Trip Report-Gpanda
 

Here in BKK at the Royal Orchid Sheraton. It's very comforting to return to a hotel with which we're very familiar.

Left on Air Canada (Bos-Toronto-Hong Kong-BKK) on 12/23/05. Surprise at the airport! The weight limit was 50 pounds and we had packed for 70 as in the past on NW and United. LUckily, we had an extra duffel bag which we had brought to bring home purchases. So, embarrassing Mrs. Panda, I unloaded from the overweight suitcases to the duffel bag. Avoided a $50 surcharge.

We were told at our Boston origin that we would have to get our baggage in Hong Kong and re-check it. This turned out not to be accurate. After no bags in HK, we were then told that our bags had been sent through to BKK. Consequently, we had the "opportunity" to pass unnecessarily through Immigration in HK. The additional opportunity to pass back through Immigration to leave. We had a 6 hour layover, so the extra opportunity was not really a problem. The HK terminal is impressive.

We flew Toronto-HK on an Airbus 340-500 (colloquially 345). This is a MUCH better plane than the 747's on either NW or United. The Airbus had more comfortable seats, more room, individual seatback screens and less people. The total flight time of 28 hours is approximately the same as NW or United through Narita with a shorter layover. The last leg was on Thai Air. Everything went smooyhly.

Today the young genius and his wife arrive from Germany on Gulf Air. Their first trip to T-land.

Glad to hear you've arrived safely. Enjoy!

K-I'm here in the Towers internet connection. It misses you.

Thanks! Have a Gin and Tonic for me!

What a wonderful way to spend Christmas and New Year. Have a great time Gpanda (and Mrs Panda)- enjoy the whole trip - I'm sure you'll love the Angkor temples and is it Laos too?

Regards Mary

what did you do with the duffel bag, leave it in a corner or pay someone $2 and tell them you would stop for it on the way home and there might be a 10 cent tip for them if they had ironed your shirts while you were gone...??

where did this happen....the poor long suffering mrs panda, aka beth the wonderful....

well do the geni like it....geni is plural of genius....

we expect a daily report btw seeing that you have free internet....

don't spoil kathie's next visit there by telling the staff what a good friend of yours she is, so that they will give you another free bkk ice tea....

gpanda
Do enjoy yourself. Sounds like you need a United premier exec card. I just brought home 3 heavy suitcases from Zurich and they didn't bat an eyelash!! I'm permitted three 70 lb suitcases with my premier exec status.

I agree with others, we need daily reports from you. Brad will arrive on Wed. night late, but maybe you will run into one another at the cigar shop sometime.

Have a great time. Happy holidays to you and Mrs. panda!

Carol

Merry Christmas, counsellor, from the top floor of the IC in Bangkok.

I spent a couple of nights at the Sheraton Sukhumvit, then left there a day early for a 4-day stay here.

Comparing the Sheraton and IC, the latter is certainly a step above the Sheraton. Clearly a far better staff/guest ratio at the IC. Nothing especially wrong with the Sheraton -- it's a very good business hotel, but not a luxury hotel to my mind.

Until today, the weather has been glorious: temps in the 70s and 80s in the day. Today it's back top warm and humid, with a grim haze.

Flying 1st class on Thai was a great deal of fun. The seats were from the 1980s, but the food and wines (Dom, Meursault 1er cru) were top-notch. The fun really starts when the plane gets to Bangkok, and you get escorted through immigration and customs and then plopped into a limo, courtesy of Thai.

Back to reality at the Suan Lum night bazaar yesterday. My first trip there, and yes it's overwhelming. Plenty of chaff, but occasional wheat.

The subway is terrific, but not a whole lot of people seem to use it, based on a hopelessly small sample of 2 trips to/from Lumpini station.

Cheers,

Rizzuto,
Will you be in BKK for a while? Brad is arriving on Wed night late. He'll be staying at Patumwan house (near MBK) for the first 10 days or so, and then will move to Omni probably.

I'm sure he'd love to meet up sometime.

