A lovely memorial to Andy at his (and my) favorite Bangkok hotel.

Cutting carrots, Bob? Thanks so much! With friends like you.........

Sukhumvit is still dry right now. Hope it stays that way. I hope my trip to the airport is not as exciting as yours, rhk. My doorman will get me a good driver, I'm sure.

See you this afternoon.

Carol

Yes, a very fitting tribute to Andy :)

off to phuket to pick carol up after a bried swim..

sue rates are still decent, but the place is packed..

Glad I got my room booked when I did, or all I might be able to get is the penthouse suite!!

Thanks again for coming to my assistance! See you in a few hours.

Thursday

So we spent a lazy morning today hanging around, had a swim and just before 12 jumped into our comfortable Honda for the trip down to Phuket airport to pick carol simpson up.

We were a bit early so we nipped into the JW Marriott in phuket for some lunch at the deli. Good as ever. Arrived at the airport about 2 for C’s 1:45 flt arrival. K found her inside while I double parked. Quick ride back to our hotel (about 1 ½ hours +/-.

Carol was given the pool access room directly next to ours, #3030. I had spoken to the room coordinator the day before in hopes she could be nearby. The hotel is very full.
Extended holiday time has been granted to residents, so both tourists and locals are fleeing bkk to avoid possible flooding.

We had seen the general manager of the hotel at breakfast and he had made a tentative date with us for dinner that night. I told him to leave us a msg. There was no msg when we returned so we decided to eat here about 7:30. At 6 a note was placed under our door asking me to call him if we wished to share a dinner. I did and he agreed to an 8PM date at the thai restaurant. We were 5 people: carol; Karen and me; and he and his wife kim (a Korean-american). We were escorted to one of those sunken tables at the back of the restaurant where we removed our shoes and slouched down into the table. Ok, I thought I don’t see a derrick around here to lift me out after dinner---plus there were no seat backs, except for one of those useless thai triangle pillows. QUIT COMPLAINING, THE FOOD WILL BE GOOD AND THE COMPANY EVEN BETTER! And it was. And he picked up the tab, even better.

Needless to say there was a very attentive staff with a senior staff member kneeling next to Ty (the gm) much of the time. We ordered chicken lab (mei pet- medium hot) and papaya salad for shared appetizers. Carol has a few items she cannot eat so they were eliminated from anything we ordered. Ty asked that the chef prepare one of the evening special dishes for us, a giant prawn dish, and that he, the chef choose a few other dishes for us. So after a white wine/beer warm up with our apts, the special giant shrimp dish was presented---they were so tender, I could not believe it. There was a really good fried sea bass dish---simple slices of flesh, with a light coating and fast fried with a light sauce---delicious. There was steamed rice, another shrimp dish and a tenderloin and pepper dish. All were delicious and the conversation was entertaining. The GM is from Seattle and Kim is from FLA, via Philly.
For dessert we had mango and sticky rice, k had a sweet pea concoction (she said it was not that good.
The dinner lasted about 3 hours. I did not need the derrick, but I did need some help getting out of that hole.





Friday Oct 28

I slept till about 8 today. We spoke with carol, who had already been for a walk around the property and agreed we would do breakfast about 8:30.
Our new OZ friends joined us so we were 5 noisy folks in the dining room. The breakfast is a nice layout in an exceptionally large glass fronted (on the beach) room. Carol met ty while gathering her foods. She asked if there were not baked beans? He replied I will bring you some, which he did 5 minutes later. SO CAROL WAS SERVED BACKED BEANS BY THE HOTEL GM. He obviously recognizes power and wealth when he sees it. We introduced our OZ friends to Ty and we had another nice chat.

K has headed out to the beach, C is on her patio doing word games and I am typing. This will be a do nothing day for sure. YEA. Shortly I will enter the water directly from our room—a nice perk.

BTW, we had some laundry done at a small place on the access road. It was 240 B for a huge pile—about $8. Better Thailand clean rather than India clean me thinks.

We are having a great time and worry just slightly about our brief return to bkk tomorrow overnight. We are really looking forward to our Indian/Nepal excursions which begin on Sunday.

SO CAROL WAS SERVED BACKED BEANS BY THE HOTEL GM.

Bob, see what being polite and nice will get you?

