While we were sitting in the old bangkok airport waiting for our home flight in june, 2005, we had a short conversation about when did we think it would be possible to return to bangkok...one never knows....what we did agree was that it should be as soon as possible....

so by august i was well into the planning process and this time we would include some time in india as well....

i knocked out a rough schedule that would include dec 18, our 40th anniversary...karen made some suggestions and also a request that maybe we not come home so late, so as to climb up the back of christmas....what she did not know was that i thought we could finish our vacation and have a bang-up weekend at the oriental or peninsula in celebration of our 40th....

i started to contact agencies in delhi and picked bonita's brain, as well as craig's, boston harbor's and lyndie's and some others... i also gave some thought to what we would want to do in thailand...all this lead up to the date that northwest opens up bookings for FF tickets (352 days in advance of your departure/return)...

so the next item to conquer was the flight...we each had enough FF miles on northwest to go again (60,000), so i started off with them to see what was available...when the date for FF tickets arrived i got right on the phone to N/W...sad news...nothing was available for the dates i wanted....i was very flexible and they went back and forth with dates...i hung up....i called back later....same story...i was getting depressed...so then i decided that maybe i was just too close to christmas to get free flights, so i changed my dates around to a starting date about november 1.....i called back the next evening and i got a wonderful woman who finally said to me, "would you consider Air France"...my response, "SURE"...we were already booked on an air france flight for may, 2006 with our youngest daughter and in the past we had always had very good luck with them...the dates, however, would not work entirely and she asked how flexible i was...i said totally...so finally we came to dates with a departure on oct 27 and a return on dec 5/6...i was quite pleased....it was not until i got off the phone and took a deeper look at the flights and times that i really became pleased...

one of the things we hate most about N/W is the 6AM departure you have from bangkok to home....add to that the 11:30PM arrival initially in bkk and you have poor flight planning....well this A/F schedule had us leaving on a night flight from boston at 8PM, arriving at Charles DeGaulle in paris in the early morning, and all day in paris until 11:15PM with another night flight on to bkk....some would not like the long stop in france, but i looked at it as an opportunity to relax, go to a hotel for some rest/swim or just go out into the countryside, which is what we ended up doing in a rental car....the return flights were just as good with an 11:30PM departure from bkk with a 5 hour stop in paris and arrival home about 3PM....fantastic...

so we were off to a good start and now i could proceed with the real detail planning..

the planning/replanning/scheduling, etc took the next year to accomplish...

during our french break, i developed the idea that our english friends could come over to paris and we could spend the day together....at first they were quite excited about this but later their schedules did not permit it..i decided that we would rent a car for the day, rather than going into paris proper...this allowed for the easy storage of anything we might be carrying as hand luggage and also allowed for an easy place to have a quick nap, should we need it...

we were familiar with the enviorns around CDG airport....we picked senlis as the main town for us to visit...

arriving in bangkok in october (29) allowed for 3 nites of low cost housing before the rates changed on nov 1....being there in early november also allowed us to participate in loy krathang, the annual festival of lights and still being there in early december ment that we would again be able to attend a jim thompson warehouse sale and at least one thai craft association sale....it also ment that maybe we could get together with some other fodorites, many of whom travel to thailand at this time of year...it also ment that perhaps we would be in bangkok at the same time as the 'pandas', who often are in bkk in december...

so during the intervening months i planned and replanned, made reservations and cancelled reservations until i had what i considered the perfect trip....:

a few days in bangkok
a few days in hua hin
a couple of days back in bkk for loy krathang
15-16 days in india
a few days in pattaya
and finally two full weeks in bangkok

karen loved the layout so we went forward with it...

i prepared a detailed daily schedule that allowed for plenty of flexibility and for as many changes and substitutions as we chose going forward...we stuck with it pretty well and accomplished about 95% of what we had intended to accomplish...

so this completes my planning phase and now i will go forward with the actual trip description...this year it will not be more than 1 written page...

planning to be away for 6 weeks is not as easy as if you were going away for 2 or 3 or even 4 weeks...just pre-paying estimated bills becomes very difficult...add to that the need to winterize your house and lawns and gardens and you find yourselves very busy at the last minute...

