The Life and Times of CS in BKK
 

First of all, thanks Sandra (mcbeanie) for the suggestion of the title of my new "live" from BKK thread. I didn't really want to go with the same old boring sort of title that I've used so many times in the past.

I left on UA on Thursday at noon, from ORD, on the nonstop to NRT. It is now Friday afternoon, and I'm sitting in the NRT Red Carpet Lounge as I type. Another 6hr flight, and I'll be touching down in BKK once again. Trip #17.. but who's counting! I think this is solo trip #4. It's yet another SHOPPING trip.

I flew in business class from ORD to NRT. I did a buy-up at the gate (actually I did the buy-up in the Red Carpet at ORD). I know, Don (rizzuto), it's pathetic that airlines would sell business class seats at the last minute... and some of us relish the idea of paying up just so we can get a good meal and then SLEEP! And sleep I did! Almost all 13hrs of the flight. No movies, no map watching, just sleep, and one light meal. It really was glorious.

I expected to see lots of folks in face masks at NRT (H1N1, you know) but I haven't seen anyone yet. Last time I came over, there were quite a few people wearing them. We shall see what BKK looks like.

I'll be in touch with fellow fodorites here, as I shop my way around BKK, Chiang Mai, and maybe even a little bit on Samui.

Bob, I'll try to remember to check on Kinnaree for your GTG in BKK in NOV.
Sandra, I plan to look at both Venus and SJ Int'l, if time doesn't get away from me.

Please remind me if there is anything else I'm supposed to be checking on for anyone! I'll do what I can. 12 days on the ground is going to go very quickly.

Enjoy your day! I plan to enjoy mine, once these dreadfully long flights are over.

Carol

Shop 'til you drop. Have a great time. We expect ongoing updates about your progress. Never once have you risked the imposition of a penalty.

Have a great time Carol. I am hoping you find a great new shopping area that Beth and I can drag Bob and Andy to. We have been having BKK weather here in the NE. Bob keeps reminding me that I don't complain about it when I am in BKK.

for me you can do the following: have a great time!!

Just returned from a day at MBK. To the Sat market tomorrow. Daughters having a good time. Bought a T shirt for myself. Looking forward to a nice Face massage soon. Enjoying the Conrad. Hope You have a good time here.

loving the "on the ground" updates keep em coming.

Carol, were the biz seats the upgrades, lay-flat seats? They are telling me that the 777 from SEA-NRT will not be new seats, but the 747 from NRT-BKK will be for our November trip.

Have a great time, Carol!

I thought I heard you passing over us yesterday,lol. Have a great time! Where's Brad?

Aloha!

I'm in the States for a couple months.

See you at the Hawaii GTG next month.

carol, have a great trip. you are so lucky that you can snooze for sooo long on a plane. say hi to maeng for me.

kathie, the 747s that i've flown from nrt to bkk recently have the lay-flat bed. while i don't sleep, i love the comfort, and the continous avod. the seats also have a regular 110 plug.

... welcome back to Bangkok, Carol! (And do hope you remembered to book a 'double room' at your favourite Adel. Suites, for those occasional tender times with those fun-loving Aviva masseuses. ... (Quite possibly, less than one-third your age.) And, if you do go with Aviva, please tell the lovely 'owner' Kuhn 'P', that Khun Robert says, 'thanks for the memories'.)

Speaking of massages, I have a mission for you, Khun Carol: now, rumour has it, last visit, you and your billiard loving son, Brad, 'bar fined' a couple of lovelies from Annie's for 'short-time' pleasure at a restaurant. (Perhaps the first 'G-Rated' Annie's 'foursome' in quite some time.) If you think of it, do give those Annie's 'owners' a hello from the occasionally Singapore/Thailand-based, Khun Robert. Mind you, it's been a 'few' years since I've frequented Annie's. (Was always partial to Aviva, Thonglor, a certain 'soapy', and yes, Khun 'A's women.)

Keep up the good work, Carol: this trip, do remember to turn it up a notch with drinks in the SGS 'Living Room' with my all=time cherished after-work Bangkok waitress (the one who looks like Zhang Ziyi); hitting 1K with UA (you're gonna love those 'SWUs' and 'CR-1's); and finally, going all the way and falling forever in love with yes, Singapore Airlines. Do a one-day SQ J turnaround, BKK-SIN, shop till you drop at Changi, and fly back to your Bangkok room ... (and that Aviva masseuse)...

macintosh (robert)


... Singapore Girl, You're a Great Way to Fly ...

She just called from the Adelphi, so she made it.

One more thing I forgot on the phone: The guy from Omaha e-mailed about the car & asked how far we are from the Amtrak Station.

I'm here!!! (as Brad says)...
I've just been to Pickled Liver where I surprised Maeng. She knew I was coming, but not exactly when. Such a delightful person. She is all excited about going to Koh Samui with me next week for a couple of days. She is all smiles, as always. The PL was quite busy!

Good news, Brad, concerning the car. SELL IT!!

Something new has been added to security at BKK. When you come up the ramp to enter passport/immigration, you now must walk in a single file line, where there are video cameras taking pictures of everyone entering. Wonder why? Are they expecting something???

