March 13, 2008

Well, guess this will be my last blog message. We arrived back in Bangkok on Monday, March 10 to the sweltering heat. I sit here with the sweat just poring off my brow and down my back. No, I’m not really looking forward to coming home to the rain either. However that’s better than the snow Ottawa just received. The picture is of our brother-in-law having just finished shoveling.

The other bad news was Oliver broke his elbow last Friday – playing on thebed and fell off. He’s handling it pretty well right now but if this heat keeps up I’m not sure how well he’ll be. Gone had to go up to his village so Jenn’s not having much fun coping on her own……….

Spent today finishing up shopping for food items to bring home. Have to run out to the store tomorrow to pick up just a couple more things. Met Jenn and boys at the train and went into Siam Paragon to see a movie – 10,000 BC. Not a great movie but at least it was in a cool place. We also did dinner and then home. That was out last hurray seeing as how Jenn won’t be home till 9:00 PM tomorrow.

Well, our last week in Mui Ne was every bit as wonderful as we had hoped and expected. It was hot, but sitting on the beach with the wind blowing you’d hardly even notice. We stayed at Bamboo Village Resort and it was a lovely spot. Our room was a nice size and we even had a bit of a view of the sea from our balcony. There was a lovely spa that a visited a few times and even got Tom to go once for a “hot stones” back massage. That was a really different but enjoyable experience. My favorite is still a foot massage though……Our days were virtually the same – get up early, head down to the beach and get our chairs. We actually were only able to get chairs under an umbrella once and that was because I got up and put towels on the chairs at 6:00AM. Most of the tourists there are Russian and as was noted in the guest sign in book on numerous occasions – these tourists usually sent one person to put towels on all the umbrella chairs at 6:00AM and then didn’t show up to sit there till about 10:00. I was so cross about it. We usually walked for about an hour and then had breakfast – beautiful buffet that included mini chocolate croissants and loads of fresh fruit!! Then we’d read, talk, watch the kite boarders and walk some more. It was interesting walking up and down the beaches and noticing how much beach erosion has gone on in two years. The place we stayed at 2 years ago was about 3K north of where we stayed this time and it has absolutely no beach now. The area where all the kiteboarding and watersports was done from has very little water front. It was fine where we were but makes you wonder what will happen in another couple of years. The area has really built up with Resorts one after another all along the beach and more watersport areas and then restaurants and shops on the other side of the road. It was amazing to watch the kiteboarding. The mornings were quiet, but in the afternoon the winds came up and then all the boarders came out. I often wondered how they didn’t crash into each other or into people on the beach. Of course there were a lot of novices out there and it seemed like they could only go one way cause there wa always a parade of them walking back along the sand clutching their kites in their arms. The beach was an interesting place to sit and people watch. Friends we made on the cruise were staying at Novotel Ocean Dunes and Golf Course in Phan Thiet (15K away) so we met up with them on the Thursday. We took a taxi to their place first and spent the day there and then around 5:00 they came back to Mui Ne with us and we wandered abit and then had supper at an excellent Italian place. Both locations had their good and bad points. They enjoyed the golf course but said if you were a serious golfer they thought it would be considered too easy. They liked the fact that we had so many good eating places to choose from. I tried to make a goal of eating these huge tiger prawns everyday. They were so fresh and so good and soooo cheap. Cashews are grown in Vietnam so I made a point of helping out the economy by consuming more than my share. And I musn’t forget the spring rolls - the deep fried variety – that was usually lunch along with a beer. There were a number of day trips you could take but we decided all we wanted to do was take it easy and consume more food and drink – haha. But all good things must come to an end. We left on the 9^th and spent one more evening in Ho Chi Minh and that’s always an event. I can’t imagine another city quite as insane with traffic and noise. Within 10 minutes of walking the streets my eyes were stinging and watering. Crossing the streets was even more of an adventure now that there are even more cars and motorbikes. It was amazing to watch youngsters doing it……We flew out at 6:30 so were able to view the city at night from above. It is a huge place.

Welcome back to Glen & Lois from the Middle East. Can’t wait to hear about your adventures and see all your pics. And also to Jo & Gid from their cruise. Will be so nice to see everyone and hear all the news. So, 1 more sleep and we’ll be sleeping in our own bed. What a pleasant thought!! And, wondering what on earth to eat because we won’t have access to all the wonderful fresh fruit and veggies. Anyway, it’s been another wonderful journey. As hard as it will be to leave Jennifer, Gone, Oliver and Nicky it will be nice to see Steve, Jenn and Isabelle and the rest of you too.

March 3, 2008

Hello from Mui Ne, Vietnam. Our trip is very quickly coming to an end! We arrived here around noon on Sunday March 2^nd and it didn’t take too long to remember why we wanted to come again. We’re staying at Bamboo Village Resort right on the South China Sea. We do have a bit of a view from our balcony and of course can hear the sound of waves crashing on the beach. Again there have been many changes in 2 years. There seems to be a lot of beach erosion especially along the areas we frequented before. And, there has been tons of development – so many more resorts and little shops and restaurants. We’re meeting up with friends from the cruise on Thursday who are staying about 15K away so will be interesting to see what that area is like. Other than that we plan to spend our time on the beach, on our deck or eating “huge prawns” at wonderful restaurants.

Guess we should go back in time to our RV Tonle Pandaw Mekong river cruise. It was absolutely fabulous. There were only 43 of us on board with something like 26 crew members. After talking to many of the passengers I know I’ll never get Tom on a regular cruise now. However we will do another Pandaw cruise in Burma in a couple of years. So, here’s something for all you travelers out there to think about. This cruise is 22 days traveling up the Chindwin and Irrawaddy Rivers to some very remote areas on the same size boat as we were just on. The cost is $10,000 - $12,000 per couple and the only other cost involved would be for laundry or wine. All local beer and liquor (rum, gin whiskey) is included. Of course there would be your flight too…………... The trip is in September as the rivers would be too dry at other times. So, just tuck that thought away till 2009 - 2010.

Everything about the ship was fantastic. The stateroom was great (little but not an issue) as was the washroom. Breakfast was buffet, hot and cold items and someone to do your eggs any way you wished. Lunch was also buffet – again hot and cold. The salads were to die for. Dinner was a planned menu – some nights with choices and some planned themes. We had special cocktails each evening on the sundeck – our last night it was “Zombies”. We met for 15 minutes before dinner each night to go over the itinerary for the next day. Our cabin was on the main deck and we had a small table and 2 deck chairs right outside our door (as did each cabin). The dining room was also on the main deck. Tables were set for 6 and you just sat wherever you wished. The next level up was also cabins, a massage room and the “saloon bar”. The top level was the sundeck. Our group was divided into 2 groups – about 18 German speaking and the rest English speaking. There were 2 other couples from Canada and both were from Bracebridge Ontario area - and neither knew the other was going, 4 from France, 2 from Belgium, 5 from Britain, 2 Aussies and the rest from the States. We had some amazingly interesting people too – some professionals and some very wealthy. We met wonderful people now have new places to go visit. The one British couple that we spent most time with (Peter and Jenny) are from Winchester and Tom and Peter kept talking about house swapping - we’ll see.

You never had to “dress” for dinner which was good cause you know Tom is only traveling in shorts! We had loads of excursions - sometimes once a day and often twice a day – nothing compulsory of course. At the end of an excursion you were handed a refreshing towel when you came back aboard and all the shoes wee collected for a washing. Visited a few different villages, temples, markets, fruit orchards, brick factory, fish farms, bonsai gardens, orphanages - stuff like that. Went for a rickshaw ride and had the opportunity to hold a python – NOT!. Visited one place to see how rice papers for spring rolls were made. The lady here is 75, had been doing this for 50 years and could make 800 in a day. Another day we visited a traditional teak Viet home and gardens. This home was obviously one belonging to someone with money – not your average family. The owner was home and welcomed us. She is 87 years old and very regal looking. Had a whole day in Phnom Penh. In the morning we visited their National Museum and the Royal Palace. No shorts were allowed so Tom had to wear my beach sarong. He looked really cute!! Then we went to a huge market. They spot the buses coming and jack up the prices. It’s pretty funny. In the afternoon we were supposed to go to the “Killing Fields” but that Khmer Rouge guy that is currently being tried was at the “Fields” defending what he had to do….. So, we went to the genocide museum Tuol Sleng (the former Khmer Rouge S21 prison). It’s pretty sick the atrocities committed by people against people. Apparently there were over 20000 prisoners held in this prison over “the terrible times” - as they refer to it – that lasted 3 years, 8 months, 20 days and only 7 survived. I sometimes think it’s necessary to see these places to know and understand what went on but man is it a downer.

