WHY ROMANIA???
 

this is the question everyone asks us... i'm not sure that i have a concise answer to this question, but in general the following will have to do....

it was about as far into europe as our FF miles would take us.....it seemed a bit unexplored by normal tourism.....in fact it seemed a bit on the edge....there was not a great deal written about it on Fodors...it seemed a bit exotic for a europe adventure....it seemed like it might be similar to the czech republic 25 years ago...lastly we knew noone who had been there....

so about a year ago the planning began in earnest....

We are going there for the first time in May and can hardly wait! From what I have seen and read it is real, raw, gorgeous, intriguing, full of character and history, etc.

We have found the further East we have gone the more we love it!

The right answer would be...and why not ? :)

I have a close friend from there and she says the country is developing quickly (it is a member of the EU now), probably in a few years it won't be as cheap and won't have the old character it has now. Some other things will improve, of course, and the wonderful forests and countryside will hopefully still be there :)
But don't think it is "exotic", every year more and more people choose Romania ( and other East countries) for holidays here in Europe thanks to the low cost flights :)

first thing required securing plane tickets and that was easily done via American Airline's FF desk....the routing from Boston was via London, so this allowed us to tack on a week long stop over in england on the way home, to visit friends....
we took the day flight from boston leaving at 9AM...we have taken these day flights before and they are super....it did require an overnite stay at heathrow however....you arrive in london at 7:30PM which allows for a dinner stop and a good nites sleep....i did a priceline for slough/windsor area on the UK priceline site and received the Marriott Courtyard in Slough on my first attempt for 35 pounds (about $75)...we have stayed there before so that was perfect and the price was right....next i had to decide if we would taxi there and back, or if a rental car would provide more flexibility, which is what i decided upon...i had recently come upon a good, new to me, car rental site (www.carrentals.com)...i booked an intermediate sized car for 33.78 pounds, inclusive, for the day...good price for a one day rental i felt....note: their prices change often so keep checking back to secure the lowest rate....they represent a number of car companies and we ended up with alamo and a citreon picasso which was perfect and very comfortable....too big almost...
so i had day one taken care of...

now the research began in earnest...first stop was fodors, where i found some good info, especially Clifton's comprehensive report.....stu tower, whom we know from the asia board, provided even more detailed and personal info for us...as you may know he has written books about romania and its people...he provided very detailed info about touring and hotels....
our local library and amazon.com offered very little info or resources....i did buy a rough guide to romania which was helpful...along the way our library purchased the new lonely planet guide to romania so this was a help also and up to date....
our thai friend, gal, and his dad, fredi in israel, provided additional info on
visiting romania....fredi was born in romania and often revisits there...
so things seemed under control as planning began in earnest....
i had a trip outline from a romanian tour guide, so this assisted me as an outline for a potential trip....i meshed this with the info from stu, clifton, fredi and my own research and came up with a decent plan....along the way we visited the romanian tourist office in nyc and the manager there gave us tons of written info and assistance in trip planning...he sat us down in their office and helped with initial planning....as we left he said to e mail him our plans and he would comment on them and we did this with great success...his comments were very helpful and allowed me to tweek the route a bit....

i then needed to decide if we would have a guide/driver or do it all myself....i was concerned about the condition of the roads if i were to drive myself....finally i decided that i could drive as i have almost every place else that we have visited, so this allowed us total flexibility....

Hey Bob,

looking forward to read more about your adventures in Romania. Hm, since you could drive that certain car on that certain Island you should be able to drive any car on any road in Romania ;-)

Ingo

PS: I enviously notice that you are *way* ahead with the work on your trip report compared to me :(

I visited Bucharest and the surrounding area (including Brasov and Bran) in 2004, and there very few tourists in Bucharest, and only a few in Brasov (lots at Bran). There's great train service between Bucharest and Bran.

There's plenty to see in Bucharest, and I had a very busy few days (based at the Athenee Hilton, where I had a lot of luck at the casino -- in fact, I paid my entire room bill with my winnings -- I have never had such a lucky streak).

