Some brief notes from Bangkok
 

We're enjoying being back home in Bangkok.

We like to visit at least one new Wat each year. I was looking out our window, across the river, and spotted what I guessed was Wat Pichai Yathikaram. MichaelBKK had recommended it as a wat we'd enjoy, as it's in the Khmer style. So we went off to the wat via water taxi and then on foot across the Memorial Bridge and a few blocks more to the wat. We were the only western visitors, as is usually the case with any wat not firmly on the tourist track. We enjoyed our visit there and made an offering in honor of Gpanda.

I'm afraid we chose badly for lunch. I have a long list of restaurants recommended by various people. One list is Thai restaurants in old Thai houses. Ban Chiang came up as one not terribly far from the ROS. After our lunch there, let me say I don't recommend it. The dishes we ate ranged from pretty good (a smoky eggplant salad) to down right awful (the oyster omelet).

We've done a bit of shopping, but are mostly saving our shopping for India.

Thanks for the tip about bang change Kathie, it's been on my maybe list for a while......
Have fun.

Off to a good start! Glad you made that long journey and have arrived in Bangkok, all ready to go!

that also was for a while on our list but i dropped it for some reason...

hope you like liu tomorrow...

see you about noon

Kathie, i heard they were renovating the ROS. Have you noticed any changes?

Now I wish we had made a stop in BKK on this trip.....oh well next year....glad you made it safely

Too bad about lunch and thanks for the review, looking forward to more.

Aloha!

Hello Kathie, I asm enjoying rreading your notes and will continue to follow your trip and comments by others. We are planing our first trip to Bangkok Jan-Feb 2011 and I appreciate all the information this forum gives. Please tell me is the ROS you mention Rose Hotel Bangkok on 118 Surawongse Rd. Bangrak, Bangkok? I gather you have stayed there in the past. Thanks for your help.

re: it's the Royal Orchid Sheraton.
http://www.royalorchidsheraton.com/

However, just because this garrulous collection of miscreants stays there, this is no recommendation. They are a very peculiar bunch.

Thank you, dogster, I am always pleased to be included in "a very peculiar bunch."

They have been renovating the Royal Orchid Sheraton (on the river) in stages for years. The renovations (as far as I can tell) are now complete. And the grand re-opening prices that many Fodorites snagged are an indication that the hotel considers the renovations complete as well. We always stay in the Towers, and those rooms were renovated first. The Towers Lounge was also re-done, moved to the 27th floor and tripled in size (this was complete when we were here last year). They have a new bar and restaurant next to the river that is very nice and has gotten good reviews. Open only in the evenings, they have been advertising 50 baht draft beer. The old blue tile exterior they have been removing over several years is gone and an entry way marked by rectangular wooden arches (can arches be rectangular?)makes the facade look striking from the river. The Towers rooms include free laundry service once again - something I love in the heat of Bangkok.

We'll be meeting up with some fellow Fodorites today for lunch, which is always a pleasure.

Can't wait to hear about Calcutta and onward, Kathie.
?
You're paying those outrageous on-board Internet fees with your $1000 credit Dog?

Let's not divert with the tawdry details of <i>my</i> life. I want to know every juicy minute of Kathy's travels. I want to hear about the wild nude pool parties...

Just back from a delightful gtg with Bob and Karen and Pook, Dang and Mony. We ate dim sum at the Lui restaurant at the Conrad. Pook and Dang ordered for us all. It was good to see all of you.

Stopped on our way to the gtg and Cheryl decided she had been hasty in saying she wasn't going to do any more shopping. So she is continuing to stimulate the Thai economy.

Back at the ROS, deciding what goes to India with us, what says here at the hotel. I think we're going to go for one checked bag each and one carry on each. We keep looking at the weather and wondering whether we brought the right clothes.

dogster, do you really think I'm the type who would kiss and tell? I'm very discrete. Your secrets are safe with me.

Fly safe. Enjoy India. I'm just about to board. Give my regards to Ifte. Perhaps it's best not to mention me at Glenburn... I'm rather hoping they haven't found my story about them.

BTW, the walk down to the river from Glenburn is just lovely. A car will follow at a discrete distance in case you collapse. Don't even think about walking back.

Now I'm off. You'll have a wonderful time. <i>India-a-a-ahhhh.</i>

Thanks... for the lovely wine. I'll save it for our next GTG. Have a great time in India and don't forget to take lots of pictures Kathie and Cheryl.