DH and I will not be arriving until late on Jan 18. Can't wait!!!

DH and I stayed at IC a couple of times. I agree, it's a very nice hotel. And the location is pretty hard to beat, as far as shopping.

Carol

Essentially no sleep on Christmas eve. Wnt down to the second floor lobby area and read Pete Hammil's "Downtown". Very good. Gym early, wonderful sauna.

Pigged out at American Breakfast. Devastated the land record for Bacon. A sad note, they would only serve 5 minute soft-boiled eggs due to the Bird Flu.

Took ferry down to Oriental. The regular ferry was virtually non-existent on X-mas day, so we took the tourist boat for an extra 8 Baht. Sad to say pretty much everything was closed, Cigar store, Cotton House and most of the retail in OP place. There was a great X-mas tree in the O's lobby. Walked back to ROS noting almost all retail was closed.

By happenstance, we were in the lobby of the ROS when the young genius and Liz, his wife staggered in from Germany, by way of Parism Abu Dhabi on Gulf Air. More later.

Hi Carol --

I'm leaving late Tuesday night, so I'll just miss Brad. Maybe next time.

Shopping was no problem on Christmas Day uptown. Jim Thompson store open, as were all the shops in Gaysorn and the Thai handicraft mall a few doors down the street.

don---sounds like you and gpanda are having fun....

where are you guys eating so far?? anything new and exciting??

don- where are you going on tuesday?? next stop...

Flying back to Boston on the BKK-JFK flight at 1am Wednesday, then home for a (token) appearance at my office. End of vacation. No regrets.

Glad to hear you've arrived safely. I'm typing from the internet cafe here at the Emporium Mall in Bangkok. Isn't the weather great? Cool and very little to no humidity. The little bit of humidity started yesterday. Before that there was none. I hope this weather holds. So, tonight is our GTG at Face. I went by there yesterday and was given a tour of the place by a very nice Indonesian guy. I didn't want to be stumbling around trying to find it this evening that's why I went yesterday. Hopefully I'll get there this evening as I have a bit of stomach upset at the moment....to say the least. Happy Travels!

Ate lunch at Gallery Cafe around the corner from the ROS. This place as as good as I remember. The high points of lunch were the River Prawns in Tamarind Sauce, Crab cakes (served in the shell), papaya salad 9spicy) and corn fritters.

After lunchh, we all went on a Klong tour. We just got a long=tail boat from Si Phraya pier next to the ROS. This was great. The super houses in Thonburi were an eyeful. Our hands got tired waving at all the people who waved at us. About 3/4 the way through, my son and his wife actually began falling asleep. It was amazing. They'd be talking about the great things they were seeing and then dozing off.

Walked to Tongue Thai for dinner. Highlights were actually the Chicken with Cashews (Bob strikes again) and the deep fried mornig glory. The deep fried sea bass was good, but inaccessible under all the vegetables piled on top. S and W had napped and had more energy.

Don, sorry we missed you. Maybe next time. I'm jealous over the Thai Air flight. It serves me right for being so cheap.

Up early again, gym, sauna and breakfast at the Towers Lounge. This is not as extensive as the American Breakfast, but more restful. Today they had a wonderful dish that they called Coins of Potatoes topped with eggs and lobster.

Met Tony, a driver arranged through Ratt, downstairs. He was to take S and W sightseeing the basics. He was very receptive to my plan of Wat Tramit, Chinatown, Flower Market, Grand palace, Wat Pho, Lunch, Viramek Palace, Marble Wat and Jim Thompson House. he is also a guide and Ratt claimed he could provide more information to newcomers than she. We'll see the results when S and W return.

Beth and I went to Gaysorn Plaza. It was not as interesting as last year. More stores were fashion related and fewer with Thai items. Again, I became enchanted with thye Burmese bells. I spent an inordinate amount of time ringing them and listening to the wonderful tones they emitted. Bought some pomegranate and jasmine hand cream as a gift from Native Thani store.