Michael

so now to the trip directly....

our driver Hedley picked us up at 6:30AM...easy trip to logan airport....check-in was smooth...btw, the taxes for the FF tickets were a high of $180.40 each...i guess that is cheap bacause that the same trip priced out at $1904. each....quick flight even with circling heathrow for about 10-15 minutes....only our flight was in immigration so we passed quickly and our bags were the first out on the belt.... off to alamo for the car and we were on the M-4 in no time headed for slough.....off the highway in the usual place and started to look for the hotel...only thing we saw was a holiday inn....strange....we kept going for 5 minutes and finally asked in a gas station....seems hotel changed from Courtyard to Holiday Inn last summer....so back we went...easy check-in...back out to get something to eat....not all that hungry as the food was actually quite decent on the AA flight....we decided on take-out pizza from a local pizza hut and beers....we ordered and took it back to our room at the HI....Perfect...into bed and a good nites sleep...

up early and off to return the car...our 9:55AM flight to Bucharest was on British Air...its about a 3 hour flight...

breakfast at Heathrow...WOW are things expensive!!

the flight was right on time and comfortable with a free seat between us---3/3...again a decent meal---almost too much to believe...
we landed in Bucharest about 3PM....
immigration and customs were a breeze....no visa required for US citizens....airport was drab at best...

i had not pre-arranged transportation so we walked through the maze of people to the outside....we had been forewarned about gypsie taxi drivers, many of whom approached us....

there was a line of identical taxis at curbside....a man approached and asked where we were going and i told him the Intercontinental Hotel...he was the organizer for this group of taxis....his price to the city center was 70 Ron, about $30... i had withdrawn Ron from the ATM in the airport....rate about 2.3 to the dollar....

the ride took about 1 1/2 hours, even though it was only 16 km...heavy traffic and very inefficient roadworks and construction all along the way.... our driver was an unemployed engineer and spoke decent english...he was a nice introduction to romania....

the first thing we noticed was the huge amount of grafitti everywhere...

some of the buildings were moderately attractive and we drove through an old upscale area which had belonged to a former era of elegance and wealth...huge attractive but rundown houses...

we arrived at the Intercontinental in University Square....site of the 1989 uprising....its a high rise---i think the tallest building in Bucharest...lobby was attractive and the usual western standard...
our room was on the 18th floor which offered us a nice view of the city and even the huge parliament building....

in the next segment i will tell you about my "deal" at this hotel...

while seeking info on fodors for the trip, one member told me of their great luck with intercontinental....not to bore you with the details, but i purchased 15,000 FF points from them and for 5,000 per nite got the room at Intercontinetal...all for $150 total....the normal rate there is over 200 euros per nite....so we got a real bargain....thank you to who ever contacted me with that info...

our room was large and comfortable and served us well during our stay...it was very centrally located for what we wanted to do...

the staff was what i refer to as "correct"....that is they answered questions asked but were by no means warm and friendly....they never offered more info than what we had asked...this included the conceige with whom i had exchanged e mails concerning concert tickets...

we asked about a place for dinner...local color and food...they sent us to a lovely place just in back of the hotel---a 3 minute walk, called Burebista...the American Embassy is directly across the street from it.., they made a reservation for us ...

the decor was romanian, the food was romanian...a very pleasant place...the live music was loud but we soon learned to deal with this as it is common in romania...

the first place we were seated was on a balcony right by the front door and i asked if we might be reseated....we were given a small table on the ground floor which was perfect....we were now 3, as just next to our table was the stuffed remains of a white bear sitting on his hind legs....he was a very pleasant dinner companion....(guenmai, you would have loved him)...

seated next to us was a young german couple and their well behaved young daughter....we had some pleasant conversations....the father is working outside Bucharest on an extended project involving trash disposal...they were very pleasant....

while ordering our dinner, the waitress, in native costume, asked if we would like to have a typical romanian appetiser of cured meats and salad...we said sure...that became an unhappy introduction to romania for me...more later...

the appetiser arrived and it was huge...it was meats, salad, frois gras, roulards, pastrami, pates, salad greens, cheese, roasted veggies...it was quite delicious...

our main courses were bear stew for me and chicken in a thick white cream sauce for karen.... both came with risotto...we also ordered a grilled veggie plate...i need my veggies... i had beer and karen had white wine... 159 ron total...

our room did not come with breakfast so we had visited a local bakery before dinner to buy breakfast rolls....at that time we also bought some pastry desserts for after dinner....they were uniformly delicious....the place was called the French Bakery and was on an adjacent street to the hotel...we went there each morning for breakfast...

did not give the price a thought as i still was not used to the currency exchange...