I expect we may be without internet access for the next 10 days or so. I will post if we get access, but otherwise it will be a while before you hear from me. Of course, I'll do a full report when I get home, but I will post tidbits as I am able.

Enjoy the wine, Pook. Consider me the ambassador to Bangkok for Washington State wines!

As an ambassador you ought to have diplomatic immunity. On your next trip may I trouble you to bring me a few cases?

great seeing you both today... pook et al did a fantastic menu choice...

can't wait to read about north, north india

I thought I'd resurrect this thread since we're back in Bangkok for our last two days of vacation.

Today is the King's birthday, so there is a lot going on. The river will be closed from Memorial Bridge to well past the Grand Palace from noon onward. No public water taxis will run after noon. We went to the Jim Thompson Outlet and did pretty well with our shopping.

We decided to go to an old favorite for lunch, Lemongrass. The food was excellent, as always. Kuranosuke, if you are reading,, Cheryl raised a glass of Singha to you. We talked about our gtg there last year with you and Guen.

Coming home to the ROS, there were dozens and dozens of boats decorate with flags and banners, holding occupants wearing mostly pink shirts, a few yellow shirts, in honor of the king. They filled the river. Our shuttle boat from the Sheraton was blocked in and we had to wait until the boats cleared to catch the shuttle back to the hotel.

There will be fireworks tonight, as well as a number of ceremonies honoring the king.

The king looked and sounded very, very frail today. I'm hardly a physician and am not making any sort of prognosis, but most people I have known who have been in the same state of frailty did not remain in this world for very long.

One wonders how long the people waited for the Mariott shuttle. Oh, that's right, that ragtag place has changed owners.....must have been the rat fumes in the rooms.lol.

We are here in the Kyoto Hyatt bar raising a martini glass to you and Cheryl and anxiously awaiting your report with pics. Have a safe fight home. Guenmai we miss you!

Aloha!

hi kathie, ah yes, the lemongrass. thanks to guen, its now one of my favorite places in bangkok. i hope cherly had more than a glass of singha. lol

ht, ciroc, i assume.

Yes, Riz, the King looks very frail. A friend in Bangkok told us many people believe that the King will never return to live in the Palace again, but will spend the rest of his days in the hospital. I've been in Bangkok before on the King's birthday and the celebrations seemed more subdued this year.

HT, glad you are enjoying Kyoto. I'll look forward to your report.

Kuranosuke, I'm glad you liked Lemongrass. I ate there my first trip to Bangkok back in the mid-late 1980s, and have eaten there almost every trip since.

Today is our last day of vacation. Tomorrow morning we fly home. We plan to visit a couple of wats today.

For some reason, I can't check in online. United isn't giving me that option. Has something changed? I'll check back with United later and see if I can check in and print our boarding passes.

Kathie, I will try to do one on teh ti site and link.

Ken, you know me so well. Actually no ciroc here so had to settle for belvedere,lol

Aloha!

Hi Kathie,
Safe journey home! I'm hoping you and Cheryl didn't buy everything in BKK. I'll be there on the 18th for a few weeks, hoping to buy a few treasures!

Dogster, hope the cruise (if you are still cruising) is going well. Looking forward to getting together at Christmas dinner at Maeng's once again.

Kathie... Re: check-in on line. I've never done that sort of thing. Do you find it really helpful? You still have to stop and drop off checked luggage anyway...What would be the advantages of doing this? I can't print out boarding passes here at our hotel in Zurich. I have only my laptop. We fly home on Wednesday.

Carol

Hi Kathie,

Just got back to Bangkok from the long weekend. Glad you got to see the fireworks as it looked spectacular on the TV. Have a safe journey home!

It's good that I got out of the Lounge and dropped in here on this forum. So, I'm really glad that you are having a great time and have a safe flight home.

I really miss BKK. I'll work on trying to get away and get there though. Right now I'm busy with just trying to find a reasonable flight for the annual Paris trip. The airfares have just skyrocketed. I have the apartment, but no plane ticket yet. It might be just one trip next year, as it's difficult to get away now. I do miss my 2 annual trips. But, flying to my 90 year-old parent on weekends, ever so often, which is at least a 3-hour flight each way, is more important.

HawaiianTraveler: Miss you guys,too. I didn't know that you were in Kyoto. I have ALWAYS wanted to go there. Maybe one day and hopefully to Japan,too and not just in the airport to fly on to Singapore and Bangkok. Have fun.