Visited Erawan Shrine for the first time. This is a good brief stop when shopping the area. The people making offerings are impressive.

Cab up to Siam Paragon. Sorry Guenmai, but this was disappointing. It's brand new and reeked of New paint and other unpleasant chemical odors. We wandered the Department store until our eyes began burning. I did buy some suspenders in a nice argyle pattern.

Cab down to Chitlom Central Department Store. This place is a treasure. The Loft is a GREAT place for lunch. We had Chises buns and Chinese Broccolli. Super. The tie selection was not great, but I did find one I liked. We also went through the food store on the first floor. This was impressive. It was sort of like a Thai Whole Foods Market with a great produce selection as well as an organic collection. It would go over great in Cambridge.

Cab back to ROS. Stuck in bad, but not horrific Traffic.

The BKK GTG should be going on now, as I'm typing. I hope everyone has a great time. Be sure to report back to those of us who cannot be there for this one. Maybe "next time!"

Andy, I will now have to see what my own opinion is of Paragon. I can certainly be bothered by the smells from new construction. Guenmai makes it sound so terrific, I'll see for myself in a few weeks.

Enjoy your time in BKK. Talk to the weatherman and tell him that this lovely weather needs to continue until the end of January!!! (just for ME)

Carol

sounds like a good day for you guys...

btw, the people in thornburi were not waving to you in welcome....they were waving you off as they could smell attorneys even from that great distance....probably had the idea that you would put together a class action suit against the city for the water pollution....

treat beth to some new jewelry!!!

Met with S and W after their day sightseeing with Tony, a guide driver arranged through Ratt. They thoroughly enjoyed the blitz of sights. Amazed by the Grand palace and taken with the Jim Thompson House. They commented that the windows at the teak palace were the cleanest they had ever seen. Tony was very helpful and informative. He said he did this as a side job when not part of a family business selling fish products to people in the Mid east.

A slight diversion on Ratt. I had arranged for her services on 12/26/05 back in March, confirmed in September and again in December. After my last confirmation, she siad that Tony would be providing services. I E-mailed her that this was not what I had arranged. I noted my early reservation and subsequent confirmation. She apologized (sort of) and pointed out that Tony was a licensed guide and she was not. I finally decided that going with Tony was the right thing. I suspect that if I had attempted to force the issue, she may not have been quite as friendly to my S and W as reported frequently here. As an aside, she mistakenly sent me an E-mail addressed to another client with the same song and dance about another guide/driver. Everything went well for S and W, so no problem, but I regard this as another example of the old "Ratt and Switch".

Son, beth and I went over to River City while S's W did computer work on the WiFi at the ROS lobby bar. We got glasses straighted for the pricely sum of 80 Baht at Sheraton Optical. Son decided to get three shirts made at Hong Kong Tailors. This is on ground floor, right next to J.S Thai (Bob and Karen's favorite for women's clothes). S needed shirts for upcoming interviews. He got two Oxford cloth and onbe silk blend. We'll see what the results are.

Dinner at Thara Tong. We were all bushed (no, we did not become Republicans) and even a venture to Harmonique seemed exhausting. The food at Thara Tong was nothing special, but they did have a spicy catfish salad that was quite good. The Pad Thai was less than mediocre.

Tomorrow, cooking class for me and S.

Yipes! Thara Tong has gone downhill. I guess it was a good thing we didn't have time to eat there in November.

K- Unfortunately, this may be accurate. We enjoyed it every other time we tried it. However, I do note that I'm starting to think there may be a jet lag taste bud phenomenon. Specifically, is it possible that for the first several days after the long flight one's taste buds are as sleepy as one's physical being?

I spent much of Monday looking for some wood crafts to bring home -- scouring OP Place and River City. Half expected to see Andy, but now discover he was in my part of town at Gaysorn.

(I did see an ambulance racing down the street with a tall <i>farang</i> in hot pursuit ... naw, couldn't have been.)