We had a surprise evening our 3^rd day out. The captain moored the ship at a sandbar. Tables and chairs had been set out on the sand while we excursioned. They brought out music, lit a fire and we had cocktails and appies out under the stars. It was incredible. The crew did some Cambodian dancing and then they played some Western music and got the passengers up. It was so much fun. There were a few firecrackers to end the evening and then it was back on the boat for a late dinner. Also had a folkloric Cambodian dance performance one evening and a Vietnamese traditional cultural music performance another evening.

We had an afternoon time learning from one of the chefs how to make fresh spring rolls. I know I’ve made them a few times but this new way is even easier. We all watched and then took turns making them. This became our appie of the evening.

One of the best things about the excursions to the villages was talking to the children. We were never allowed to give money or presents to anyone as it wouldn’t be fair but we could make a donation through the Pandaw company. They do a lot of good work supporting orphanages and even whole villages. As we came into a village there would be a bunch of kids standing waiting for us to disembark. The little ones mostly wanted to hold your hand as you walked around but the older ones really wanted to talk. They all learn English in school but mostly only get to practice it when these tours come through. They were just so darn cute. They especially liked it when you showed them the picture you had taken of them – they laughed their heads off. And always everyone seemed so happy, content with their lot in life. Sort of made you want to rethink your own life – sort of…..

And of course there were the enjoyable times just sailing down the rivers and canals and seeing every day life happening. Everyone waved from their boats and the kids would all come running to the riverside yelling and waving. Some of the canals were so narrow you wondered how 2 boats could pass. It was amazing to watch the women row the boats, standing on the back with 2 oars/sticks and the way they moved. I can’t even manage that kind of balance standing on a sidewalk. We’d marvel at the homes on stilts so high. Can’t begin to imagine how things look in rainy season

We arrived in Saigon/Ho Chi Minh city on Saturday around 10:30. Made our way to the travel office and immediately booked our bus tickets to Mui Ne. Checked into our hotel and then wandered the streets. Man that is one busy hectic city. We were so disappointed that our main watering hole “The Allez Boo Bar” was closed. It was the perfect spot for people and traffic watching. Had lunch at “The Rex Hotel”, ran into a few people from the boat and then headed back to the hotel for a little rest. Walked around the streets in the evening and settled on an Indian restaurant for dinner. Had to catch the bus at 7:15AM so made it an early evening. And now, here we are in Mui Ne

February 23, 2008

Sorry, couldn't send all the pics I wanted and I think I might have a couple out of place but hope you enjoy what is here..............

February 20 - A new adventure begins. Up early for a 5:00 AM taxi ride to the airport. Now, let me tell you…………for any of you who watch Amazing Race…if the contestants ask the drivers to go faster I’m sure they’re not traveling in SE Asia. The drivers over here are insane – but I must admit it seems to work. Driving in Cambodia is another new event to overcome. Steering wheels are on either side of the car but at least they do drive on the same side of the road as us – for the most part. If you’re turning left onto a road then it seems you just drive down the left side as all the bikes and motorcycles scatter until there is a break for you to move over to the right side. I’ll soon need to take a valium before I walk out the door – haha!! Anyway, back to the flight. We were to leave at 8:00 AM but it was 9:00 before we got away. Seems one of the two take off strips needed to have work done on it (after only 2 years in operation??) It’s only a 35 minute flight to Siem Reap so it didn’t much matter. Got through immigration no problem and the visas were only $20.00 each. Got a cab to the hotel - the Borei Angkor Hotel - for $5.00. Our hotel room was a pleasant surprise. Apparently they were fully booked with tour groups so upgraded us to a small suite. It’s very lovely – a lot of wood. Has a lovely large balcony too. Our drivers name was Ranet and he is now our driver for sightseeing for the rest of our trip – until the 23^rd. Really nice young fellow, speaks English very well and isn’t a crazy driver. He came back to the hotel at 2:00 PM, I’d made a list of what I felt was important to see and we went from there. We’re paying him $85 for 2 full days off driving us around. He then took us to a restaurant to make a reservation for the evening and then dropped us off at the old market. We just can’t get over the changes here in 4 years. Of course there are way more tourists and therefore tons more hotels. The old market had previously been mainly for the Cambodian people. Now that area has become tourist mecca with bars and restaurants lining the streets. The old market caters to the tourists and has loads of mass produced trinkets and T-shirts so that was a little disappointing. We then walked back to the hotel, had a rest before going out for dinner at 7:00PM.

We went to a buffet dinner with an Aspara show of Cambodian Classical dance. The whole thing was very well done. We then took a tuk-tuk (motorcycle pulling a cart), driven by a very young lad home had a beer and went to bed.

February 21 – Another early start. Up at 5:30, breakfast at 6:00 and Ranet picked us up at 7:00. The breakfast here is wonderful – a huge buffet including fresh waffles and eggs any way you wish as you wait. Unfortunately these countries have no idea about herbal tea so I have to settle for Lipton yellow label tea with lime. And then we were off and running. I’ll only bore you with a brief description of all the temples we visited – taken from a guide – so that I can include pictures more easily. We’re saving Angkor Wat for the end though………….. Walking around all these ruins gives me a strange sense of being in the middle of an Indiana Jones movie. It’s all so surreal!

1) Banteay Kdei – Constructed in the late 12^th century atop a pre existing 10^th century site. The site was extensively cleared in 1920 – 1922 but stands of tall trees remain, some still attached to portions of the building.

2) Ta Phrom – For many the highlight of a visit to Angkor, this jungle covered site really is straight out of a Lara Croft (Angelina Jolie) movie. In some places the trees are destroying the monument and in others, they’re all that hold it together. It was the centre piece of a town of over 10,000 and was an active Buddhist monastery

3) Banteay Srei – Undoubtedly Angkor’s most beautiful temple. It was consecrated in 967, is one of the smallest temples and built of soft pink sandstone. The name translates to Citadel of Women and some believe it was actually built by a woman as no man could have created something so beautiful and with so fine a hand with all its exceptional carvings. The French came across the site in 1914 and it was totally covered by forest and partly buried by the earth.

4) Preah Khan – Completed in 1191 it was thought to have been a religious university home to in excess of 1000 teachers. Some of the “asparas” (celestial dancers) remain in excellent condition

5) The Bayon – One of the most written about and most photographed of Angkor’s monuments, it is also one of the most unusual in the world. Originally it was comprised of 54 (or 47) towers each of which supported 4 faces looking north, south, east and west but only 37 remain standing. The site was cleared in 1911-1913 and it was thought that it was only a matter of time before it would be completely ruined. There is a complete restoration of the library going on now

We were last at Angkor Wat in 2004 but only saw #2 and #5 of today’s visits at that time. The changes in those 4 years are amazing. While there is more restoration completed and going on there seems also to be more blocks falling. It will be interesting to compare our pictures when we get back. We came back to the hotel around 3:00 and called it a day. Had a shower, grabbed a beer and a sandwich and downloaded the camera. Have quite a bit of work ahead of us as we took 270 pics today – big clean up needs to happen. Will get to bed early tonight in preparation for another day of temples tomorrow.

February 22 – Well, had a bit of a rough night. Got up at 2:00AM and took some zithromax and that seemed to do the trick. My stomach is a little queasy but I was able to get through my temple day. We had a later start at 9:00 AM which is good in some ways but not so good in others. Today was so hot and our last two hours at Angkor Wat was really tiring. Sure was glad we’d already seen it. Again the changes were quite something. Where we had taken our lives in our hands 4 years ago climbing some of the stairways, they now either simply don’t let you up or they have new wooden stairways in place. And of course some of the reconstruction that has been completed is amazing. I can’t imagine what an undertaking it must be to put this gigantic structures back together. Our day started off with the Roulos Group of 3 smaller temples, much smaller than than Angkor and therefore fewer tourists which was good for us.