karen began her diary after our return to the room and i organized my paperwork for the trip....we ate our delicious french pastry....at some point i thought the dinner was quite expensive....i looked at the bill karen had taken and could not figure it out....there were so many entries and it was all in romanian....the price was about $70 when i did the conversion...i had had the wrong conversion amount in my mind...

why was this simple dinner so much??

off to bed as we were tired...

up about 8:15 the next morning....we had not bought breakfast pastry the nite before as reported earlier, but in fact walked over to the French Bakery for breakfast and some really good coffee for K....

i had decided to ask the conceige about the bill from the nite before as he had sent us there....i showed it to him....he was non-plussed...he explained, matter-of-factly, that many of the entries were for pate and the like and were very expensive...i then discovered that the "typical romanian appetiser" had cost over 1/2 of our dinner bill and in fact cost about $45.....i was furious...i felt ripped off...

i told the conciege that they should speak to the restaurant about this, but he said no as he saw no problem with it....he said these were expensive items on the appetiser and in fact were cheap in comparison to paris, say....i reminded him that we were in bucharest, not in paris....

this also made me mad....as we were discussing it, the german woman greeted us.....they also were quite mad about it....

live and learn...

Welcome home Bob, sounds like a good trip. We had fun ribbing you on the Asia board while you were in Romania.

so we embarked on our first of two full days in Bucharest.....the buildings looked interesting and we were anxious to explore....we headed for new town, after asking the conceige about visiting the parliament building....this is the 2nd largest building in the world, after the US pentagon building....it was built by the former dictator as his shrine...it has never been finished....you go by appointment....so they faxed an appointment request for us for the next day at 11....

off to the old town to explore... we found many buildings to be in decent shape, even many restored....but many were in horrid condition with broken windows and the like....the city is in transition....i think they are waiting for the EU money which will certainly pour into after their jan 1, 2007 membership in the EU...

this country must have more churches per capita than any other...many are small....in most if not all the patrons stand...the paintings and the art work is unbelievable.... the icons of silver with painted portrait inserts are very interesting...

parishioners enter the church and cross themselves at least 3 times....they then proceed to kiss many of the artifacts in the church...must be great for spreading germs....ok, God will strike me down for saying that...

we visit the very famous old beer hall and restaurant with its painted interior...may return for dinner the next nite---carul cu berre on stavopoleos, 3...very impressive...

both of our guidbooks come in handy...

i was tired for some reason so we return to the hotel after lunch at a street-side pizza place...i never take a nap, but did that day...

the conceige had arranged theatre tickets for us for the evening, in advance....cost about $84 for two tickets...the program was called "viva opera"....it was held at the national opera house....the theatre is set in a lovely park...we took a taxi there for the early performance--6:30...all their performance are early...

the theatre was lovely and small.. and our seats were fabulous--center on the aisle....

there was a full orchestra, 8 soloists, including felicia filip, and a chorus of about 24....a full production....

the program was basically famous arias.....we loved every minute....

we had trouble getting a taxi afterwards, so decided to try the metro which was right across the street.....we bought our tickets and the ticket taker asked a man to assist us....he turned out to speak english and in fact was a member of the chorus....he was very kind and gave us great instructions and in fact stayed with us 3/4 of the way back to university plaza, our stop...


from there we walked over to a restaurant we had seen near the french bakery the day before...its called pizza al forno colosseum in a passageway off of valea victaiien, 48/50....delicious italian dinner...69 Ron for 4 beers, 2 desserts, 2 green salads and 1 chicken with mushrooms and one one pasta dish....delicious...good choice...

off to bed....

i will continue tonight...

bob

Bob, I am really happy to be reading your report, and loved the idea of an early concert, filled with arias.

As to the giant stuffed bear in the restaurant, are you certain it wasn't gpanda? Was it wearing a Speedo, by chance? I also noted you had bear stew as an entree, so I thought this much too coincidental.

Waiting for more..my best to you and K.

BC

Does one really need to ask why a blood-sucking banker would go to Romania? It must have felt like home.

No wonder, he left so mny there, looking pale :)

Mimi-it is no place anyone with your grace.

Hmm...an attorney accusing a banker of being a blood sucker...the gpanda protests too much, methinks!

BC

Why indeed.

Anxiously waiting for more although the other Asia Board Fodorites are providing more than enough entertainment on this thread.

Is methinks an oxymoron?