This really is the perfect place to just veg, which I am successsfully doing!

we were making a comparison yesterday between the two JW Marriotts---khao lak and phuket. we have stayed at both.

phuket is more upscale for sure in some ways, but KL seems much less frenzied and relaxed. you see far fewer people and there is much more pool water per person because of the huge central pool and the 3 kilometers of lagoons. both have tons of food options. KL has a more remoteness to it.
both are fantastic properties.

i just completed my internet checkin for both my flt to bkk tomorrow and my flt to kolkata, india on sunday. so now the trip begins to roll.

regarding the two JW Marriotts - and I'm sorry if this is a very stupid question, I don't know the lay of the land there at all yet - do you happen to know if either would be closer to an area where people scuba dive?

KL is close to the Similian Islands, where there's great diving.

Enjoy your flights to India. 10-15 inches of snow(!) forecast for tomorrow night in CT.

What!!!!!????????? Craig, if CT is getting 10-15, that means that Illinois is probably expecting 20! Aaaaarrrggghhhhh...

Guess I'd better check the weather forecast for home. I'll be there Monday afternoon.

Carol - not to worry, it's an east coast storm. Revised now to 8-12. Heck, maybe it won't snow at all...

It's darn cold here though for this time of year...

My weather looks like upper 60s during the daytime and a bit chilly (40s) at night, so I should be fine. I thought I might have needed to pack my winter coat and boots to get to my (frozen? snow-covered) car in the parking lot. Looks like I don't have to worry about that.

Hello fellow "Fodors" subscribers. This is my first entry and I'm not quite sure just what I'm replying to but I guess I'll work it out as I get better at this.
We are staying at the JW Marriott at Khao Lak, Thailand, a wonderful venue, and have met Bob and Karen and Carol, from the USA, who have introduced us to the Fodors website, so here we are.
WHILST I could write lots of travel stories, I won't RABBIT on this time as I really only want to let Bob and Karen know that we are now onboard and to thank them for being so friendly and allowing us to share their table at breakfast and at dinner outings. We hope your travel to India is safe and enjoyable and that one day we might meet up in Oz.
`

first of all JoRo we don't hold it against you that you are from OZ.. we allow one new fodors member each year from OZ--as in the wizzard of OZ...

we welcome you here and hope you will find all the forums as helpful as we have.

we loved meeting up with you both.. especially robin

For dinner we headed for the Green Pepper Restaurant in town. Carol came along and we were joined by Robyn and Richard from OZ. We had a nice dinner and lots of laughs… We all squeezed into our Honda for the 10 minute ride back to the hotel. This restaurant seves both thai and continental dishes.

Everyone came into our room for about an hour.


Sunday, Oct 29


Up about 8ish. Off for our last yummy breakfast. We took a table for 6. We spent way too long at the table, but it was fun…. Robyn instructed us on some of the origins of everyday sayings---I gave her a hard time and reminded her of her ‘rabbit story’ having to do with the word “buck”… she had been ½ right.. we said our good-byes and returned to our rooms for last minute packing.. We left the hotel about noon. Our 4 night stay was about 14000 B ($420), a fantastic Marriott rewards member rate.

We drove south, bought 1000 B ($30) worth of gas, dropping Carol (no E) off at the Renaissance hotel in north Phuket. She was upgraded to a fabulous multi-room suite…
We continued on to the phuket airport, calling our car rental agent (Pure car rentals) 10 minutes prior to arrival. An agent was at curbside when we arrived. He checked the gas level and took the keys and we were done. I urge you to rent from them..this is our 3rd rental.

Quick checkin and no line at security. Our flight was delayed about 10 minutes. We had a quick Burger King and with a 10 minute loading we were on our way—plane was full---Thai Air.

We observed some flooding just prior to landing.

Quick bag p/u and we were in an older yellow and green taxi (our favorite owner driven taxis) on our way to the nana hotel, soi 4 for K to pick up her jewelry projects. We kept the taxi while we were in the shop (2B per minute). We then were delivered to our hotel---Pan Pacific Serviced Apartment on soi 55, Sukhumvit. I gave the driver 500 B.