1) Preah Ko – This small temple was built in 880 and what remains are 6 small brick towers with a few out buildings in varying states of ruin. The main points of interest are the lime mortar lintels and other decorative work that was affixed to the the brick towers. And, they were little bricks, not big blocks.

2) Lolei – This temple - built in 893 - actually sits atop an island. Today the water has been drained for rice cultivation but the island still hosts Lolei and an active Wat. Only 4 brick towers remain and their highlights are again the lintels and the door jams.

3) Bakong – Built in 881, before its reconstruction started in 1937 it was a pile of rubble atop a small hill. It took 7 years to rebuild and the results are impressive. There were 5 levels to climb and the view was quite impressive. There were still some elephants on the corners and even the harness details were still visible.

4) Angkor Wat – “The masterpiece of an unknown Michelangelo”. It is the largest religious monument in the world and considered the ultimate example of Khmer architecture. It was built between 1113-1150 and dedicated to Vishnu – the Hindu god. The outer walls stretch 1.5K east and west and 1.3K north and south and are surrounded by a beautiful moat 200 meters wide. The inner walls display some of the most beautiful carvings telling the tale of Angkor Wat in bas-reliefs.

Ranet brought us home at about 3:30 and we called it a day. That was enough temples for way more than two days. I’m so glad we did it though. I found it all very intriguing. One thing that did come to mind though was that perhaps I should have my own camera. Not that I’m a good photographer – it’s just that perhaps I see something in a different way than Tom. As for Siem Reap proper, I really don’t care for it. It’s growing way too fast and not always improving. I bought a couple of little things here. I tried once to haggle the price but I’m just not comfortable doing that especially when I know how little they have. Oh well, we had some very interesting conversations with our driver Ranet and learned a little bit about how life is lived here.

Decided after a shower and nap just to have dinner here at our hotel. They had quite an extensive buffet happening. And, we even ordered a bottle of wine!! For me the best part of dinner were the salads. They were amazing – so very different. One with slices of marinated eggplant, another - mango, carrot smoked fish, one with asparagus, crumbled blue cheese and cashews. The main courses included a beef dish, chicken dish, pork tenderloin stuffed with cheese, steamed fish and an assortment of vegetable dishes. For dessert numerous fruits, cakes and then some very strange looking concoctions.

February 23 – Had a sleep in – hooray! After breakfast got everything packed up and then spent some time on this blog and working on pictures. We have so many. It’s really hard to choose just a couple for the blog. Will soon make our way over to the Angkor Century Hotel to meet up with the group for our Mekong River Cruise. Hopefully will get this sent off before we go.

Hope everyone is keeping well.

February 19, 2008

Good day all. Have just finished cleaning this apartment, doing laundry and getting packed for our trip to Cambodia and Vietnam. We fly out tomorrow morning at 8:00 AM so will leave from here at 5:30. Finally got my temple days under my belt. I know a lot of people talk about getting “templed” out but we really haven’t seen many and I was sort of missing that.

February 14 – Started the day by going to the boy’s school to take part in Nick’s birthday. We made “cup cakes” the night before and I got to bring them in. First met with Jennifer and managed to get a few pics of her and her students and then we went to Nick’s class and spent some time singing, eating and watching how their day unfolds. Seeing as how it was Valnetines day they (3 kids) were already in the midst of eating some chocolate cake brought in by one of the other teachers. Of course their teacher also had a big chocolate heart for them. To say Nick was a little wound up when he got home would be putting it mildly. Because Jennifer had school we decided to put off the actual birthday party until Saturday. That way we could also celebrate Oliver’s birthday at the same time.

Got away from the school by 10:00 AM and headed out for “templing”. There is one temple that can be seen from the River that has always intrigued me. You have to take a cross river ferry to get there though. It’s called Wat Arun and is known as the Temple of Dawn. It’s really quite fascinating, the steeple looks like a corn cob adorned with colorful floral murals made of glazed porcelain. It was constructed in the first half of the 19^th century under Rama II and this site is where the king established his palace before relocating to Bangkok. You can climb stairways to the upper levels which we did of course to get quite a view of Bangkok. All these temples have their “guardians of the gates” which really seem quite comical looking at times. I need to investigate the history of them a bit more. After time spent there we headed back across river. Stopped for lunch at a little spot along the street and had a mixed fruit shake – no salt or sugar – and fried rice with chicken and egg. It was really nummy. Tom had a noodle dish with veggies and shrimp in tamarind sauce and enjoyed it too. This place was more like some of our old haunts in Chiang Mia.

Next we headed to the Grand Palace and Wat Phra Kaew (Temple
of the Emerald Buddha). The temple was closed for a private ceremony to do with the deceased Princess so seeing as we spent quite a bit of time here in 2000 we decided we would move on to Wat Pho (Temple of the Reclining Buddha) We had also been here in 2000 and not much has changed except the crowds are larger. This temple is supposedly the oldest (from the 16^th century) and largest Wat in Bangkok. In the early 1800’s it was an open university and today it is the national headquarters for the teaching and the preservation of traditional Thai medicine including Thai massage. It also has the largest collection of Buddha images (394 gilded images) and the longest reclining Buddha (46m long and 15m high) in Thailand. This Buddha is finished in gold leaf and mother-of-pearl inlay adorns the eyes and the feet. It’s a pretty amazing sight. There are tons of little gardens and figures within the grounds providing shade, greenery and quirky decorations inherited from China. Some of the figures are giant size, carved out of granite, resembling Marco Polo and other political figures. They were transported aboard Chinese junks as ballast. You can spend hours at some of these temples. By 3:30 we were getting hot and tired so headed to Tha Tien pier to make our way home.

February 15 – Another day for exploring……There are some specific places I wanted to go but we also came across a couple of unexpected things that really made the day. Our goal was to get to Wat Saket (The Golden Mount). So we walked, sky trained, and river taxied to Tha Chang pier. As we walked along the street we came across an intersection with a huge Elephant statue. It was beautiful but I have no idea what it was about. Across the road we were heading to Lak Meuang - the City Pillar Shrine. A wooden pillar was erected by Rama I in 1782 to represent the founding of a new capitol. The pillar is endowed with a spirit that is considered to be the city’s guardian. We watched people purchasing scarves to wrap around pillars that were then taken off by another gentleman and apparently resold. Quite a business……

Next store to this place was the Ministry of Defence. The building itself is
beautiful and surrounded by cannons. Of course at one time it was a Palace for some royal family member. There are actually five what were minor palaces in this compound. Tom went to walk up close and personal to some cannons and was told quite clearly in Thai to vamoose. From there we walked along “temple goods” street to the Sao Ching-Cha (the giant swing). The giant swing was just that. Apparently at one time festival participants swung in ever heightening arcs in an effort to reach a bag of gold suspended from a 15m pole and many died trying. In 1932 the Brahmans power was terminated and the festival was discontinued.

Temple goods street was interesting. Here you can purchase - I suppose for donation to a temple – bells, Buddha images and monk images, monk robes, alms bowls whatever you might need.Across the road from the swing was Wat Suthat. It was a very peaceful little spot. This temple is special for its association with Brahman priests. These priests perform The Ploughing Ceremony in May and religious rites at 2 Hindu shrines nearby. From there we walked along the Buddhist bell street and the wooden door street – and they sold exactly that. Our final stop was Wat Sakhet aka The Golden Mount. We climbed 251 winding steps through and around the artificial hill to reach the top. The hill was created when a temple under construction by Rama III collapsed. Rama IV built another temple atop of the mud and brick hill. Then Rama V added to the structure and then in WWII concrete walls were added to prevent the hill from eroding. There are burial walls along the way but all the writing is in Thai so you can't even understand dates. This being 2008 is 2551 in Thailand. Again the views from the top are outstanding. I imagine some of these temples are absolutely stunning to see in the evening. From here we made our way back to Chinatown. We thought it was crazy during the Chinese New Year but that was nothing compared to this day. The crowds were something else. You get on these little lane ways and are competing with people, motorbikes, carts and tuk-tuk’s to get down the alley. Absolutely anything and everything is for sale. We stopped along here for a snack at Hong Kong Noodles then made our way to the subway station and home.