Plus I never said Bob had a monopoly on blood-suckerism. In fact, my grandmother was from Romania. There's a small enclave of Pandas. Not very well known.

No, gpanda, when I use "methinks", it is not an oxymoron. I won't speculate here about when others use it.

Romanian pandas??? Wonder if Bob saw any in his travels. Guess we'll have to wait for the next part of his report.

BC

The oxymoronhood of methinks aside, I am readin Bill Bryson's monograpgh on Shakespeare. It does not read smoothly, but contains an unbelievable number of arcane factoids. For instance (and perhaps slightly germane to the diversion of this thread), Shakespeare used 2055 words for the first time they appeared in print. I don't know whether methinks was one of them.

For once I'll agree w/the OP: the daytime flight from Boston to London is a great way to get anywhere in Europe.

Gypsy cab drivers in Romania? ... hmmm...

Bob

I'm enjoying your report AND the sidetrip down panda-way. (I, too, had the same thoughts as BC re: the bear at the restaurant and your meal)

More, more.
Carol

We never eat bear. It would be a form of cannibalism.

rhkkmk, I feel your pain re: the surprisingly expensive appetizer. But as a former waiter, I'm careful about ordering the house recommendations without knowing the price - and, in some instances, knowing the house! Anyway, the national specialty might be mac and cheese, but the house version would find a way to work in caviar and foie gras ... and I guess it did.

Interesting report, looking forward to the rest.

GPanda, my grandfather was from Romania. You don't think we're related, do you?

rhkkmk,

Quit crying....didn't you see the signs in Romanian on every table saying:

"A sucker born every minute, eat the appetizer dummy $45.00?"

Enjoying your report.....can't wait for more.

Aloha!

I can hardly wait to see the BOB-zy twins together again :)

Panda-moanium will reign.

travel2---the country is a building process....the countryside is beautiful but many other things need attention....i am sure you will enjoy your trip...

ingo---you left my house on oct. 14---where is your usa report??

mimi---my ribs are deep under flab...

bc--the stew was tough--maybe it was panda meat...lots of uneatible parts too..

panda--i have a good pic of your grandmother....wait for the pics...

up about 8:30 on thursday...over to the french bakery again for breakfast....i could get real used to those pastries daily...

off to the 'people's palace' for our 11 AM tour reservation...the hotel had difficulty getting us a taxi for some reason....they tell you not to use the ones on the street....it took over 15 minutes...

the drive was about 10 minutes...we approached the first gate and were waved away...went around to the back and entered... the guard told the driver that the palace was closed since sunday...we left and tried another gate back at the front....this time the guard just yelled at our driver and waved his arms....so we never got to see this horrid building on the inside...
the outside grounds are a mess and the wall is cracking and falling down in places...no money...
about 1/4 of the old part of bucharest was torn down by the dictator to build this building in the 1980's...it was to be a show place and now it is just a laugh....

i instructed the driver to take us to the hilton hotel...this is one of the old buildings that is to be seen....the lobby area that is....the rest has been renovated beyond recognition....the lobby was old world and interesting....there were many pictures of then (1916) and now...taxi was $7 after all this driving around...

directly across the street is the Romanian Anthenum, the city's most famous and beautiful concert hall....it was not open to the public yet so we just walked around the neighborhood a bit...we ended up at the bucharest home of composer george enescu, now a museum....he died in 1955. he was married to a romanian princess so had social status in the country and gained it worldwide with his music...

the museum is not in the best condition....it has many art deco details as well as european elegance of a past era...

enescu was a very simple man....he did not prefer the high life, but rather liked an almost monastic life....to this end he did not live in the palace museum building but rather lived quietly in a far more simple house in the rear of the palace....that too is open to the public....seemed almost original, the way he left it when he emigrated from romania in the 1940's...

from the museum we took a taxi back to the hilton...behind the concert hall and the hotel we found a large wonderfully restored house which now contains a very "in" restaurant called cafe galleron...we had a nice lunch in their bar....afterwards we used their free computer to check e mails for the first time....internet cafes are not abundant in romania...

from there we headed back to the Antheneum to see if perhaps they might have spare tickets for that evening....in fact they had about 6 tickets left.....we purchased two...we were in box #1 just to the right of the stage....karen says we could spit on the first cellist if we wished.... tickets were 60 ron each...less than $30...WOW!!!

the program was Verdi's Requiem with misha katz conducting the george emescu orchestra....what a score for us...