so on oct 27, hedley came for us about 4:30 for our 7:50PM flight to paris on air france...seats were preselected with A/F via telephone (row 25) for this airbus 340 (2-4-2)...check in at logan airport was swift and easy at terminal E....we walked over to terminal C and had a nice dinner at legal seafood...upon our return to term. E we noticed a 40 minute delay in our flight departure...no problem...i was still licking the clam chowder off of my moustache....gross....the former long lines at security have now been substantially reduced and so we passed through there quickly....
the flight ended up leaving about an hour late but we arrived at charles deGaulle about 6 minutes early...we breezed through immigration and with no bags to collect we headed for the car rental desk...i booked this time through argus car rentals in ireland, a discounter on line, who placed my rental with budget...we had a renault clio which was very comfortable..

we headed north to the town of senlis, about a 40 minute ride...the town dates to the 11th C... we had lunch at a small tea room, but they had a fantastic french menu...we both had a scallop/shrimp/leek plate with the most delicious sauce....restaurant name is: Feuille The d'Epices...
we purchased three bottles of wine, two for us and one for a birthday present for kathie (39)....we toured around this lovely town and visited a couple of churches...
we continued north and visited the site of the WWI peace signing....this is a place where two railroad crossing once met....date: nov 11, 1918....from there we went on to Chantilly....we had been there before...we drove by the chateau which was extremely busy and there was a traffic jam...

looked for a place for an early dinner, but of course not much opens in france before 7 or later....we did find one chain restaurant and stopped there....horid!!!

back to the airport and returned the car...

flight was at 11:05PM...again an airbus but this one was more comfortable than the first leg (first leg was comfortable enough too)...amazing how the same plane on the same airline can be completely different in the same seat number...

we slept for 6-7 hours with the assistance of a long busy day, little sleep the nite before and two little halcions....we skipped the dinner on the plane...the plane was 100% full...

one hour prior to arrival in bkk a breakfast was served..flight time was 11 hours and 50 minutes...
this was our easiest ever trip to bangkok...i highly suggest the eastern routing...

we anticipated the new bangkok airport with a positive attitude, and we were not disappointed....it is very sleek and accomodating...our gate was about as far as one can be from immigration, but unlike the old airport this new one has many moving walkways to speed you along your way....we found the signage to be adequate, and even very good in some areas... immigration was a breeze and our suitcases came into view in 2-3 minutes...WOW!!

as we emerged through the customs doors we were greeted with the usual mass of people, all holding signs...the room is far too small for this activity...i would judge it to be about 1/2 the size of the same room at the old airport...

after some difficulty we found our driver and in two minutes we were on our way to the marriott resort and spa....it was sunday so the traffic was light and the drive was about 40 minutes---all highway....

we were very impressed with the new airport and continued to be so with our other 3 encounters with it, except for one long wait for luggage...

Come on Bob, stop teasing!!

Can't wait for the full report.

Rob

"this year it will not be more than 1 written page" lol! either very tiny writing or a very large page!

We francophiles appreciate the detour through CDG and Senlis!

We have had mixed luck with Air France -- on Christmas Night 2003 they kept us waiting for many hours at Logan then canceled the flight around 11 pm with not so much as a "Joyeux Noel" so I am glad to hear of such a good experience on Air France out of Logan.

Looking forward to the rest of the report.

Does anyone believe that planning for this trip began with a "short" conversation? I'm sure Karen's end was brief, but Bob's end was endless. He hasn't had a "short" conversation since his court case.

Also, imagine being the poor Northwest phone Ticket agent stuck talking endlessly to Bob about FF miles. Of course, she eventually said "Have you tried Air France?" Next, she would have asked about Aeroflot. Anything at all to get him to talk to someone, anyone else.

Plus being away for six weeks is not as hard for Bob as the rest of us. His neighbors have formed a cooperative coalition to do many of the maintenance tasks for him if he agrees to stay away a month or longer.