February 16 – Got up early this morning to decorate a birthday cake for the boys that we’d made the previous evening in Jennifer’s toaster oven. Jennifer, Gone and boys came up around 10:30 and we did the birthday thing for both boys. Jennifer left for school and we had the boys as they went crazy with their remote control cars and their new Spiderman video game. The batteries were dead within a half hour and the boys were video game crazy in about the same amount of time. Bet Jenn was glad she had to go to school. For dinner we all went to the Great American Rib restaurant. Jennifer and I shared a BBQ chicken salad in a huge taco shell and a pulled pork sandwich. Tom and Gone had a platter with ribs, chicken, pulled pork and tenderloin and corn, onion rings, bowls of baked beans, potato salad and coleslaw. The boys had fish and chips and ice cream. And of course we had pitchers of beer. It was more expensive than usual Thai restaurants but at $75 that’s probably still cheaper than in Canada. There was a bit of a playground for the boys to entertain themselves and a separate smoking area. Thailand has just banned smoking in all entertainment venues……… Will be interesting to see if they follow through with the fines etc. which are quite hefty.

February 17 – A mixed day. The plan was to go to Lumpini Park and Suan Lum night Bazaar. We had already been to the park but on a “dead” day and there was supposed to be some kite flying going on. Well, the heavens opened up and there went that plan. Then we decided we’d all go to the shoe to see “Enchanted”. Jenn and family took a taxi and Tom and I walked and sky trained to Siam Paragon where we meet at the theatre floor. We had made a tentative reservation on the phone based on the online info. Well, seems that was incorrect info and the movie was full – even for the next two showings. We were just going to wander around for awhile (boring) so I said maybe we should just go to Lumpini cause the rain had stopped. Off we went and what a wonderful time we had. The park was packed. There were groups of a hundred people scattered throughout the park doing aerobics, big speakers blasting out tunes to exercise to and a leader on a stage showing all the moves. Tons of joggers doing their thing. Then as we approached this green area, so many people were sitting in chairs and on mats on the ground with picnic baskets at hand and glasses of wine and beer being enjoyed. There were some musicians in a bandshell seemingly getting ready to play. Jenn and family headed off and Tom and I hung around. Well I’m so glad we did as it was the Bangkok Symphony orchestra. Apparently they practice on Sunday evenings in the park. There were 3 young singers making an appearance too. It was awesome. They played classical, show tunes, Thai music and modern music. Because we were originally just going to the movies I had told Tom not to bother with the camera so I was a little pissed at myself about that. After about an hour Jenn called to see where we were as they had found the beer garden at Suan Lum. We hated to leave but off we went. This beer garden was immense. Tom says the size of 4 hockey arenas but I’d say 2, maybe 3. So we stayed there for abit, drank some beer, ate some snacks listened to some more music and watched some dancers – rock stuff. The kids loved that part. By the time we thought of walking around the bazaar it was 8:30 so off we headed home. Again the kids in a taxi and us walking and skytraining and taking the 6 Baht red bus. It actually was an amazing day.

February 18 – Our friends Harvey and Lee were back in Bangkok from their 30 day Indochine trip. Spending a couple of days here before heading back to Canada on the 20^th. We met them at Siam Paragon – one of the major shopping centres – to have lunch and hear about their trip. It sounds like they really enjoyed it and traveled with a great group of people. They would have even been prepared to go on had there been another country. I find it so hard to really describe what SE Asia is like and to explain my feelings about it so I’m really happy when I’ve recommended something so strongly and people come away understanding why we enjoy this part of the world so much. We had a lovely lunch and then home again. Gone cooked us a lovely supper of vegetables with chicken and cashews and a tom yum soup.

So now here we are heading off on another adventure which I’m really looking forward to. Organizing it all has been a little crazy but that’s OK. I should be able to write from Siem Reap in Cambodia but once we’re on board the ship I ‘m thinking we’ll be incommunicado. Hope everyone is well. Take care all.

February 13, 2008

It’s time again……. And hopefully I won’t make this blog as long as the last. Unfortunately I think it might even be a little longer. Well, it’s still hot here and getting hotter – or maybe it’s just more humid. Even as I sit at the table typing the sweat is poring off my face. I think this little nook gets absolutely no air. When we first arrived in Bangkok clothes would dry outside within a couple of hours. Now it takes almost two days. I can’t imagine what it must be like during the rainy season.

February 7 – Chinese New Year and we did make it to Chinatown.
Unfortunately we didn’t see any parades, dragons or fireworks. Bright colours of red and gold everywhere. And people, people where ever you looked. Arrived there around 10:30 and stayed till about 1:30. I think Tom and I would have walked around a bit more but Gone had to get back to pick up the kids from school. At first we walked up and down streets looking for the Talat Kao market. This is a market that has been operating continuously for more than 200 years. Well, lo and behold, we were in the verymiddle of it. And, what a market it was. Everything was for sale and
I mean everything. I’m hoping we can go again to see if it would be any less crowded on a regular day. Plus most of the shops were closed and we’d like to see all the wares in the shops. As we made our way home, the line up at the China Gate where people pay their respect to Buddha was now streets long with men and women, old and young. We had read a couple of articles advising not to try the shark fin soup or birds nest soup while in Chinatown but that certainly wouldn’t have been a problem for me and I simply told Tom and Gone it wasn’t an option!! So, we stopped at a food stall for lunch and Gone and Tom ate noodle soup but I played it safe – yet again. I still don’t like to take too many chances at street
food stalls. Roasted chestnuts are really big here and Gone bought
some but I’m not a big fan of those either.

We managed to get into a number of temples and you could hardly movefor people. The air was thick from incense and candles burning.One of the temples we were at had a monk blessing the people and handing out ‘blessed: strings and amulets so I joined the women and children on my knees (so that I’d be lower than the sitting monk), made my donation and am now blessed once again. We were going to go back up on Friday evening but after much discussion decided the crowds might be a little too much to handle.

February 9 – Well this was our second last Saturday in Bangkok so thought we’d better get out and about. There are a couple of places that are only open on the weekend so we took off for M.R. Kukrit Pramoj’s historical home. I was familiar with this name as I’d read a book written by him entitled Four Reigns. It was an awesome book – historical fiction. This guy was pretty talented – he was owner of a newspaper, Prime Minister at one time, an author of over 150 books, a poet, a classical Thai dancer, university lecturer……… His home is 2 acres in the middle of the city. There are actually 5 teak buildings, some over 100 years old, that were all from different places, dismantled and then brought to the Bangkok location and reassembled. It’s amazing how often this seemed to happen. The home is a lovely old Thai traditional home and the gardens were beautiful too. Very peaceful. He has passed away but the home is maintained with many of his belongings still there.

On our way home wedecided to stop for lunch. We came across this lovely place called Baan Khanitha & Gallery. What a delightful place. We’ve since read that it has won best restaurant awards for the last nine years. They brought an appetizer dish to the table unordered and we weren’t quite sure what to do. A waiter came to the table, explained what was in each dish and showed us how to put it all together. The tray had a dish of tamarind sauce in the middle with 5 little dishes around it containing toasted shredded coconut, chopped lime and ginger, chopped shallots and chilies, dried baby shrimp, and peanuts. You took a leaf and by folding, shaped it into a cone, added a little from each of the 5 dishes, then topped with the tamarind sauce. It was amazingly good. I don’t think we’ll be able to reproduce it at home though as I don’t think we can get the main ingredient – that little leaf. You’ll see in the picture. Tom then ordered a noodle dish that looked very good and I had pad thai (another noodle dish). Definitely a place to revisit.

February 10 – Jennifer and Gone left for Rayong at 9:00 AM. Jenn had an interview at an International school there. We were all going to go down for the weekend but then I thought it might be better if we stayed in Bangkok with the kids and give Jenn and Gone some time on their own. We just sort of hung out in the morning cause it rained again, then Nick had a sleep and then we took off for Siam Ocean World. This is SE Asia’s largest aquarium with they say over 400 species of sea animals. It actually was pretty amazing. There is even a glass bottom boat ride. The kids were pretty impressed anyway. After a few hours in the aquarium we then headed to the 4D adventure showing. I had no idea what to expect but it scared me half to death. And then just when I thought I had every thing under control the seat would be moving, cold air would be whooshing on my face or legs. Adults were screaming, kids were crying….. Nick was terrified. If he could have pressed himself into my body, he would have. Even Oliver was damn near on Tom’s lap. It was definitely an exhilarating 20 minutes. Certainly gave the kids lots to talk about on the way home. Nick took awhile settling down in the evening. He cried for mommy for quite awhile. He preferred to stay with us “tomorrow” he said. Finally fell asleep though and was perfectly fine the next morning.