we walked around a bit more and then returned to the hotel for another nap if you can believe it...

again the concert was early, so we decided that we would eat afterwards in one of the newish places in back of the theatre...

the theatre is magnificent in itself....our seats could not be better....slighly elevated so that we could observe the full stage as well as the full audience...

we shared the box with an australian couple who had secured their tickets the same way that we had...

there was a very large orchestra, a chorus of over 40 and 4 soloists...

mr katz (age 43, and born in russia) is a cross between abe lincoln and icabod crane (sp)...he is tall and exceptionally thin and makes lavish movements, jumps on the stage up and down, sways back and forth and accompanies this with unbelievable face gestures....alone he is a show in himself....

because of the size of the orchestra and the chorus there was only about 2 feet left at the front of the stage for him to stand along with the soloists.....we expected him to fall off at least 6 times with all his jumping around....he did not....

i would have preferred another piece of music but karen loved it...i enjoyed the theatrics of it all however....a lovely evening....

after the performance we tried to get into one restaurant and it was full...we squeezed into its neighbor, a newly built minimalistic place....the chef greeted us upon entrance because he had seen karen looking at it earlier in the day....we had a chat and he checked back with us to see how we enjoyed our meal....it was delicious...the restaurant is Byblos on str nichlae golescu 14/16...

1/2 bottle of white wine, one beer--local...water, caesar salad which we shared...i had tortellini and karen had pork loin and spuds...dessert was his version of tiramisu---almost like a custard....

149 ron

we had a nice walk back to the hotel along the main street...

did some repacking for our departure in the AM....

the beds were comfortable and the bathroom modern...the hotel is considered 5*, but i would rate it about 3.75*...it is a fairly busy place..i think the new romanian elite class use it quite a bit...

the next morning we were packing and taking our showers when the phone rang and it was the car delivery man....it was 9:15 and the car was not to have been delivered until 10....

we told him we would be down in a few minutes...

i found the car rental agency on a google search....the rental prices in romania are exceptionally high...
the agency is called cars4rent (www.cars4rent.ro)...i think it is a couple of guys running their own firm...their cars come with insurance at a mandatory 5 euros per day, although i opted for additional insurance at 8 euros per day to be safe....after day one i was glad that i had...

they delivered to us a dark blue renault megnne wagon disel, which was perfect for us....too big almost...i was glad of the power and some of the accessories, like power front windows....price for the 11 days was 514 euros including the extra 88 euros of insurance....substantially less than any other quote that i received...the car had 12,000 km on it...
i would use them again....no delivery charge and they met us at the international departures for the return of the car....

car delivered so we set to finish our packing and showers...

we went to a small coffee shop behind the hotel for a quick breakfast, packed up and were on the road by 9:30....

the rough guide maps helped us out of the city....we were headed towards pilesti which is north west...

the plot i had laid out resembled a huge light bulb.....starting in the south, heading northwest, then north, then east, then southwest, then south and back to bucherest....the airport is north of the city...

the roads were good and started out as a two lane divided "highway"...
almost immediately i noticed the erratic driver....they dart in and out of traffic and pass at all the wrong times....withing about 2 hours we had seen 4 accidents, one very bad one....i was glad of my additional insurance...

outside the city we encountered our first monestery....

interesting enclave and well preserved....c. 1388...

stopped along the way at a nice looking restaurant and had a quick lunch...soup and grilled sandwiches..

our goal for the day was to reach sibiu....

the countryside was nice....

we reached sibiu late in the afternoon and found our hotel, the casa moreau in the suburbs.....its a lovely 4* B&B in a neighborhood with no other businesses....the place is spotless and the room very comfortable....275 ron per night including breakfast/tax...they also have a small pool....they have a restaurant during the summer season as well but it was closed for the winter....a perfect spot...

they suggested a very romanian place for dinner called La Dobrun, just on the edge of the old town....

inside the restaurant resembles a large barn....they carry the theme throughout...its quite large....there is a huge farm wagon hanging from the ceiling....

at 8PM a band started playing...the locals began to stream in....

we had a bottle or transylvania reisling, water, bread (you have to pay extra and it does not come with butter---ever), grilled mushrooms with garlic, mixed veggies, and the traditional stuffed cabbage leaves with sausages, ham and polenta...way too much food....70 ron....