I had a fantastic massage at Face before the GTG. The spa is a standalone teak building, and I had a Thai Herbal Compress, which involved a great deal of pounding with a warm bag that had the distinct aroma of cannabis. I'm not sure my description really conveys the whole affair, but it was amazingly pleasant.

Did meet up with Isis, her companion, and Guenmai at the Face bar for drinks and chitchat.

For some inexplicable reason, it's pissing rain this morning (it <i>never, ever</i> rains in Bangkok in December), but that's not likely to stand in the way of final shopping duties.

Cheers to all,

don, that was him....that is why he is so tired that he could not leave that seedy hotel for a decent dinner....he did, i can report, secure a retainer of 35 B for his &quot;fantastic&quot; services....that's about 25 B more than he leaves for a tip for a dinner....

is someone going to write a short review of the bkk gtg??

Glad you enjoyed the spa at Face. You thought the Thai herbal compress smelled of cannabis? What have you been smoking?? lol!

Bob, not a whole lot to report about the GTG beyond what I'd said in my previous post. 4 people for drinks, a quiet time.

I'll also report on a couple of eating spots. I went to Cabbages and Condoms (a 5-minute walk from the Sheraton Sukhumvit) for dinner one night. The weather was delightful, so I sat in the open-air garden, which is a lovely spot for dinner. I'm a sucker for those spots in cities that are isolated havens of peace and tranquility in locations where you know that the craziness of the city is just on the other side of the wall. Cabbages and Condoms is a fine example, and it made me think of places like the Rodin museum or the Hiiragiya ryokan. I had beef in a thick coconut curry (rendang, I think), and it was delicious. It was servcd with coconut rice, a welcome decadence.

Also returned for dinner at You and Mee in the lower level of the Grand Hyatt, and that is certainly one of my favorite places in Bangkok. An especially welcoming place for a single non-Thai diner, and the food (mostly Thai noodle dishes) is superb.

Other eating spots were the food court at Central Chitlom, the buffet at the InterContinental, and the Greyhound cafe at Gaysorn Plaza. All were trouble-free with lots of choices, but nothing especially memorable food-wise.

Off to Boston tonight, where I will undoubtedly have some explaining to do, in no particular order, to my boss and my cat.

Rizzuto Have a safe trip home. Wish you and my son (whom you met in BOS) could have connected in BKK... oh well, next time.
You made it to several of my favorite food spots, namely Central Food Loft, Greyhound, and buffet at the IC. I need to make it to Cabbages sometime. Had not heard of the restaurant on lower level of Hyatt, but sounds nice. We've been to the cigar shop in Hyatt several times, also nice!!

Andy, if you feel a cigar fix coming, you might see Brad at Gaysorn on Thurs afternoon around 4. He arrives late Wed night but will be out and about, reconnecting with friends on Thursday.

A very dear friend who works at another cigar shop (Dunhill) says they will move from their location by Four Seasons to Gaysorn first floor. This is another place you might find son. But you can't sit down and smoke your cigar and have a glass of wine at Dunhill... too bad... not quite the same as Classic Cigars.

Please send the lovely BKK weather to the S. Caribbean for my cruise New Years Eve!!

Have a great time, everyone!

Carol

Carol-already been to the Gaysorn Cigar shop. They spoke fondly of Brad. The Dunhill shop was also open.

Picked up at ROS by minivan to go to the Bai Pai cooking School (BaiPai.com). t's a little south of the normal tourist places. The building is one of those open air ground floors with second floor partially enclosed. The weather was very pleasant so no need for a/c. This could be a problem in the hot moths.

There were ten students in class. Our menu was green curry paste, egg custard, cold beef salad, spring rolls and chicken in green curry sauce. Each item would be demonstrated, tasted and then undertaken by the students. There was a long table for instruction and then separate cooking stations for each student. The class flowed very smoothly.

The class was fun, but noy overly technical. The actual hands on work was relatively simple, but still engaging. Mrs. Panda does not cook, so I'm the &quot;chef&quot; at home. These dishes will be integrated into our Cambridge menu, with the exception of the deep fried egg rolls ( there's a munincipal ordinance against deep fried food).