I had bought this nite at PP on line at one of those special asia rates offered by one of the discount hotel sites. $55 incl breakfast. This building is a purpose built building with 140+ apartments, a huge grocery store in the basement, parking, some lovely little shops, a wine shop, a pastry shop, a nice pool on floor 11 and lots of amenities for residents. Our room is nice, about the size of a Marriott room, but has a kitchenette, a large bathroom and a decent view from the 10th floor. Free internet.
I think the bigger units would be good for longer stays, but this size is only good for a few days. Soi 55 is a wonderful street with tons of restaurants, wine bars, shopping, bridal shops. The hotel is at sub-soi 8. A nicky kind of street.

One of the restaurants on the ground floor is a favorite---Crepes and Co which we usually visit at their main store on soi 10??. The best ever crepes—swiss style—crispy and large.

The bed is very comfortable. We had a nice breakfast Monday morning. K went for a walk in the neighborhood and I returned to the room. I have developed a cold and am coughing quite a bit.

We return to the airport about 1PM for our 4:15 Kingfisher Air flight to Kolkata (Calcutta), India. We are quite excited to be returning to India. Kathie, Craig, Dogster and Dunbug’s reports have excited us and provided tons of info for us, THANK YOU ALL…

OK..corrections on Bob's report above. Firt it is Robyn and John. I knew he would get that wrong. The bathroom a the the Pan Pacific is ok size...not large. The pool is big enough to swim laps and does have shade, although it is on a wood deck that would get hot midday. Neighborhood good area, safe and very walkable.Lot of eating options out on the steet . Sky train is down the road a ways, it would be a taxi ride for most people, not just us old people. They say a 10 min walk to Thonglor stop. Great option for thoses who don't have to be right on Shuk.

I have not been on this board in to many months. I did not know of the passing of Gpanda. So sad! Although his health had failed the passing is still sad for his family and friends. It is good that part of him is back in Thailand. Having such good friends makes ones life better. Gpanda life was a blessing to many.

When I arrived in Kathmandu I expected a "mountain kingdom" Switzerland of the East. I found "India light"' A real shock to me. The temples are amazing, my photos are interesting and picturesque, but the country was overwhelming to me. We loved the Hyatt for its opportunity to get back to normal "Western" atmosphere and its proximity to the Boudhanath Stupa. A wonderful trip but not what I expected.

Reading along and waiting to hear about India and Nepal from your prospective.

we are in india now--kolkata... i will write a bit about it tomorrow...

my cold is really making me drag..

Hope you feel better soon, Bob - Maybe K can come out of retirement and "nurse" you back to good health?

Looking forward to hearing about Kolkata...

a neighbor has just told us that there is a huge limb down in our back yard from the heavy snow... good to decorate when we get home for christmas..

Bob-Thought you might be interested to know that there is a state of emergency in MA due to heavy snow taking down power lines. If you dont like India, come back and help clean up this mess. I am in Seattle now, but I am returning on Tuesday. Hopefully the power will be restored by then.

Feel better Bob. I am also nursing a cold. Crazy weather all around the world. We had monsoon like rains in Florida this weekend and flooding on our streets. I've never seen anything like this weather pattern. We take the grandchildren to Connecticut next weekend. Would have liked snow then as they've never seen it. Enjoy your trip.

june, craig will keep some snow in his freezer for you in CT...

I had the days a little mixed up calling Sunday a Monday… combo of dumb and dumbness..

Anyways it is Monday here in Kolkata.

We enjoyed our time in Thailand, it was way tooo short as it always is. We made some new friends and enjoyed some old ones. We really missed seeing Tong and Pook and his gang. Our hearts go out to them as they begin the clean-up process as the waters recede.

Our last night was spent at the Pan Pacific Svc Apartments on soi 55, Sukhumvit. This is a really nice street (2 way) with a cross over at sukhumvit and a skytrain station. As I said before there are tons of nice shops and restaurants all along the street. It attracts the affluent of bkk. Our room was only $77 including tax/breakfast, using a special deal on one of the discount sites—like that deal at ROS last year. The room was comfortable, fresh and newish. We loved the little mall attached to it. There was a big grocery store, wine store and tons of little shops, not to mention a branch of Crepes and Co, one of our bkk favorites.

Before leaving for the airport we had a bite to eat in the gourmet shop on the ground level of the mall: onion soup for me and minestrone for K, plus we split a rich dense nut brownie.