February 11 – Today was the long awaited Zoo day. You know, it’s so neat having Oliver with us arranging taxi’s and entrance fees. Most venues have a 2 tier fee – one for foreigners and one for Thais. I say “these kids are Thai” and then the ticket seller proceeds to question them about their parentage. After an hour ride in the taxi, we finally made it. At first I wasn’t quite sure that the driver even knew where we were going. He and Oliver yik yaked all the way there though. We let the kids set the pace and just wandered at will. Oliver had a “map” and led the way. The animals weren’t nearly as active as they were on our first visit - maybe they’re feeling the effects of the heat too!! The kids seemed to enjoy it though. We stopped for lunch at……KFC!! No kidding. The fries were great but the chicken’s just not the same. Tom had a chicken burger or whatever it’s called and said I sure wouldn’t like it. I just settled for some fries and a pop!! When we visited the hippos they were playing on the water so we went down to see them underwater. One got up close and personal to Nick and I thought he was going to jump out of his skin. It was pretty funny. There’s quite a large section with snakes, lizards and crocs and he wasn’t too keen on them either. Got home about an hour before Jenn and Gone showed up. Nick was mighty glad to see them.

Spent yesterday cleaning house after the kids of course. How come things never stay spotless when they’re around. Jenn and Gone had bought the boys remote control vehicles for their birthdays so Tom had to test them out. he wasn’t happy with Oliver’s tank so off we went today to remedy that. Gone was with us and got everything sorted out. I think we were just there for moral support because he came back home right away and we wandered around for a bit more. Trying to get a handle on all the foodstuff I want to bring back with us. I bought a new Thai cook book so want to make sure I have all the necessary ingredients that I probably can’t get back in BC.

So, there’s another week gone by. This is birthday month for us it seems (but now we’re done until November). Nick is 4 on the 14^th, Steve’s Jenn is ?? on the 15^th, Oliver is 7 on the 23^rd and Gone is ?? on the 25^th. So, Happy Birthday to all. And Happy Holidays to Nancy, Glen and Lois and Jo and Gid. Have a wonderful time on your various adventures!! And Happy Valentines Day to everyone!!

February 6, 2008

Gung Hay Fat Choy……..Chinese New Year tomorrow. This really means “wishing you prosperity”. Think we’ll head to Chinatown tomorrow morning and see what it’s all about.

When I wrote back on January 23^rd I was hoping for some rain. Well, we’ve certainly had our fair share. I almost feel like we’re back in BC. Only problem is, the rain cools nothing off. It just seems hotter and so damp. One day there actually was a chill in the air – it was only 80F. That’s when you sort of have to give your head a shake and stop complaining!!

Things seemed to let up on Friday February 1^st so we took off and had a full day of touring. Took the sky train to the river taxi and headed up river to the zoo area. There is just so much to see. We landed at the pier (Tha Thewet) and spent some time at the markets along the canal – one side was devoted to flowers, trees and shrubs and the other to food stuff.

We then headed to Wat Benchamabophit. All temples and government buildings are decorated with black and white sashes in honor of the death of the King’s sister. There are memorials for her everywhere. All government employees must wear only black and white clothing to work for 100 days. She was very respected and did a lot of good for the Thai people. Wat Benchamabophit was originally built in 1827 and then rebuilt in 1899 by Rama V as the “Marble Palace”. The whole thing is made of white Carrara marble brought in from Italy. When we entered the courtyard it dawned on me that we had been here on our first trip in 2000. There are a total of 53 Buddha images representing famous figures and styles from Thailand and other Buddhist countries all displaying a particular “attitude”. We only have pictures of 20 of them…………… but I’ll just share a few with you for now…..The temple area is beautiful of
course with all the buildings, gardens and canals. The temples are so ornate and the doors and windows and roofs all have such detail and color. I never seem to tire of seeing different temples and we’ve hardly seen any – yet!! Of course we did manage to get our “monk” pictures too.

From there we headed to Dusit Park. This is where Dusit Palace, the Throne Hall and various Royal residential halls are located. As you approach there is a huge statue of King Rama V on horseback and behind a fenced area you can see the Ananda Samakhom Throne Building. Apparently Rama V was the king who was responsible for bringing Thailand into the 19^th century and there are constant references made to him as you sight see. We had to walk quite a distance before we actually found the entrance. I had read in my “Lonely Planet” guide that because this is royal property visitors should wear long pants or long skirts and shirts with sleeves. However, I really did think that this rule may have been relaxed – but I was wrong!! So, they hand you wrap skirts to borrow while you tour the Throne Hall and the Palace. We headed to the Throne Hall first. The building is remarkable. It was built by Italian architects in the Renaissance and Neo Classic style and completed in 1915. It’s a two story marble building with a large dome in the centre surrounded by six smaller domes. On the interior of the domes are paintings depicting the history of the Chakri dynasty – Rama I – Rama V. Of course no cameras are allowed inside and you leave your shoes and purses, cameras, phones behind in a locker for a small fee. Next we headed to Vimanmek (Dusit) Palace. What a beautiful mansion. It was Rama V’s residence. Totally made of golden teak, not a nail in the place and only 72 rooms!! Loads of staircases, octagonal rooms, lattice walls. There are 2 right-angled wings that are 3 stories high and the part where the king resided was octagonal and 4 stories in the middle. This was a guided tour through 31 rooms. In the grounds there are also 7 other residential halls for the kings consort, princesses and younger sisters. We didn’t see them all because we simply ran out of time. We did visit the Royal Elephant Museum though.

It is actually two large stables built in the early 1900’s to house white elephants. These are considered very auspicious animals and automatically become crown property. One of the stables houses a sculpture of a living Royal elephant that belongs to the current king (Rama IX). We also visited two Royal Carriage buildings and the Royal Paraphernalia of High Rank hall. We did stop for a little lunch by one of the halls. I had fresh spring rolls (again not as good as the ones I got in Chiang Mai) and Tom had Shanghai noodles and chicken. It was very different looking - the noodles were sort of clear - but quite tasty. Then we finished it with Basil seed ice cream. It was very nice but of a different consistency than we’re used to………. After spending all day here and still not seeing everything we decided it was time to head home.

There was no way on earth that we were going to cook so decided to hit a “little” spot called Faces not too far from home. We knew it was Indian and Thai. Well this little spot turns out to be a very big spot with locations in Jakarta, Shanghai and Beijing. The décor was beautiful and the prices matched. We paid more here than I think we would have paid in Canada. We had some wonderful dishes though – Punjabi samosas (vegetable), tandoori murgh chaat (a cold chicken salad dish in a tomatoey sauce with green mango), tandoori lal tamater (tomato stuffed with 9 chopped vegetables), kashmiri pullao (rice with dried fruit and nuts) and garlic naan of course. I’ve decided I much prefer Indian food to Thai food.

Good thing we had such a good day because it rained off and on all weekend. We took the boys for a walk to a fish store. The apartment owners had put an aquarium in the place but we said no to fish cause we knew we’d be in and out so much. Well, the sides got pretty yucky with algae so Tom took Oliver to get 3 suckers. Nicky and I waited at Burger King for them to get back. Nick walks so slow that our wait was only a few minutes!! The kids had fries and ice cream and we came home. Well, I couldn’t believe how fast those fish got rid of the algae. We actually had to go out and buy some food for them today. It’s crazy!!

Monday February 4 – Dad and Jean flew out of Toronto for six weeks of golfing in Portugal. Hope they have a great time. Don’t think they’ll miss that rotten down east snowy weather too much. Another day of rain here and it was all day. Tom was so disappointed that he couldn’t watch the Super bowl. There was soccer, car racing, basket ball and even ladies boxing (which really pissed him off) but no football. We were supposed to meet Jennifer at the skytrain at 4:00 PM so we grabbed a taxi from the apartment. This was the only day she felt was free to go shopping for the boys birthday presents. Off we headed to Toy’s R Us. Didn’t get anything there though. It is really quite expensive here in Bangkok. We went to the department store “Zen” and managed to find a couple of items. Even bought a traveling Scrabble game for us. Had supper out at a place called “The Garage”. We’d eaten there with Jennifer before and she really likes their burgers. Besides the give free dishes of popcorn, nachos and buy 2 get 1 free beer.