Meanwhile Beth and Liz (S's W) took a cab yto the Jim Thompson outlet. There was a horrible traffic jam and their spirits flagged. They shopped and several items were purchased for decent prices. They ate at the Gallery Cafe and enjoyed it immensely.

After rendezvousing back at the ROS some cigars were smoked (Montecristo #4's) and then we wandered over to tailor to see how son's shirts were doing . They fit perfectly. Son does not yet have the &quot;bumps&quot; and deformities with which I've been blessed. Beth and I went to get some passport photos next to 7-11 around corner from ROS. S and W bought a silk shirt and trousers from another tailor in River City. Bob, we did not know they were going to buy and did not tell them of JS Thai. They went somewher else.

Next Joe Louis Puppet Theater.

Andy, I am enjoying your reports - I was not aware that you and I are both the primary chefs at home. How did you come upon Bai Pai? Are there other cooking classes that you have looked at or done? Was the experience at Bai Pai worth the time and the money?

i'm thinking that without a/c i might have trouble???? i would like to do another cooking class in thailand....

how much was the class by the way...prices seem to vary considerably...

keep the reports coming....your adoring public needs a panda update at least daily...

Yes, Gpanda....I mentioned that it smells of paint. Remember the second time I was in there I mentioned that it was for over 5 hours and I was as crazy as a madhatter by the time I left....paint fumes. But, since it's not complete, it needs to be visualized into the future a bit, too. I thought it was architectually interesting. Isis and I were talking about it at the Bangkok GTG the other night.I wrote a long post under my Siam Aquarium thread on Paragon and how it will open in parts over a 3-year period and what all will be included in it...even a serviced apartment building, a bowling alley, an opera-sized theater and movie theater just to name a few things...so visualize...Plus, when it opened a few weeks ago, only 80,000 square meters had been completed out of the 800,000 square meters. When it's totally complete, it should be great and right now it has the best Asia book store that I've been in. I've been to that store three times already....picking up books. The market is great,too. I can get items there that I can't get at the same grocery store here in Emporium although this one in Emporium is quite good, too. Happy Travels!

Craig-I read about the cooking school on this forum. I forget who. It cost about $30 per person. It's fun and a little informative. If you're looking for an immersion in Thai cooking, this is not sufficient. However, if you want an amusing 1/2 day, it's nice. In February whem you're coming, it should be cool enough, but it's your call.

Guenmai, the fumes were our dominant experience at Siam Paragon. Once they're finished and things have calmed down, I suspect it will be much better.

Booked tickets at Joe Lois Puppet Theater onlime. Not necessary. The auditorium was about 1/5 full. Took a cab to Suun Lum Market and followed the signs to the JLT. We ate dinner at the Thai restaurant in front of theater. Food was good. Green curry with chicken was outstanding and very similar to what S and I had made at the cooking school. I could discern the flavor from the Kafir lime leaves. The chise broccolli salad was so spicythat we could not finish it and we are eaters of very spicy food.

The Theater was unbelievable. each puppet is manipulated by three puppeteers. They move in such tight coordination it seems like an intricate dance. Very impressive. I had the very peculiar thought of me, Bob aned Don (Rizzuto) trying to do this. Not pretty.

The story is based on an Indian Epic. The first was a demon with a magic finger. This was exquisite. I kept shifting my focus from the puppets to the puppeteers. The second story was the abduction of a princess by Hanuman, the monkey god. This was bring the house down good. The puppets went through the audience interacting with almost everyone. They were sufficiently prescient to minimize their contact with me. The interaction with the few children was magic. This is a must see if it's still open. I hope they move when construction begins.

Off to Angor Wat and Krabi tomorrow morning. I don't know about internet access, so this may be the last post for a while. Maybe Bob can report on life in Needham. Ciao.

Andy, enjoying your reports. Enjoy Angkor. We'll look forward to hearing about it.

Have a wonderful time at Angkor, Andy. I'll look forward to your report!