Getting to the airport from there is a cynch… just go up to soi 63 which takes you quickly to the highway. We rode under the highway and avoided all the tolls. Our fare was 195 B and we got there in perhaps 20-25 minutes.

Kingfisher Air check-in was swift and easy as was immigration. Our flight departed from F-3 which was a long walk. The flight was less than ½ full.. We were in row 4, aisle and aisle. On-line check-in was easy 2 days before. The fare was $116 plus $65 tax, etc. each---senior rate booked on expedia in us dollars. Updates from expedia were excellent too when times changed slightly..
The flight was less than 3 hours flying over Burma and the ocean. Deplaning was quick and we were at a bus gate. We were quickly through immigration. AS I WAS TOLD IN THE USA I TOLD THE IMMIGRATION OFFICER THAT WE WOULD LEAVE INDIA FOR 5 DAYS IN THE MIDDLE OF OUR STAY, EVEN THOUGH OUR VISA WAS STAMPED THAT WE NEEDED TO BE OUTSIDE INDIA FOR 60 DAYS. SHE STARTED TO LECTURE ME ABOUT THE STAMP WHEN THE NEXT AGENT TOLD HER IT WAS NO PROBLEM AS NEPAL IS A NEIGHBORING STATE AND THIS DOES NOT APPLY TO TRAVELLING THERE.
She did not want to see our travel documents or plane tickets.

So the bottom line is that this situation is not a problem. I will report once again after we have done the deed.

The airport is very much a utilitarian kind of place. Nothing fancy or comfortable, and not very busy.

Our suitcases came out quickly. As we exited the area our rep from the hotel was the only one waiting with a sign, so that made it easy. He escorted us to a driver with a waiting SUV for the 30 minute ride to the salt lake city area of kolkata. On the way to the car I spotted a Citibank ATM, so I made a quick stop there. Our hotel is the upscale ITC Sonar by Sheraton 5*. It is a huge hotel. Our room is on the second floor of the club wing. You pass thru 3 security doors within the hotel to get to our wing. The hotel is designed around a central grassed and water area . There is a huge swimming pool where K is heading just now for much of the rest of the day. There is very much a leisure non crowded feel about the hotel. There are tons, and I mean tons, of help at this hotel.

Our room is large and comfortable with very good, unobtrusive, a/c. the bed is decent but not fab. There are at least 5 specialty restaurants. You judge the staff member’s importance by his/her manner of dress, and there must be 5 levels at least. Everyone is very kind and helpful, and all have excellent English.

The driver, Mr Nasik (tel: 9830800222) is a very nice 29 y.o. guy from K. His driving is careful and his English, while soft spoken, is excellent. The hotel charged us about $26 for the p/u. I would not arrive here in retrospect without a prearranged ride.

The drive from the airport took us thru some newly developed areas of the city, incl SLC where the hotel is located. We are a ways from the city center, but this is a built-up area too… I guess all of India is built-up when you think about it.. We have scheduled mr. nasik to be our driver on Tuesdasy when we tour the city. We are having a quiet day today while I recover a bit.

After check-in we were escorted to our room by a man from the concierge staff. The room is very nice. We have a garden view which is quiet and I think preferable. Outside is noisy and there is some construction. Our driver told us that this is currently the #1 hotel in town? When we ask directions, a staff member always takes you there rather than just pointing the way.

We unpacked a bit and settled in. We decided on the Peshawri Restaurant for dinner…. A man on a rope just appeared outside my window and swept the ledge. Quite honestly the windows need a washing far more!!

We started with a cracker with cracked pepper and mint and tomato sauce for dipping. We ordered oven roasted chicken pieces with an egg coating and the famous bukkara dahl dish for our dinner, with both garlic and butter naans. We sharred. We split a kulfhi “ice cream” for dessert. Perfect… but $60 which did not please me.

We slept well and did skype telephone and internet this morning before breakfast.

Let me speak briefly to skype telephone. It is fantastic, clear as a bell, and almost free. I loaded my account with $10 before leaving home, have made many usa calls and I still have $9 left. I will never buy a sim card again. My account will auto refill when the credit is running low—another $10 direct from my checking a/c.


