Our Christmas Vacation Part 1

Once again, I apologize for not getting this out sooner. There was an earthquake in Taiwan around Christmas time that caused havok for the internet in Asia. In Tianjin, we are just now being able to get onto the internet beyond google email. I have not been able to access this site for awhile. That is also why there are not pictures. It is taking too long. Hopefully in another week or so, I'll be able to add pictures. Without further ado....



Dave is getting some work done so I thought I would begin blogging our vacation in Thailand.

We started by arriving in the day before in case the fog was bad like it had been all week. Fortunately we had beautiful weather. We arrived late afternoon and decided to head for the Silk Market. Our video camera has been acting up so we decided to replace it before we took off for Bangkok.

After an attempt of negotiations, we walked away. It seems that as closing time nears, the prices go up. We went to several stalls and each one kept raising the price. So we decided to wait and see what would happen the next day. With that, we decided to check a new restaurant in Beijing that serves "real" Texas BBQ called Tim's Texas Bar-B-Q on Guang Hua Lu in the Embassy district. The owner is from Seguin just south of Austin. I read an article sent to me by some TX friends in TEDA. All I can say, is that if you have a craving for TX BBQ in China, this is the place to go. He had the sauce right, the brisket was slow smoked, and the beans and cornbread were fabulous. Let's hope he can keep the consistency. The only thing lacking was the Shiner Bock beer. We ran across a couple of guys from Central Texas. It was nice to have a bit of home.

The next morning, we met our friends Kathy and Joe White at Mass at the British Embassy Visa office and then had a cup of coffee. They went off to run other errands and so we met Mario Garcia and Vicky for a relatively good Mexican lunch. They had come in from Tianjin for the day to run go to church and do a bit of shopping. They went with us back to the Silk Market to help with negotiations. There is something about closing time and perception of desparation to purchase. While Mario worked it at one stall, Dave worked another and managed to talk them into a somewhat decent price. A huge thanks to Mario for his help. We also went looking for a Christmas CD. I had left all mine at home, thinking Dave would be back to pick them up. What I ended up with was interesting I found out on Christmas day. (More on that in the next blog).

Our flight was scheduled to leave at 8pm so about 5pm we gathered our bags and headed to the airport. After eating an okay airport dinner, it turned out the flight was delayed about 2 hours. I did a little window shopping. We finally made it on the plane for a 5 hour flight in coach with full plane. Tight quarters but the price was right. Dave found airline tickets through a travel agent for half the price of what we found on line.

We sat next to two couples from Sweden who were headed to Phi Phi Island (prounounce Pee Pee Island). They go to Thailand every year. In fact they said they were in Thailand two years ago when the tsunami hit. I don't remember where they said they were, but in an area that still had a 7 foot wall of water come at them. I was amazed that they were going back.

We landed in Bangkok about 2 am and finally made it to the hotel by 3am. We were at the Royal Orchid Sheraton right on the river. We had a spectacular view from our hotel room. We finally went to sleep and were up about 9am to hit the town.

We stayed in an older and mostly tourist area of Bangkok. After a good breakfast buffet overlooking the river and all the boats, we walked down to the Oriental Hotel which is the oldest hotel in Bangkok. It is a place where writers stayed. There is only a small portion of the original hotel but it is kept in its turn of the century style. It would be nice to stay there one day. From the Oriental, we got on a ferry boat for a ride up the river. Our plan was to go to the Grand Palace and see the Emerald Buddha. We ended up at Wat (???) temple instead. (I'll have the name in a few days). There is an enormous Reclining Buddha and tiled spirals everywhere. It was fascinating to think about the time and energy involved in building this temple.

Afterwards, we figured out where we were and took a taxi to the Grand Palace only to find out it was about to close for the day. A guard at one of the back entrances stopped us to let us know and keep us from walking all the way around and to tell me that my t-shirt and skirt were not appropriate attire to enter the Palace area. Now I admit that I was skeptical. I had been reading about street scams especially regarding gemstones. My little red flags popped up everywhere. He directed us to some other sights that were open and not typically mentioned in the tourism books, including a tailor. He was very nice and talked to us for a while. He wanted to know where we were from. He showed us some areas on our map that were interesting places to see. And he circled them on the map. He negotiated a tuk-tuk driver (which is a motorcycle with a covered cart on the back) to take us to the sights that were only open for one more day. The tailor's promotion was only available one more day. Okay, I'll bite. His negotiation for the driver was great--40 Baht for the afternoon (= $1.25USD).

We were taken first to the temple of the Happy Buddah. It was in a quiet out of the way place. And very peaceful. There were some woman there making an offering. We found out that one of the women was pregnant and making an offering for a healthy baby boy. We were told it was only open once a month and that was the day. We met the husband of the woman inside. His mother was from China. We talked for awhile and he confirmed that the temple was only open one day a month. Okay, not bad.

He also told us about the tailor and said they were the best. He only buys from them. There is a "special" card that you get. He highly recommended them. Red Flags again....

Because it was late, we decided to go see what the tailor had to offer rather than go to the monuments. Maybe these guys were for real. I sill felt a bit kike a hooked fish. We were immediately directed upstairs. I admit I kind of dragged him up. I thought he needed one more suit anyway. Dave surprised me and bought two suits and two shirts and I had a suit dress made for me. The tailor, we were told by the guard at the palace, is one of the manufacturers for Armani in Italy. We now have "Armani style" suits at a fraction of the cost. I do admit that Dave is going to look great. My only regret is that I did not get my suit in Thai silk. It is a very conservative black pinstripe, but incredibly gorgeous. But they have my measurements and I can have something made by just emailing them. Who knows. I was still feeling a bit like a hooked fish....

We then told the driver we need a travel agent so we could book our travel to Phuket. He took us to a great agent near the river who helped us find a cheap flight to Phuket and booked our hotel for New Year's Eve in Bangkok.

We had the tuk tuk driver take us back to the ferry stop and I paid him a little extra - ~$2USD. What is disturbing is that if you pay more, then it becomes too expensive for the locals because the drivers expect more. I will play the game for now.

We ate dinner at a restaurant near the river. I planned to eat my way through Pad Thai (stir fried noodles) in Thailand. I am doing pretty good so far. It has all been good. To go with the Pad Thai, Dave decided we need to order 3 liters of beer. The bartender even came over to confirm that we wanted the 3 liter pitcher. We weren't really thinking in terms of metric size, just that rather than order 2 glasses and then order 2 more, that we would order the pitcher and be done with it. What we did not count on was the container. It was a small cooler with a tap at the bottom. We did finish it. Althought I think it surprised the wait staff. Of course we are Americans.....

That is our first day in Bangkok. The next day was more of the same thing...Go here, it is only open one more day, this is the best gemstore in Bangkok. It is where the locals buy engagement rings. Dave's new name.....Mr. Steve.

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