He happens to be correct about the late arrival and early departure of NW (and United and Air Canada) as effectively cutting off vacation time. However, we've found the Thai Air JFK-BKK flight eliminates both these annoyances. I agree that the Eastern route is better.

checked into the room which was on the 4th floor in the south building...they upgraded us to a river view room... room $116 inclusive, i think..

down for a quick swim (you knew i would get that in in the first few paragraphs)...wonderful as ever...

off to tongue thai for our first real thai meal...meal was good but not fantastic...1342 B....

dead tired so off to bed...

monday oct 30

this is our first exposure to 'yellow shirt day'....since last spring many many thais dress in yellow shirts on mondays, as encouraged by their employers, in honor of the king's 60 years on the throne....what a sight...bright yellow everywhere...many of you will remember that the flag that honors the king is also bright yellow....on fridays is blue shirt day in honor of the queen...and everyday you see both yellow and blue shirts all over thailand....

our room included the buffet breakfast at the marriott....this is an excellent breakfast with a ton of variety...

then a swim...we were greeted by our friend the pool manager--Dr Pool...i had brought him a red sox hat as a gift...

about 11 we ventured away from the pool to visit our tailor friend, jack, at monet il sarto in the marriott mini mall....karen had brought him some projects to get right started on....she had purchased 3 lengths of cloth in italy last spring and wanted to have 3 coats/jackets made.... after visiting with him we jumped into a taxi to the conrad hotel on wireless rd for lunch...

liu restaurant on the 3rd floor of the conrad serves the best dim sum...they have a menu with 41 items to choose from...we chose to eat a la carte but you can have an all you can eat version for a fixed price as well...delicious as always...1883 B

from there we took a taxi to thai air's offices on silom road...karen had decided just before we left home that she would like to visit the flora show in chiang mai during our trip....eddie at seatoursthai had put me onto a site that had a "deal" for a one day pass to the show and round trip flights for 8000 B for two persons...you could however only buy this pass at the thai air office...so we selected nov 28 as an open day when we could go...after a wait to be waited on, we secured the tickets we wanted...

taxi back to the hotel...huge traffic jam on silom road as usual...

as part of our discounted rate at the hotel, through www.huahin.20m.com, we had a sunset cruise thrown in, so this was the nite we had choosen to go on that....its a one hour river ride on one of the rice barges and you are given a free drink...enjoyable..

dinner was at harmonique....one of our favorites....the old man seems to be gone--maybe he has died?....the air conditioned room on the right has been sanitized a bit....new tile floor and the walls have been painted 2/3s of the way to the ceiling?? all the kitsch is gone....the food has not changed...excellent and very reasonable...we had a sampler appetiser with four items on it...chicken cashew, fried morning glories with garlic and steamed rice...505B..fantastic...

taxi back to the hotel...as it was still early, we went out to see jack to see how k's projects were progressing....we had brought a CD with pics of the styles she wanted...the tailors wanted to make some changes and k agreed with them...they are not used to making heavy winter coats, of course... bed..we were still a bit tired but nothing like our usual western flights ...

I am now going to switch my February reservation to the Marriott for the sole purpose of presenting a NY Yankee hat to Dr. Pool...too bad they don't come in yellow...

Craig - I love it!

stand by for my story about a new yorker who was anoop's customer after me....

we gave anoop a red sox cap as well...he was our driver in india...his next customer was from NY and had a fit when he saw the cap...i did warn himm...thin skin those yankees fans...

halloween

we had trouble sleeping the nite just past...breakfast and then a quick swim...off to the jewelry store...we spent about 3 hours with porn at thai stone jewelry (nana hotel, soi 4, sukhumvit rd)...karen had about 17 projects to discuss with her...not all were for us...some for our kids and a couple of friends, plus some adjustments for a past project of craig's....we laughed a lot...they are such a fine bunch of people...

did some internet on soi 4 at a very convenient cafe...

then we were starved....how could we be after that huge breakfast??

we wandered down soi 4 as i was also looking for a cafe/bakery that i had read about....we came across the white lodge....we had a nice simple lunch there in their spotless dining room...

took the sky train to on nut station on our way to the jim thompson outlet...taxi from skytrain to the shop on soi 93, sukhumvit....

there is a new cafe on the 5th floor, as previously reported...karen bought a few things....taxi back to skytrain and back to the river to get the hotel boat...such a nice ride on the river!!