Monday

Today dawned clear and sunny. We had a nice buffet breakfast (500 rp each extra--$10).
We are staying here on a starwoods SPG rate of 2800 pts plus $45. This is a steal for sure. I don’t remember the cost here but it has to be $200-300/nte. So this cheapskate is very pleased, even if the food is expensive.

I want to lay low for the day and see if I can shake this cold. It is already much better.
Tomorrow we will have the car for about 5 hours starting at 11AM (1500 rs=$30.). We will tour most of the main sites, but will not do any indepth touring as I really don’t feel all that great.

As I sit here on the 2nd floor (which they call 12 for some reason) I look across very green short cut grass and walks past a row of trees and palms to a row of terra-cota roofs next door. The roofs are sort of pagoda style with several levels and a slight downward curve to them. It is very pleasant from here because I know chaos is just beyond all of this.

At breakfast we spoke briefly to a Brit sitting near us. He is in the leather business and works with quality. PAY ATTENTION NICKY. I forget the brand name but for sure you know it… the retail is 150-300 pounds in the UK for most of the handbags. I thought nicky would be all over him if she were here. He apologized to K as he has no samples on this trip, unlike most times. An interesting conversation in any case.

Bob, as I said, you and I both had Bangkok cough. Mine is doing better now that I'm in Narita!

Glad you liked Pan Pacific. A bit off the beaten track for my taste though.

Bob, I am paying attention!! Maybe K will remember the name of the company. sorry to hear you haven't been feeling well, hope you shake it off soon.

I failed to note our ride from the airport to the hotel in any detail. Largely the population here is muslim and because of this there are not cows on every street.

I did note that it also seemed very dark as we rode along. There were lots of small stands along the roads and they are lit by a single candle usually. The roads were very bumpy, even when travelling thru newer areas. Huge malls are springing up everywhere.

The driver pointed out what he claimed to be the largest call center in India. BTW, we watched a movie before we left home called, CALL CENTER. Get it and enjoy. We found it so realistic of the western experience in India, with all the odd things that happen and amuse. We got it from Netflix.

K has returned from the pool after 3.5 hours. She says there was only one other person there.

As we walked around the extensive grounds we enjoyed seeing the huge coy fish in the ponds and also the serene looking pond houses with elaborate wood lattice work decoration. These little houses are filled with comfy sofas and chairs and have dual fans to move the air. A lovely area to sit and read and/or relax.

Ok ..todays corrections...No red sauce at dinner, just the nice mint sacue with the papdans. Also the movie name is OUTSOURCED. It is a riot for those of you who have been here. The name of the purse company is Rogert, or some name similar. In Nordies in the US, and "good" stores in UK. Lovely and quiet by the pool.

carol, my cough has turned into a full fledged cold. i am feeling better tonight.

glad you are starting to feel better. We watched outsourced before going to India and loved it. Curiously I never did see the head wagging while on India. Enjoy India. Very curious to hear about your experiences in Calcutta.

Great report so far -- glad to know part of Panda is in his favorite place.

Hope you get well soon -- it's awful to be sick away from home.

Delhi has a "no-cow rule" now. I wonder if Kolkata does as well?

"Largely the population here is muslim and because of this there are not cows on every street." Bob, I think you are confused about this.

Unlike what we expected, the weather here is very comfortable. Humidity, usually a problem here, seems almost absent. The temp was 27 C. It was very comfortable.

I feel much better tonight so we will hit the ground tomorrow mid-morning for a tour of the city for about 5 hours. We look forward to this.

Kathie spoke so highly about calcutta walks but we decided that we did not want anything that intense. Given the way i have been feeling, i think we have made a good decision.

We had a nice dinner tonight in the general restaurant. I had an 'indian' pizza with shrimp and chicken marsala. it was quite good. K has chicken strogonoff. Our waiter made us up two plates of both indian and western desserts from the buffet table. 1690rp.

Waiting for you to leave the hotel and report on Calcutta!

"I guess all of India is built up when you think about it"

Er, no. Some of India is profoundly rural, just try driving across Karnataka.

Glad your cold is better. I've been traveling with one too, no fun.

I agree with Kathie - a quick google shows Kolkata's Muslim population at around 20%, vs 13% for India as a whole.