Kathie, the lie flat beds WILL be on the NRT to BKK flight. Lucky me, I had one from ORD to NRT. They are really great! I flew "backwards" and it was not a bother at all. I did not upgrade on the shorter NRT-BKK flight. I had an aisle seat in economy+ that was OK. I had already slept about as much as I was going to! We were flying around a typhoon in Taipei, so we had a few bumps. The flight attendants had to take their seats maybe four different times on the 6hr flight. But I have been on bumpier rides, so it was tolerable.

Adelphi feels like home. I'm back in one of their biggest apartments (if you stay here, it's the --01 room numbers). The view is of Soi 6 and the Sukhumvit Grande Hotel (was called Sofitel for a short time). The staff at the desk welcomed me "home" again. They are all very kind here.

I have my nibbles from the 7-11 next door, the TV is on, and I'm hopefully going to unpack and then fall asleep.

Maeng comes at 10 in the morning to go to Chatuchak!! Hope the shopping is good! MJS... maybe we'll be there at the same time! Have fun shopping. I'll be at MBK, probably tomorrow afternoon sometime.

I'll be posting regularly. Enjoy your day!

Carol

Carol-
I'll be following along.

Are you sure that wasn't a thermal imaging scanner for the swine flu at the airport? We noticed one in Hanoi, though not in BKK.

That's what it is. It measures body temperature.

Carol: I thought about you in the air yesterday, and I am envious since our trip is still 7 weeks away. Everything is ready except the packing, and I'm really last minute on that.

We are booked into the Adelphi Suites beginning October 7. Will you please stop at the desk and ask them to put us in a "01" room if possible. We have booked an executive one-bedroom for a week, but will probably extend it once we are there and see how much we like it. The idea of an escalator to the BTS is wonderful since I am still have intermittent problems with my knee. But the cortisone shots have help -- A LOT!

Have a great time -- and let Maeng know that we will be at the PL to meet her sometime in October.

Take care,

Sandra (McBeanie)

McBeanie,
I think you will like Adelphi. It is one of the best locations for Sky Train users in the city. And you get a much bigger and newer room for the money than you will find from the competition.

I'll be in town in October as well. Maybe I'll see you there?

Brad:

That is something we will look into. When Carol was in Houston the first part of July, we met for coffee at her hotel and had a very nice visit. We have a lot in common other than Thailand.

We will leave IAH the end of September but are going to Phuket for about 10 days before going back to BKK and the Adelphi.

Keep in touch about October.

Sandra (McBeanie)

Now I'm curious... imaging machine? Maybe. Does an imaging machine look like a video cam?? That's what it looked like to me. That would make sense. I have seen a few people in face masks around BKK, but not as many as I saw at NRT back in April/May!

AO... your idea of a day-jaunt to Singapore really sounds appealing. But I don't think I'll make it on this trip. I'll see how it goes. That would add some miles to my "almost 1k" status this year w/Star Alliance. I doubt it would be enough to put me over the top though. But I really appreciate the suggestion.

So, AO, if you used to frequent Annie's, did you also frequent the Tequila Pub, by any chance? My dear friend, Dr Jack, used to be a co-owner. Maybe you two know each other???

Gotta go get breakfast and then off the JJ! My mind is in a fog right now (jet lag) but hopefully I get some good deals.

Carol

Thermal Imaging.

Different temperatures are different colors. I think blue/green is cool, red/yellow is hot.

It can tell if you have a high temperature.

brad,when will you be in bangkok in oct? i might be next door in penang.

Its the same type of cameras they used when SARS was around, they used them at BKK (the old airport) then as well as Singapore etc. That was my first visit to the far east and i was terrified i was going to be quarantined for 10 days if my temperature was a little high!

It's pneumonic plague, not bubonic (though they are related), and it came from wild civets, through a dog to a human in western China. No rats involved, just fleas. (It's fleas, not rats, that spread plague bacteria.)

Hi Carol - just checking in. How about finding a new restaurant for Jeane and I to visit in February? We are flying UAL via ORD and have the flat bed seats on all 4 legs (ORD - NRT - BKK and BKK - NRT - ORD). I am checking frequently to make sure that United does not change our forward-facing seat assignments in the upstairs cabin. They've done it once already...

Sawasdee Kah, dear fodors friends.

(Craig. I flew "backwards" upstairs and it really wasn't any problem at all. But do watch UA, as they like to shuffle the seating around!!! AAARRGGGHHHHHHH

Well, today was a delightful first day in Bangkok. I started off with the breakfast here at Adelphi. It is simple, but tasty, and it keeps me going and going.

Maeng and I went to the weekend market and stayed for about 3 hours. It was hot and sticky and crowded. Just the way I remember it!! haha Shopping was good. We brought many bags back to my apartment to sort thru and look at. Then Maeng went to work and I took a nice snoozy nap.

At 7:30pm, Maeng called me to say that Dr Jack had just arrived at he Pickled Liver for dinner. I headed over there for MY favorite dinner. Garlic shrimp and a cold beer; and some wonderful conversation with Jack, and also with Maeng.

