian and M&B each had something simple.

well deserved rest for everyone..

Sunday---time is getting short...


after a breakfast downstairs at a decent hour, FINALLY, we lazed around for the rest of the AM... it was raining on and off, so we skipped our intended pool time.

we had a couple of cookies for lunch and about 12:45 K, B and I taxied over to platinum fashion mall. We needed an additional suitcase which we found for 1400 B ($45). it is a 24" moulded super plastic.

This led us directly into yet more shoe shopping... score: beth 2 more pair; K 6 more pair---prices 250-450 B each ($8-15).

taxi back to marriott... BTW, the taxi there took 1 hour and only cost $5.

M, K and I went to L'Opera Restaurant; 53 soi 39 (on the left at a corner, just after the traffic light). Excellent IT food. K had fried veal chop, M had grilled lamb chops and i had the best ever ravioli on a bed of fresh red sauce. fancy pastry for dessert. 1/2 carafe of wine and water---about 3400 B.

Beth went to a night weekend market where they sell used items... it rained and she got soaked but had fun.. she said she was the oldest person there---60.

its 9:30 and we could easily fall into bed

Does Beth know that you've announced her age to the entire Universe?

How many more months before this trip ends? I've told my wildebeest pals that your trip makes their Great Migration seem like a walk over to the convenience store.

(6 pr of shoes? Really?)

<i>(6 pr of shoes? Really?)</i>

yes don, really,.....6 are only a light stimulation for the fetish

wow what a whirlwind time you are having in your final days in bangkok. so great to hear of your triumphs at the orphanage. lots of lives will turn around because of it. we made it back to platinum mall on our own for what seemed like an eternity as I didn't have my bench partner with me so I had to ply every nook and cranny we(she) missed on her first time there with you guys, jeeze. more costume jewelry, shoes and the like were taken that day.

i think your hotel situation calls for the 50,000 point curtsy followed by the $$$$ resort dollar credit bow. i wouldn't be surprised if you get the ultimate and a comp room but i doubt that, lol
on second thought.....

Aloha!

Hope you took lots of pix at the orphanage.

I'm glad you could remember all of those courses at Gaggan. It was one big fabulous blur to Jeane and I - but now having read your descriptions, I recall that we had many of the same...

Thank you for filling in the background re Gpanda for us newcomers. I was very moved by your description of the trip to the orphanage and muscle trick . Yes, there are good Republicans -- just not very many, but the same could be said about Democrats so we just have to keep moving forward......

Enjoy your last few days and have a safe trip home.