Great report. Thanks for mentioning the fumes at Siam Paragon. That could be a big problem for me. Maybe I'll wait and go at the end of my trip in the hopes that they will have subsided by then. How did the clothes work out at Cotton House.

i for one would have no problem sharring the stage with don, but you...you might try to steal the show...

you are really a pupet on a string anyways....we just encourage beth to twist the strings around your neck...

enjoy angkor....and we are anxious to hear about krabi...

is son liking the experience??

gpanda:
Great reporting so far....anxious to hear about Siem Riep. Prince d'Angkor Hotel and Ponheary.
Aloha!

Your report is so interesting. Looking forward to more, as I'll be going to Thailand next winter!

On 12/28/05, we took a ride with Julie's Taxi out to the Prasart Museum. In order to visit this museum, one must make reservations. Visits are by appointment only. The driver was on time and knew exactly where he was going. A good thing because the Museum is to hell and gone.

We arrived slightly early, but this was no problem. We were met by our guide and quickly began the tour. The musem consists of several small buildings set in a remarkable landscape. The are statues and water vessels placed throughout. The plants are beutiful, but not so spectacular that they distract from the overall sense of tranquility. Placed in some of the buildings are various Objets d'art (Bob, this mens pieces of Art) from Thai history. The guide lovingly described many of them, but he did not become pedantic. The presentation was well-though out and smoothly done.

At one point, the guide took us to meet Mr. Prasart who was overseeing the creation of a new garden in the back of the property. He was very informally dressed and quite nice. He noted that sevral of the workers were sifting the dirt to remove debris before using it in the garden. He also said that the garden was all natural.

We continued the tour ending up in a larger building that was called the museum. This was a multi-roomed structure that had many display cases containing display items.

Throughout the property there were many striking Buddha images. I was most taken with several statues of Burmes nuns.

At the end of the tour, we met witrh Mr. Prasart in a room clearly set aside for these meetings. Again, he was very pleasant and not forml. He noted that he liked to limit the visitors and was not interested in tour buses.

The museum was wonderful and a great treat. Only through the efforts of the pioneering Fodorites that proceeded us were we moved to0 visit this. Thanks.

Back to the ROS. S ws under the weather and S's W was completing her applications to Law School using the WiFi cconnection. Beth and I went to lunch at the Gallery Cafe. For some peculiar reason, S decided to cab to Central Chitlom Dept. store and purchase take out from the market on the first floor.

After lunch, Beth and I cabbed down to the Four Sisters shop at soi 49 off of Charon Kreung. This shop displays items in the Gallery Cafe and Beth wanted to see the entire collection. We walked up to the Lek Gallery on Charon Kreung a few stores up. This has some unbelievable images, all out of our price range.

Walked up to OP Place. Beth looked at all of the handbags in the place, but bought none. We then went to tyhe world famous cotton house. Beth saw a pre-made top that shew liked, but it was slightly too large (not a problem that Bob or I ever have in Thai shopping). The saleswoman was urging Beth to have one made. Beth looked at the wide selection of fabrics and chose the one she liked. Unfortunately, there ws not enough cloth on the bolt to make the top I silently noted that this seemed to be a peculir mrketing ploy, i.e., display cloth of a type without sufficient stock to actually make an item of clothing. Instead of openly noting this, I inquired of the sales woman whether she knew Gloria. Alas, she did not. However, woman sitting behind a desk visibly perked up and said she knew Gloria. Her name was Reed. The whole tenor of our shopping dramatically changed. Reed said that she thought there might be more of the cloth that Beth liked at the other store and she also immediately dropped the price by 20%. Beth was measured and we took a river ferry back to the ROS.

Pool, cigar and sauna. Dinner at the Gallery Cafe. We had to get up vewry early the next morning and did not want to make dinner an excusion.

Up next, AW et al..

Glad you enjoyed the Prasart, Andy. It's quite a drive out there isn't it? I was grateful for a driver that knew about the Prasart!

how long a drive is the Prasart away from bkk?