Kuranosuke: We'll have to do Lemongrass again one day. I absolutely loved the food. And since it's just across the street from me, I'll be eating there more often. For years, I had just put it off and tried places further away, from my building, and kind of said that I'd eventually get around to it. LOL! Happy Travels!

HT, Cheryl disabled the forum on ti, as we were getting spammed by a zillion Russians. If you want to post a report there, let us know and Cheryl can give you access to posting on the blog.

Carol, I do find that printing out the boarding passes facilitates a fast check in. Yes, we have to stop and drop off baggage, but otherwise we're ready to fly. We did find some nice items at the JT outlet, but we left lots for you!

One of the advantages of staying at the ROS is that it is walking distance to Chinatown. This morning we walked to Wat Traimit, as they have completed a new wat to house the Golden Buddha. The new wat is beautiful, all white marble and gilding. There is a museum on the lower floors of the building on the contributions of Chinese immigrants to development in Thailand that we wanted see as well. Alas! Today is Monday and the museum was closed. Next trip.

Next we went to Wat Indraviharn, a wat recommended to us by Bob and Karen. Tong took them there. The wat has a huge, standing Buddha. I'd never been there before and was expecting it to be off the tourist track - wrong - there were more foreign visitors there than at Wat Traimit. We had an interesting visit there.

Next we hopped a taxi to the nearest skytrain station, and went to Siam Paragon. We decided to have lunch in one of the restaurants on the ground floor. I hate to report this, as it appears we are following in the footsteps of Andy and Beth and Bob and Karen as we opted for an Italian restaurant. Afterward, we decided to splurge on a decadent dessert. We browsed the many dessert places and settled on the Mandarin Oriental shop were we had truly decadent desserts and Cheryl raved about the superlative cappuccino she had there.

We decided to stop by Asia Books and found they were having a huge sale. There were tables and bookshelves out in the corridor, and books were 20-80% off. We restrained ourselves and bought just a half a dozen books.

Back at the ROS, it's time to think about packing.

Wow the Russians are coming.....
You would have loved the temple we went to today,Sanjusanjendo. It was a first time for us and the best we have ever been to. KimJapan described it perfectly and a plus was that it had a lot of English explantions(never seen it so comprehensive in Japan before). The place is breathtaking and I am not a temple person. If you two ever make it to Japan Sanjusanjendo is a must see.

Off to Odaru onsen tomorrow for more soaking and relaxing. We'll watch for you two flying overhead.

Aloha!

two new wats...who would think there were ones we all had not visited..

one thing about checking in on line the day before is that i feel it secures your seats for you and yes it does speed up the process..../ some airlines have special lines for bag drop-off and id check too which avoids lines...

Thanks for posting Kathie, it is very timely for me. I am in Bangkok for one and a half days before heading to Laos and wanted to do something different as I have been in Bangkok before. I will look into the wats you mentioned and pick which one to go to. I leave in 28 more days.
I look forward to hearing more.

Kathie...wasn't the Italian food good? As much as I love Thai, every now and then a change is good. I think it helps you appreciate the Thai all the more. Love those Oriental hotel pastries, and they are sooooooo low calorie.

Safe flight home. hope all you shopping fits in you suitcases.

They will be picking up our luggage in a few minutes and off to the airport.

We did fit everything into out two suitcases each, and didn't even need to expand them!

HT, we will get to Japan, but likely not until we retire... 3 more years.

live, take a look at Wat Suthat as well. It's one of our faves. You rarely see other westerners there.

Karen, we had so little time in Thailand this trip, we had no opportunity to get tired of Thai food. But two weeks of often repetitive Indian food (rice and dahl) is what made me crave Italian!

did you not eat any meat or fish in india? many don't, but we did with no problems...

As for Italian food, that might be the same restaurant that I ate at a few months after Paragon opened and the paint fumes were still really strong. It was on the west wing of Paragon. I can't remember what the name of the restaurant was though. Happy Travels!

We're home, tired but happy. No new lie-flat seats on our planes, so neither of us got much sleep - in the 15-30 minute range each. We're pretty exhausted. I plan to get started on my trip report tomorrow and Cheryl will get started on the photos. There's lots to do, so I don't know when the first installment will appear, but I'll do it as soon as I can.

Welcome home. Get some rest. I am sure that plans for the next trip are already brewing!

remember not much editing on the photos