Tuesday February 5 started out rainy but by noon it looked better so we decided we’d had enough of hanging around and took off. There was a place I wanted to investigate called Lingham Shrine. But guess it wasn’t meant to be. We walked all over and couldn’t find it. Apparently it is a fertility shrine with a phallus garden. Not something I needed though… We just spent the rest of the time walking around the streets, Checked out the Ratchaprasing Intersection Shrines – Hindu shrines credited for making this commercial corridor a success. Erawan Shrine has been there for about 50 years and because the Erawan Hotel is

perceived to be so successful
with the upper crust society the
businesses on the other corners decided they should erect shrines as well. Also visited the Erawan hotel lobby. It was gorgeous. I wish there was a tour here similar to the one we went on in Chicago, that exposes you to a bunch of different architecture

designs. There are so many beautiful and different old and new buildings on Bangkok. Had dinner at the Food Loft in Central World Plaza. It was similar to the Market in Toronto. You’re handed a passport as you walk in and then you wander around the various stations picking out what you want and having it charged to this passport. Again we had Indian. One of the dishes we had was Biriyani vegetable rice. It was excellent as were the samosas, butter chicken and garlic naan.

Today Jennifer and Gone wanted to get out to buy presents for the boys so we picked them up from school and brought them home. Because Jennifer had scouted stores out their trip was quick and easy. They stopped at the Great American Rib restaurant for dinner. We got a call saying “don’t eat”. They didn’t realize how big the portions of food were so brought some home for us – ribs, pulled pork, chicken and pork tenderloin. Tom and Gone did a good job of polishing the meat off. I’d already had my gourmet dinner with the boys – hotdogs ummmm!!

Well, that’s it for another week. Managed to get our hotel booked for our stay in Vietnam. We’ve decided not to spend any time in Saigon. Instead we’re being picked up by car after our cruise down the Mekong and taken to Mui Ne beach and will have a car drive us directly to the airport for our flight back to Bangkok. I still have to book the flight though. Just want to wait for that hotel voucher for confirmation first. So, things are winding down. Will have to get real busy these next two weeks to get out and see all the temples, museums etc that we want to see. Hope all is well with everyone back home. We hear no Canadian news and very little US news here. I try to pick up a paper most days but nothing much in it either about the Western world. Sort of like when we’re home – nothing much about South East Asia.

January 30, 2008

Hard to believe another month has passed us by. Where does the time go? I just had to post this pic of our friends gathering for a send off party for other friends traveling to the Middle East. Everyone was told they had to wear a “head dress”. Isn’t it great!! Last year it was Hawaiian garb.

Well it’s been another fairly quiet week. It’s still very hot during the day but there has been a change – now it’s also hot for a full 24 hours. If you check the weather channel the highs are 30 C and up but the lows are 27C and up too. And you add another 10C to see what it feels like…… We just continue to spend a lot of time at the pool. We’ve been trying to get to a particular tourist spot all week. Were all set to go yesterday and didn’t the heavens open up. It poured down rain for hours. Certainly didn’t relieve the heat though – created lots of traffic accidents as the roads were a little slick. The sky today is doubtful so we’re sticking close to home.

Gone showed up this morning to say he’s managed to strike a deal for us with the owner of our apartment. He said he’d be back in an hour with the owners plus another couple that want to rent the place after we leave. As it was poring rain, we were just watching TV so I was still in my PJ’s. I immediately got up to tidy a few things and then to shower and dress but there was a knock at the door and here were the new tenants. We’d actually met them before at the pool with their 18 month old – he’s American, she’s Thai. Needless to say I was a tad embarrassed but Jenn said it was OK cause I’m an “old gramma”. I’d be forgiven my dress code. Anyway, we leave here on Feb 20^th for some time in Cambodia and Vietnam. We wanted to come back to Thailand for a few days before we fly off to Canada on March 14^th. The owners are now letting us keep the apartment until March 14^th so that sure makes life a lot easier. We’ll come back here March 10^th and have a few evenings to spend with the kids. So, now we have 3 weeks in which to get in all the things we still haven’t done.

Last Thursday we just went walking in the area. We thought the Lotus (like super store) stop was only 2 stops away on the skytrain so headed off in that direction. It was actually 3 stops away so it was quite a walk. You don’t seem to notice the distance so much as there are always different sights to see along the way. There was a Science Centre not too far down the road so think we’ll take the kids there on the weekend. Also went over a klong (canal). It’s hard to understand how there’s a little circle of houses in the middle of the canal, but there is………We grabbed a few groceries at the store and then took the train back home. Once we get off the train it’s about a 25 minute walk to the apartment.

Friday we got our asses in gear and headed for the Dusit Zoo. We took the train to Victory Monument (a busy traffic circle and landmark for observing the social universe of the local university students) and then walked – seemingly forever.

I knew we had to pass Chitralada Royal Palace which I thought was open to the public but it’s actually private. We ended up walking 3 sides of it.The place is huge and self sustaining. They even have their own cattle and horses on site and gardens. This seemed to be an upscale part of

Bangkok and the properties reflected that. Also it was an area full of big hospitals - womens, childrens, neurology, dermatology, cancer, as well as schools for nursing and

pharmacology and universities. And more

seeming to be built.

But, we finally made it…..

We’ve been to all kinds of zoos, some better than others – like the Toronto Zoo. I thought this zoo was very well done. It was easy to get around. Made for children to enjoy too. The animals aren’t just in square metal cages. The mapped area seemed quite small but it took us quite awhile to get around the whole place. And the viewing was much closer and more personal. It was really neat. There’s a little lake in the middle and you can rent peddle boats if you choose. There’s even a KFC here. Jennifer has to attend a conference on Saturday, so think we’ll take the boys to the zoo. They’ll love it.

Weekends always seem to be spent around the pool or shopping with the kids. Then Mondays are our recovery days. Tuesday was so hot that we just stayed around the pool until late afternoon and then decided to head into town. First we went to the “Hard Rock” café for a bite before heading to the show. They’ve done a great job of decorating the restaurant with all music paraphernalia. We sat at the most appropriate table surrounded by Beatle memorabilia. I was going to buy a souvenir glass but it was $10.00. We had 2 beer each (happy hour) and a large combo appetizer platter for $24. Expensive in some ways but still cheaper than home. Next we headed off to the IMAX theatre to see Beowulf in 3D. It was pretty amazing. I wonder how long before we’re viewing all movies like that? They have a lot of stuff on IMAX here. The seats are about $7.50 but not near as nice as the regular theatre seats here – probably similar to our regular theatre seats at home. The show was over at 9:00 PM, the mall was still full of people as were the streets and the roads were jam packed with cars.This city is always so alive.

Guess that about let’s you in on what we’re up to. The threat of rain seems to have ended so maybe we’ll go for another discovery walk now. Not so – Jenn called for us to watch the kids after school so it’s up to the pool. We’ll see what tomorrow brings………

January 23, 2008

Seems like we’re doing a weekly blog now. That seems to work except I have trouble remembering what we’ve been up to. Not that it’s been much. Tom and I are both getting over colds so spent most of last week just vegging. I’m perfectly fine now but Tom is still coughing his head off. So, let’s take a walk down memory lane…………

January 18^th – Decided it was time to get off our back sides and take a walk. Had written some letters and had some pics to send to family and friends without computers – if you can imagine – so walked to the post office. Seeing as how we’d walked to the sky train we thought we might as well consider going to town centre and checking out an old theatre to see “Across The Universe”. This is a new movie much along the lines as Momma Mia but with Beatle tunes. It was actually quite good. Tom really enjoyed it. The characters were named Jude, Lucy, Prudence (who actually “came in through the bathroom window”), Sadie, Max and JoJo. I think the write up said there were about 30 Beatle tunes covered. Came home and stopped to pick up fruit shakes and wraps for supper. I had falafel and Tom had BBQ lamb. We really lack for nothing here.

