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.