out to see jack for a fitting on the coats for karen...several things needed changing....decorative stitching was in the wrong place...

quick swim to cool off...

taxi to the sheraton grande on sukhumvit to try the basil restaurant...i had to direct the taxi driver to sukhumvit....our new favorite route to sukhumvit: rama III to asoke to sukhumvit (always a small jam at asoke and sukhumvit)...the new overpasses on rama III almost eliminates all traffic clogs...

karen reports that the dinner was unimpressive....we had hoped that we would be overwhelmed and thus would have scheduled their cooking school later in our stay but nothing pleased us about our experience, except that the room was very attractive....we had the head waitress as our server and she was surly and never smiled once or greeted us or any of the usual thai amenities... service was terrible!! we felt the food was really dumbed down as well for the western palate...
combo appetiser platter; chicken and cashew; beef with mushrooms and asparagus and a fried rice, water and one glass of wine and a beer....1871 B

skytrain back to taskim and the boat to the hotel...

had some cake in the room from the marriott bakery...

repacking to prepare to leave the next day...

huge breakfast again...we were really liking the sauteed mushrooms, a kind that we do not find here...plus the pastry and eggs and all kinds of other items and tons of freshly cut fruit...

karen went to the pool for the morning and i went to the laundry up the road just past soi 56, and then to the internet for a hour or two (25 B per hour---just past the laundry)...

we met back at the room to finish our packing....we had a simple lunch at uno on the ground level of the marriott....we were being picked up at 1PM...

many of you know that i have been conversing for about a year with gal avarin, an israeli expat living in thailand for about 18 years...his wife is cherry, the guide whom i often mention on fodors...mostly we speak via the internet and occasionally via telephone....we have become quite good friends although we had never met...

so after i had the trip laid out, we were to be spending 4 days in pattaya where he now lives after our return from india....we wanted to go there to meet he and cherry and also to catch up with my best man's brother steve who is now living in pattaya full time...at some point in my planning process i discovered that gal would be off to israel during my stay in pattaya so i switched the early november stay with my later november stay in hua hin....thus on november 1 we headed to pattaya before gal left for israel...

cherry and her driver came to pick us up promptly at 1PM for the drive to pattaya...

cherry is a wonderfully nice and kind thai woman...she is bright and speaks excellent english...in fact her english is better than almost any other thai that i have met...

over the next 4 days we became close friends...even though they are younger than are we, we really got along very well...

the van that cherry uses regularily for her tours is a large toyota van with four rows of seats, including the driver seat...it holds 8 comfortably i should think....so we sped off to pattaya and talked the entire way...about family, thailand, touring, our future use of cherry's services and everything under the sun...she is a joy really....in no time we had arrived at the sheraton pattaya resort...

WOW....just as mystic1947 (pat) had described to me...the place is magnificent....the open air lobby looks over the pools below and out to the open ocean and the islands in the distance...there is no front desk, but rather 3 regular business desks where you are greeted by the efficient and welcoming staff...the area surrounding the lobby is tranquil and beautiful...

the resort is built into a hillside overlooking pattaya bay...we were taken by golf cart to our room...the room is the largest hotel room we have ever had...simply huge...and we had a cheap room ($109++ from the starwoods site--AARP rate)..the bed was a huge platform bed and the decorations were thai and soothing....the bathroom was also large with a rain shower head...there was a large balcony...we did not have a view other than of the foliage on the hillside--garden view....i think our building was 4 or 5 floors high... from our arrival most staff people called us by our name...

the gardens were all very lush...but we noticed that things seemed to need water...there are three pools and a number of restaurants including two down at water's edge...we were very pleased with this hotel decision...it is, btw, completely away from all the fray that is pattaya...it is on the hill between pattaya and jontiem, right next door to the famous cliff hotels...

gal and cherry came back at 7PM to take us out to dinner....we went to a very simple, but delicious, italien restaurant not far from the hotel... pan pan...across the street from bruno's restaurant...

after dinner we did a driving tour around beach road in pattaya...nite life central...

we had lots of laughs..."can do, can do---no problem"

back to the hotel by 11...the bed was fantastic...