back to hotel and bed....again very comfortable...reminded me of zimmer frei places in germany....lots of wood ..

rhkmk, I'm glad the Intercontinental deal worked for you as well as it did for me, and I also noticed you visited the French Bakery as well. I wish we had been able to go to theatrical or opera performances, but these were not available in August. I am looking forward to reading the rest of your report outside of Bucharest.

the next morning we were up by 7:30...breakfast was in the basement...a nice little buffet plus eggs cooked to order-we were the only guests i think....i ordered an ommelette....my first mistake....it is fried in tons of oil and served sort of like a fried egg.....this continued for the rest of the trip so i stopped ordering that....its no omelette!!

after showering we headed into the old town....stopped at the hagia sophia look alike church....had some trouble finding parking and eventually stopped at the local outdoor market for a walk around...we love markets...

round the block again and back to the cathederal where there was parking....its really only one long block into the first of three squares in the old town....we visited the two smaller squares first, including the evangelical church with its tall climbable tower (we did not climb)....dracular's son is buried in this church....

we observed the stair passageway to the lower town with its lovely surrounding buildings, many of them renovated....

we walked across the so-called "liar's bridge"....it iron and has lovely flowers on it still..

sibiu has been designated as a special european cultural city in 2007...there has been lots of face lifting done...

we next visited the huge main square, called piatra mare....the buildings surrounding it are lovely and some are brightly painted...the old town hall in yellow, the large museum, the catholic church, among others....

we tracked down the hotel imparatul romanilor, considered by many to be the best hotel in town....frankly i think it has seen better days....we were glad we passed on it, but its location is excellent...

back to the car....stopped at the cathedral again and this time there were 4 weddings going on or lined up to go on....

it was raining a bit so we went back to the hotel...

guess what another nap as we were cold and tired...

at 6:30 we drove back into town....parked by the cathedral again and went in during a religious service....interesting...
walked over to the ciao italia restaurant in the piata mare...we had seen it in the afternoon...

55 ron brought us beer, wine, salad, bread, 2 pastas and 2 tiramisu....good but not fabulous...just right really...

we drove around the exterior of the city a bit and looked at the walled fortifications...

back to bed....

up on sunday morning and down for breakfast....this was another travel day....surprise....snow!! there was about an inche of snow---heavy and wet...no problem...

loaded up the car and we were off...the goal today was satu mare....i made a mistake in my planning as i really wanted to go to another city with a similar name, but honestly this worked out just fine too....

it remained cold until about 2PM, when the temp finally rose to about 40 F....it had been 1-2 C all morning...

we travelled through what our map and guidebooks said was very scenic country....hilly and mountaineous...but we saw none of it because of the snow, rain and fog...
there was a fair amount of heavy industry left over from communist days---much of it was abandoned....we saw this all over romania....buildings just sitting idle...

the roads were quite good this day...many have recently been repaved...

people continue to pass at very bad times and in bad weather too....not as safe as i might like, so i took it easy...

we skipped a couple of places that we had intended to stop, like cluj, becasue it was so wet and slippery under foot...

in one village, just outside a very large monestery, we found the alexia cafe/restaurant....

they spoke no english but we eventually ordered....unlike most places we ate in their menu was only in romanian...they found a man that spoke some english for us....this was our first and last experience with the famous romanian tripe soup....but we also had nice warm grilled sandwiches...the soup liquid was good and warming too...

about 4:30 we arrived at our satu mare hotel named Dana....its a newish place outside the town and served us well...

because of the weather we decided to eat in the hotel....we had a very nice young man as our waiter who spoke decent english...in fact he was the nicest person we met in romania.....he loved talking with us...he was a very bright guy...

our dinner was 67 ron....i had my first of many chicken schnitzl....it was the best i had during the whole trip...karen had pork again with au gratin spuds....one of our better meals...

the beds were again comfortable...67 euro per nite for the room including breakfast/tax...

there was a gas station right next door and a huge new superstore...

early to bed...

will travel---thanks again for the tip on the hotel points....it was a bargain....and a great location...

bookmarking cause I really want to read this one. welcome back.

Ok Bob - now honestly- how many times during this trip did you close your eyes, click your heels and repeat- there no place like BKK, there no place like BKK- hoping that when you opened your eyes your were back in the land of smiles- come on now the truth!

bill--many times....although in truth i always love visiting new places, even if i end up feeling that "its not my kind of place..."