I think I will sleep pretty well tonight once my head hits the pillow. Tomorrow we will go to MBK and then off to Pahurat market. I'm looking for some specific items, but will also see what is new and different. Maeng says there is a new area added to Pahurat! I'll be anxious to see what is offered there.

I will be shipping a bunch of things home this trip. I'm doing some buying/shipping in Chiang Mai for Brad, so will add some of my purchases to the shipping crate! Means I can buy more!!! Yippeeeee!!

Sandra, the request for an --01 numbered apartment is done! I hope you are as happy at Adelphi as I am. And I do hope you get to meet up with Brad sometime in October. Ken, you should pop over from Penang! You guys could have a mini GTG in Bangkok!

Craig, Brad is recommending a new restaurant find. The name, I think, is Indigo. He will jump in and tell you more about it, I am sure. He is raving about it, saying it is the best meal yet, and reasonable. But it is in a rather out of the way location. Harder to find, maybe.

Soi 8 has a new hotel (not a big mega chain) under construction. It is going to occupy an old building, so it is a major remodeling project. I will stick with Adelphi, even though this new place will be even closer to the skytrain escalator. I may have to check it out though, when it is finished. Also a new coffee shop or two, right in the area of soi 8 and Sukhumvit.

Exchange rate today at VASU was 33.92. I noted one of the walk-up exchange places (Bangkok Bank maybe?) was 33.52. A small difference, but if you are exchanging very many $$$, it can make a difference!

Do enjoy your day. I'm going to hopefully enjoy a good night's sleep shortly.

Carol

Ken,
I'll be in BKK from about 10/7 to about 11/8. I haven't booked yet, it depends on whether I attend a Trade Show in BKK in early November. I might be interested in Penang?

Indigo was probably the best meal I've had in BKK this year. It is down a small sub-soi that is opposite Molly Malones on soi convent. It is at the end of this small soi, on the right. It was recommended by a foodie who's an American expat living in BKK.

brad - can you be a little more specific on the indigo location for us directionally challenged wanderers?

So, I've had a two hour oil massage, a beer (okay two large ones) and am hungry as a lion, standing at the end of Soi 8 next to the tut-tut scam artist near the BTS Station. What then ....

http://www.foodtourist.com/ftguide/Content/I546.htm
Try this...

Degas,
Take the BTS to Sala Daeng. As you go south on Silom on the skytrain, arriving at Sala Daeng, Patpong will be on the right side of Silom and soi convent will be across the street on the left side. (Every taxi, tuk tuk, motorcycle taxi driver knows soi Convent.)

As you walk down the soi (away from Silom) you will see Molly Malone's on the left. Across the street is a narrow soi heading 90 degrees to the right. It is not very long, and Indigo is the last place on the right.

Its a little out of the way, but you'll find it. And its worth the effort.

What kind of food, Brad?

It is French. We were going to go to Le Normandie, but the set menu with wine was going to be about $550 U.S. for 2.

A friend recommended Indigo as the best alternative.

thanks brad - its on my to do list!

Degas, I noted your question about the French place. So, does this mean you are currently in the city??? If so, come on over to Maengs and we'll meet up!! I'd love to put a face to yeat another fellow fodorite. And I'll be most happy to introduce you to Dr Jack. I think you two would get along smashingly!

I had a great sleep, so this morning I'm bright eyed and busy tailed and ready to take on MBK and Pahurat market!!

My day is just getting started, so you all in the States are ready for your dinner and evening. Enjoy it, where ever you happen to be.

Carol

Carol you are making me so jealous! I wish I was in BKK now but have to go to Mongolia first. Maybe near the end of the month if all goes well.

Thanks for the info, Brad.

Degas, I'll be gone by that time. I only have 12 days on the ground here. I know... too short!

Shopping was good at MBK today. I had some specific requests from home, and then I'm always looking for new items, which I managed to find. I found some really cute beaded bagss at Pahurat Market, so filled up a rather heavy bag full. It pays to be a returning customer because you tend to get better discounts. A number of vendors remember me from my past shopping with them.

Maeng and I did not see any new area at Pahurat. We actually made a beeline to the beaded bag place, and then got a taxi back to Adelphi because we had too many bags to try to carry through the very crowded narrow aisles at Pahurat. There were other items I might have searched for, but not with too much to carry in two hands already! lol

I am dining in my apartment tonight. I stopped at Via Vai and ordered a Caprese Salad and a pizza. It's delicious! I'm playing on the computer, watching TV, writing in my travel journal, and eating pizza, all at the same time!

Carol

Carol I really wish i could go to BKK as much as you do. Still, i will have to live vicariously via your travels...

Carol, any chance you will be checking out the new Anantara serviced apartments on Rajdamri road?

Or the Ariyasom Villas on 65 Sukhumvit Soi 1? They are both interesting new places....

we have had very good luck off of soi convent in the same area you describe....8 degrees restaurant is or was there and is great moderate italian....also next door to it is a very good thai place---upscale...can't remember the name....not sure if they are down the same alley or the next one, but right in the same area...

Have fun Carol! Happy Travels!