rhkkmk=Enjoying your report. My husband & I will be in Thailand next October-Thanks so much-Chris

thursday--

we had breakfast in our room...the coffee pot would not work but a simple phone call and it was replaced within 5 minutes...

down to the pool for a couple of hours...i got a burn...

at about 11 we took a taxi into town...150B...we walked around the marriott mall which we knew from our visit in 2005...had some lunch there at au bon pan (a boston company)...

karen bought some shoes, we looked at oriental rugs in anticipation of our time in india when we hoped to buy a new carpet for our dining room...there is now a jim thompson outlet in this mall...nice addition...more shopping..

taxi back to hotel...taxis are trucks with bench seats in the rear...

another nice swim....the pools are very nice...karen had a glass of wine from her french wine...

at 7:15 gal picked us up for dinner...we had selected bruno's just down the road from the hotel....an excellent choice....delicious food...we all had steaks or pork, western style...5568 B...my treat...i highly recommend this restaurant....the food and service were top notch...again lots of laughing...

Very curious to hear more...

friday-- a real lazy day....we went to the hotel buffet to check it out...quite nice...it included dim sum which many of the bkk hotels have now eliminated from their breakfast buffets...about 550B per person...

karen went to the pool and i wandered around with my camera...stayed at the pool until about 1:30...

went into town again and had a snack at the uno's in the marriott mall...had no interest in exploring pattaya at all...did some internet on the top floor of the mall...all new machines and reasonable...

back to the hotel...watched our photos on the tv....relaxed...wine in the room for karen...

at 7:45 the car from casa pascal's came for us...mystic1947 had suggested this reataurant to us as one of their favorites...we were not disappointed...european fare...2477 B

water, wine, beer, lobster soup, mushroom soup, thai seabass, goulash (fantastic), mango sherbet and creme brulee...limo 300 B r.t. (same as a taxi, but far nicer)... very highly recommended for anyone...

saturday--

up at 7:30...met our friend steve palmer in the lobby....down stairs for breakfast....lots to talk about since we had not seen him for about 18 months..

gal and cherry picked us up about 11:30...with them were 3 of cherry's cousins in their 20's....we drove along jontiem beach....went to visit their investment villa which we may have some interest in renting for a future visit....it is very nice, but away from the water, but it does have its own pool...it is in a complex which is very nice....reminded us of florida complexes...

next we went to their house in an expat neighborhood...actually this is where we met the cousins now that i think about it...

from there we headed off to a local fishing village that gal had been telling me about....it is south of jontiem and off of sukhumvit road...the village is called bang saral...we ate at the rim haad restaurant which is right on the water...

this was probably our best meal in thailand and certainly the freshest...we could see the fishing boats moored near-by...we had:
nuea poo pad pong (yellow curry shelless crab); spicy tom yam shrimp soup; grilled prawns--unbelievable; rock lobster steamed; mussels cooked with basil, lemongrass and garlic; fried morning glories and steamed rice...wow....delicious....we spent most of the afternoon there just lazing around, drinking beers and enjoying the atmosphere and the company....we encouraged the cousins to use their english but they were a bit shy...

from there we headed back towards town and made a stop at the big C, the huge grocery store on sukhumvit...we bought ourselves some breakfast foods to eat in our room...

we invited them all into the hotel for a tour and we ended up at the bar down near to the beach for a drink at sunset...a perfect way to end a wonderful day!!

down to the busines center to do some quick e mails...

later we decided we were again ready to eat something so we took a taxi down the hill to pan pan...karen had pasta and i had pizza..

back to the hotel and our comfy bed...

a fantastic day...

Hi Bob and Karen,

Once again, welcome back. Loving your Thailand and India reports! Hey, you were really close to the fabulous Sea Sand Sun Resort and Spa where we stayed last December, just south of Jomtien Beach...did you stop in to take a look at it? From there, our family walked along the beach until we reached the fishing village of Bang Seray where we also ate at a seafood restaurant along the water...your report is bringing back good memories of our time there. So glad that you had a wonderful day in that area and a memorable meal. Wasn't the color of that sea water and the distant mountain views just beautiful?!

Terry