Sunday July 15 Well, we are now on the way home. I’m sitting in the JAL lounge at Narita waiting for our flight to JFK. It leaves at 12:00 PM and arrives in JFK at 11:30 AM on the same day - we arrive a half hour before we take off - the flight is 13 hours. Narita is closing all flights at 12:30 PM due to weather conditions from the typhoon - we are, again, lucky. It has been a real adventure! Nancy and I have just had an incredible time. All of our plans and reservations have worked [View Full Entry]

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Friday July 13 Friday the 13th doesn’t mean anything in Hong Kong - it’s a Western superstition. I’m sure they have plenty of their own superstitions. After a slow start and a late breakfast in the morning, we decided to head to the Stanley Market on the other side of Hong Kong Island. We took the MTR to Central Exchange and there got the #6 bus to Stanley - the ride took about 45 minutes. We have used public transportation for our stays in Hong Kong. The buses are double-decker and air conditioned - it is neat riding on the [View Full Entry]

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Thursday July 12 We had breakfast in the Terrace Restaurant at The Oriental - talk about living large (and expensive). Then it was off to the airport for the flight to Hong Kong - sadly, we were on our way home. The flight was delayed for an hour - our first flight delay in the whole trip! We once again stayed at the YMCA Salisbury in Hong Kong. For some reason we ended up being upgraded to a harbor view suite! No charge - and no argument from us! By the time we got settled it was after dark. We [View Full Entry]

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Wednesday July 11 Today was basically a travel day. For a variety of reasons, mainly airline connections, our itinerary left us with a half day in Bangkok. Not much you can do in a half day - so we had decided to “live it up”. We had made a reservation at the Oriental Hotel! When most travel magazines and travel books compile their “Best in the World” lists, The Oriental consistently ranks in the top 10 hotels in the world. It IS an experience - incredible service and attention to detail. Wish we could afford to travel this way all [View Full Entry]

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Tuesday July 10 We headed out for temple touring at 8:30 AM. The first stop was Ta Prohm, which was completed in 1186AD. This temple was left in its natural state when rediscovered in the 19th century, as an example of how most of Angkor looked. Most of the temples in the Angkor complex have been restored - clearing them of trees and vegetation. The structures had to be re-assembled and stabilized, so they were safe. Imagine trying to assemble complex temples from a remaining, partial structure and piles of stones scattered in the jungle. Since Cambodia is a poor [View Full Entry]

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Monday July 9 Today begins our tour of the Angkor Complex. We met our guide, Phat, and driver at the hotel at 8:30 AM. The overall park area is huge and contains many temple areas. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and is the history of the Khmer Empire. The earliest temple was started about 790AD and the last built in 1327AD. The Khmer Empire then faded out. At one point the Khmer ruled the area of what is now Cambodia,parts of Thailand (Siam), Laos, and VietNam. The first stop was Angkor Thom. This complex was built in the [View Full Entry]

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Sunday July 8 We left Chiang Mai on a 7:00 AM flight to Bangkok airport. We then connected with a 11:00 flight to Siem Reap, Cambodia. Since the flights were on different carriers, we had to “break” security, get our bags, check-in to the new carrier, and then go back through security. Bangkok is a BIG airport - this was a lot of running around … but we still had time for a stop at Starbucks - a little touch of home. Cambodia is a poor country - on our drive from the airport (we had arranged a pick-up) we [View Full Entry]

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Saturday July 7 Today we set out to explore the town of Chiang Mai with the help of the “Nancy Chandler’s Map” (again, thank you Leslie). Transportation in this area is interesting: there are a few metered taxis, a lot of what the locals consider a mini-bus (songthaew) which is a pick-up truck with a covered bed and two bench seats, and a huge number of tuk-tuks. We took a songthaew that was sitting right outside the hotel to Wat Phra Singh in the old city area. The “old city” is inside the original city area defined by brick walls [View Full Entry]

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Friday July 6 We left the hotel at 8:30AM - we had arranged for a car and driver. The weather was not too good: cloudy and humid with sporadic showers. Sunny and clear sounds nice, but the heat is brutal when the sun is out - Nancy and I have started to prefer cloudy, as it is more comfortable. First stop was an orchid and butterfly farm. Yes, they do raise butterflies - I assume for collectors. The orchids here are absolutely beautiful and very plentiful, we see them everywhere. This farm was a tourist stop/commercial operation, we had to [View Full Entry]

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Thursday, July 5 We left Bangkok early - 10:30 AM flight - and arrived in Chiang Mai at 11:45 AM. Chiang Mai is 370 miles north of Bangkok into the mountain areas. We had arranged for the hotel to pick us up at the airport - Leslie had suggested this since metered taxis are not that common in Chiang Mai. We are staying at a boutique hotel - The Yaang Come Village. It has 42 rooms grouped in 4 buildings that are designed to look like traditional Thai structures. It is even more beautiful than their web site - incredible [View Full Entry]

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