January 20^th – Met up with our friends Lee and Harvey and had a really great day. Left here at 8:45 am and got to their hotel just after 10:30. That’s with taking a bus, train, water taxi and then walking, all for a cost of not even $3.00. Lee and Harvey were staying in the tourist area so we walked around there for awhile, stopped and had a shake and then just headed out walking and talking. We managed to figure out how to take the cross river ferry so went to the Royal Barges Museum. That was an adventure in itself. We obviously look like tourist and a fellow called out to us to tell us the way to the museum. He then proceeded to lead us on a twisting path for a small fee……. He could have been leading us down a path to be beaten and robbed and we wouldn’t have been any the wiser. The barges were fascinating to see. So ornate and colorful. It must be incredibly amazing to see a procession with 52 of these boats floating down the river. There are five rows of barges that measure 1,110 metres long and 90 metres wide and are propelled through the water by 2,082 oarsmen. We might just have to come here some year at the end of October when the king makes his visit from the palace to the temple – a distance of 3 kilometers. I just can’t begin to imagine what it must be like. After that we made our way back across the river and wandered down streets and through university grounds and then stopped for lunch at a restaurant along the river. Again had shakes and the guys had spicy prawn soup and Lee and I had fresh spring rolls. We had fruit punch shakes and Lee and Harvey had lime shakes and we forgot to say no salt or sugar. Unfortunately there definitely was salt added to the lime shakes. That seems to be fairly normal - salt

with fruit. A useful piece of info for travelers – remember shakes – no salt no sugar!! We were all pretty tired by the time lunch was finished so we walked to the park and then parted company. Tom and I did a total of 22,500 steps that day. Lee and Harvey were meeting up with their small tour group (about 12 people tops) the next day before heading out on their tour of the most popular places in Thailand, Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia. It will be an awesome trip and I can’t wait to hear all about it. Did you all watch the finale of Amazing Race – we did!! I was cheering for the Asian girl and her father but alas they came in second. On Thursday we also watch Amazing Race – Asia. I don’t think it’s quite as good as the other and the tasks seem to be somewhat easier. Tom would say a lot easier!!

January 21^st – Didn’t do too much today. I actually wasn’t feeling too well stomach wise. Probably a combination of too much sun, beer and greasy food – Jenny made fries and we also had nacho’s and guacamole dip. We decided to take the plunge and get our hair cut. I always do this with great trepidation – only because Thai people aren’t used to cutting curly hair. It actually was a wonderful way to spend some time. They spend about 20 minutes shampooing and massaging your head. Tom thought his guy was a little too good at it. Then after they cut your hair they wash and massage again. Then they love to make my hair straight and that takes awhile – not a curl anywhere. What do you think??? Of course once the kids came home from school it was off to the pool and a wet head. It was beautiful for a bit though. Tom wanted his cut a little shorter on top but the guy just couldn’t bring himself to do it. And for some reason they don’t seem to know anything about making your ‘sideburns” or whatever you call it the same length. I meant to check some guys out to see if maybe Thai guys just don’t grow hair in that area.

January 22^nd – This was a big day. We headed out to immigration to get our Tourist Visa’s extended. It opens at 8:30 so Jenn said to be there for 8:00 so that meant leaving at 7:00. She also said you could spend quite a bit of time there so we brought our books and some fruit and water. We were out by 9:00 AM. Very efficient people……….Now we had to decide what to do. It seemed a shame to just head home. So off we headed. Put on 17,500 steps. There was an “interesting” home to see but once we found it we discovered it was only open on the weekends. We got back on the sky train and headed out for some touristy spots. First hit the Suan Pakkad Palace museum. This was originally the residence of a prince ( a grandson of Rama V and the current king is Rama IX). 4 of the buildings are traditional Thai homes from the 19^th century that were taken apart, transported and then reconstructed on the grounds in 1952. Over the years 4 more homes were added in order to display all the Royal family’s artifacts and their private collection of musical instruments, rocks and minerals, porcelain, crystal, silverware, a private chapel with Buddha paintings, prehistoric shells and fossils, puppet figurines, and prehistoric ceramic wares. This is not only Thai artifacts but also many things given by dignitaries from Europe etc. The prince also had a small temple from the ancient historic capitol of Ayuthaya brought to the palace in 1950 for the Princess’ 50^th birthday. It’s a beautiful peaceful place in the middle of busy Bangkok. From there we headed to Baiyoke Sky Hotel. It is touted as the tallest hotel ever?? The 84^th floor is the revolving roof top restaurant. It costs 200 Baht ($6) to go up to the observation deck but it was still pretty foggy, hazy or smoggy – your choice. So we went up to the 18^th floor and had a bite to eat. Mixed fruit shakes and wonton soup for Tom and deep fried spring rolls for me. Everything was very good and not overly pricey and even came with a bread basket all for about $12. Then we just wandered around a market area and headed for the train home. When we got to the apartment I decided to go into the massage place and see about a foot massage – my first this year but definitely not my last. An hour massage is 250 baht. First they bring you a cup of tea, wash your feet and lead you to a reclining chair. Then I just zone out and they massage my feet and legs. Then when that’s done they have you sit on a little stool and give you a little neck and back massage. She ended up spending about 1½ hours on me. It was awesome. When the kids got home from school they wanted me to take them swimming and I just said no way. My feet and legs felt way too good!!

Today, when I’m done this we’re going to go grocery shopping. Jenn doesn’t have school this evening so I expect Gone will cook. Time for some veggies………….The next couple of days are supposed to be cooler so guess we’ll do the tourist thing again. It’s supposed to rain on Saturday so that could be interesting. Watch, it will probably just sprinkle for a minute. Hope everyone is well back in the western world. Seems “Pleasantville” is not quite so pleasant these days as there have been 17 break-ins in the last couple of weeks. Of course half of the neighbourhood isn’t there for the winter. Fortunately for us we have the best house sitters in the world. Thank you Wayne and Wendy!!

January 14, 2008 Hot as hell

Well, I’m not seeming to have much luck doing this blog on a daily basis. Have really just been spending most of out time doing “stuff” with the kids. They’re back to school tomorrow (Tuesday the 15^th) – hooray – and then we’ll start being tourists again. When you’re this old you forget how tiring kids can be. By the way, we have yahoo up and running again – hooray!! Sure makes life easier for writing. As I said it's hot as hell these days. It's supposed to cool down to 30C in the next couple of days......... The mornings have very heavy fog - enough to affect flights coming and going. It's really bizarre.

January 8 – Happy Birthday Steve. Called but he wasn’t home so spoke to Jenn and Isabelle. Called Steve the next day and had a nice quick talk with him. Spent this day trying to get some paper work done. Pricing of everything seems on the rise so thought I’d better get our flight booked to Siem Reap, Cambodia as well as our hotel. We’d stopped in at a tourist agency but their pricing seemed a bit expensive so decided to do it myself on the net. Booked our flight no problem - that is until I was rechecking the e-voucher. Seems I’d booked the flight for January 20^th and it should have been February 20^th. I almost had a stroke right on the spot. Got on the phone to Bangkok Air and no problem. They walked me through their e-services and I was just able to go in and change the date myself. Is it that easy in Canada? Next, went into a hotel sight for Siem Reap. This is where you stay in order to see Angkor Wat (where a Lara Croft (Anjolina Jolie) movie was made). The trees and vegetation have overgrown the temples – it’s truly amazing to see. We were here about 5 years ago but it will be neat to see again. The town has grown a lot and there were some sights that we didn’t see and some we’d love to see again. We’ll stay at the Borei Angkor for 3 nights before our cruise down the Mekong to Vietnam.

January 9 – Tom and I decided to venture out and do some walking in the Sukhumvit area where we live but a few train stops away. I had 2 maps with me and still we got lost. Could hardly believe where we ended up. We dug out our trusty compass and were able to get where we planned to go. We’d heard about a place to stay in Bangkok called House on the Pond. It looked lovely on line and didn’t seem to far from Jennifer. We had her check it out but she said no way. It’s in the middle of nowhere and forever away. We thought perhaps she was being a little hasty in her judgement but guess what – she was right on!! Then we were making our way around streets (left and right, left and right) and this is when we got lost. Nothing is square here. Put a few steps on the pedometer that day!! Ended up at Bann Kamthieng which is a 19^th century traditional Thai home that has been moved from Chiang Mai and now is somewhat like a museum. It was a lovely spot to enjoy some quiet by a cool fan.

January 10 – Decided we’d all go to the Children’s Discovery Museum. I sort of thought it would be along the same lines as The Science Centre in Toronto but boy was I wrong. The museum is very well done but certainly geared to very young children. Also not everything had English translation and not everything worked. The kids really seemed to enjoy themselves though. There was an extra Disney feature featured as well so we paid the extra to be sure we saw it all. Tom and I are finding we’re getting in some places free or at reduced cost because we’re “seniors” – bonus!! Jenn and family stopped at a street side restaurant for lunch that really wasn’t to our liking so we just wandered around. Seems we were in the middle of aquarium place. Anything and everything you’d ever need or want

and then some.

January 11 – Took the kids to see “Alvin and the Chipmunks”. Obviously not a “great” movie but the kids sure laughed. There was a huge “Lego land” demo going on in the mall so spent some time there with the kids too. Jennifer had her last midterm exam so we delivered the kids to Gone and then went out to our new found Italian restaurant for supper. We weren’t really hungry so Tom had a pizza and I just had a Caesar salad and some bruschetta. It was very tasty. I had a couple of glasses of red wine but I should have stuck to beer. We’ve decided it’s simply not enjoyable to drink wine in this heat.

January 13 – Guess we didn’t do anything on the 12^th……Went to school in the morning with Jennifer to help her clean up her classroom – get rid of all the Christmas decorations etc. She had her lesson planning to do so we decided to cook dinner here. Made a lovely pork tenderloin stuffed with mushrooms, onions and apple in an oyster sauce. Had baked potatoes with sour cream and a home made Caesar salad that can’t be beat. Even bought a package mix of gravy. It was a lovely meal. I must admit I do get tired of vegetables and rice…..Tom thought the pork tasted different but I tell you the potatoes sure did. They really had a sweetness to them – it was good but weird. You know how invariably something goes wrong, Well I wish we could have gotten a picture. Tom was slicing up the meat for each plate and I was trying to finish up the kids food but getting them some yoghurt. Well, I dropped the bowl from about chest height and there was yoghurt everywhere. I knew it was falling but there was nothing I could do and the first place it seemed to bounce to from the floor was both of my eyes. Now I couldn’t even see. I was absolutely covered. Quickly recovered and supper went on. What a mess though……….

January 14 – Spoke on the webcam with Steve, Jenn and Isabelle
this morning. What a nice surprise. Today was the last day of holidays and we all went to Lumphini Park – one of the biggest green areas in Bangkok. Unfortunately the write up in Lonely Planet didn’t mention that Mondays are not good days to see anything. There was nothing going on, no vendors, no exercisers, no people. This park should be a model for some of the “participaction” sights we have in Canada. The equipment was amazing. There was a whole section for weight training. Plus, there was constant patrol by bicycle police ready to fine anyone for smoking or drinking alcohol (2000 Baht). There were loads of garbage cans and no “homeless” people. We just wandered around and looked at the monitor lizards that live in the man made lake. The lake is huge and there are peddle boats to rent if you’d like. The kids played on the toys so they were happy. Jenn and family took a taxi home and Tom and I walked around the streets and then took the train home. Have had an easy evening and watched “Amazing Race”. Tomorrow the plan is to just relax, hang out at the pool and read.

Happy Birthday wishes to Faye, Isabelle and Gary…………….. Friends from home (Lee and Harvey) will be arriving in a few days. Looking forward to meeting up with them for a visit before they head off on their 30 day Indochine Experience.

January 7, 2008 Temp 33

Well here we are back in Bangkok. We left Hua Hin on January 2^nd and came back to cooler temps (27C) but now it’s on the rise again. We’ll be looking forward to some “cooler” time in Chiang Mai later this month. I thought I had a wonderful tan from the beach in Hua Hin and Tom is very tanned. But has anyone else ever noticed that their tan only looks good in the bathroom – something to do with the lighting??? Oh well…

I made what I think is a bit of a discovery. When I’m on the blog page, if I click on a picture it makes it come up on a separate screen in a larger format. Therefore I’m going to input these pics mainly as small pics. Someone let me know if this little experiment works!! Also I do see the comments on the blog page but am unable to respond to them there. And also am unable to compose messages on Yahoo right now – can’t figure that one out yet……….

Back to Jan 2^nd……After an early morning walk on the beach we headed to the train station at 11:30. I think I mentioned that the 1^st class air train was fully booked (that cost about 400B per person). Tickets for the 3^rd class, open window, hard seats (at 44Baht per person) went on sale at 1:00 PM. You don’t actually buy a seat so we started out with only 4 seats. Gone and I stood for awhile and then I sat with Oliver (held him while he slept). After a bit Gone got a seat only to give it up to a Thai lady with 2 babies. He did manage to find another seat though. Tom was sitting with what we both thought were 3 young backpackers. Imagine his surprise when the lady introduced her 16 yr old son and her husband. They’re from Russia, came to Thailand to go to English school for a month - so they talked for 4 hours!! The man was an electrical engineer and she was a teacher. Life isn’t great in Moscow, they left and now think they’d like to open up a business in Asia. They gave Tom their email address should we ever decide we want to visit Russia so for all you travelers out there, keep that in mind. The kids played musical chairs with the adults so there was no reading or dozing off………… Got into Bangkok around 7:00Pm, hopped on the subway for a bit and then caught a taxi home. Had a rum and orange juice with a tuna sandwich and went to bed! Spent the next couple of days cleaning the apartment, getting groceries and doing laundry.

On Saturday (the 5^th) Tom and I grabbed the sky train and traveled to the river. On Sundays there is a “Koh Kred” cruise and we decided it might be fun to do with the kids. But of course we had to get the tickets first – I didn’t want to just leave it to chance. While at the waterfront we decided to do a little walking. We were just standing looking at a huge decrepit building when a gentleman approached us. I must have answered his questions right because he didn’t try to sell me anything – just gave us info. The building was only 7 years old, was supposed to be a huge first class hotel but then the money ran out. You see signs of that all over the place. Sure would be painful if it was a condo you’d bought in to……….Then visited Wat Yannawa which means Temple of Junk. Seems there was a lot of trading with the Chinese so Rama III wanted this monument built to resemble a Chinese trading ship. We just wandered the streets watching the merchants and Thai people doing their daily business. Caught the train back home and spent the evening with Jenn and family with Gone making supper of course.

On Sunday (the 6^th) we were up early and ready for our adventure. It’s a ½ hour walk to the sky train so off we went, Gone and Nicky leaving later by motorcycle taxi. We arrived at the pier at 9:00 AM for a 10:00 AM trip so it was a long wait for the kids. We traveled for 1 ½ hours upriver to Wat Chalermpakiet also built in the reign of Rama III. There was also a 40 acre park here. It was beautiful but once again, being on a tour, you don’t have much time to walk around.

Next it was off to Baan Kanom Thai (House of Thai Sweets). We had lunch here and observed ladies making Thai candy treats. The candy is made from eggs and mung bean paste. This is formed into a shape, covered with gelatin, painted and sold as miniature candy fruit and vegetables. I’m not a big fan but Jennifer loves it.

Our next stop was Koh Kret to see a 200 year old ethnic Mon-style temple and to visit an ancient Mon pottery village. Now, for all you Amazing Race viewers, this was the place where contestants (Rob and Amber) had to carry pottery on a plank from point A to point B. It was very interesting to see the winding passage ways and all the little shop and food stalls. Jennifer tried some deep fried flowers but wasn’t very keen on them. I was tempted to try a fried orchid but didn’t. Imagine, we can hardly grow them in Canada and over here they’re eating them as a snack. Then it was a journey back down river. Everyone had a little snooze except Oliver and I. Didn’t feel much like eating so Jennifer brought the kids up and they had hot dogs and French fries and we had tuna salad toasted bagel sandwiches and beer (that goes without saying)!! Haven’t been up to much today. Went for a walk, checked out a new book store. Actually bought a new Thai cook book and a book for the boys on what do I want to be in Thailand – a monk, a tuk-tuk driver, fruit seller, farmer, fisherman etc. It’s really very well done. Very different stuff here. Will have to search for something different for Isabelle. Also checked out an Italian restaurant called ‘Bacco”. It’s only been open 3 months. The owner walked us through. The meats and cheeses come right from Italy, the décor was beautiful, the pizza oven amazing and the prices looked right too. Think we’ll be making a stop there very soon. Made our way to the grocery store and now here I sit writing this up. Heard there were 3 earthquakes off the coast of BC – didn’t sound too serious - hope our home is still standing!!