My last two full days in Bangkok were definitely the most activity-filled of the entire trip. I had booked full-day tours through my hotel for 1000 baht (approx. $25) each and definitely got my money's worth... Monday morning (January 9), my guide picked me up at 6:20a.m. in the 18th floor lobby of Baiyoke Sky Hotel and escorted me to the minivan downstairs. We then went to pick up six more passengers at the China Palace Hotel in Chinatown. I was trying to remember a few phrases of Chinese when the guide was inside retrieving them but they all turned out to be from near Sydney, Australia, and were the first native-English speakers I'd encountered in quite some time. There was an older couple and then a family with two children of approximately 10 years of ... read more

It was a very long day and I need to get up early tomorrow for the River Kwai trip so I won't write much tonight other than the briefest details. I'll fill those in at a later time. The morning was spent touring the Royal Palace - I've never seen so much gold in my life! We returned at noon and I had my "welcome drink" at the Lobby Bar - it was just watermelon juice and Sprite. I then went up to the revolving observation deck on the 84th floor and took some photos. After that, I went in search of a shop to transfer another full memory card to CD, having to make my way through the blocks of garment wholesalers. I stumbled across Pranthip Computer Mall - seven floors of computer, electronics, and ... read more

That's the best way to describe Baiyoke Sky Hotel. I'm on the 68th floor (rooms only go to floor 74; restaurants and other facilities occupy the upper floors with observation decks on the 77th and 84th floors - the latter is an outdoor revolving one). The room is extremely luxurious with a huge bathroom, a separate office area, a dining alcove, dessing area, and two windows overlooking Bangkok far below. I'm wearing a really cool Baiyoke bathrobe as I type this. My room is so high that my cellular service is very intermittent, however (Tim and I tried to call each other several times but after the signal kept dropping, I finally called her successfully from the bathroom phone - the bedroom phone had interference). Riding in the second elevator from the 18th floor lobby, my ... read more

The past several nights, I've been awaken in the middle of the night by something large hitting the sliding glass doors to my hotel room. Tonight, I stepped outside to investigate and was almost hit by the largest cicada I've ever seen! It was almost as big as a hummingbird and twice as erratic, flitting back and forth between the left-on porch light and my door. Mystery solved... The light also attracted a few other exotic creatures such as a giant lizard. A good reason to stay inside at night as I'm not a fan of creepy-crawlies unless they're at a considerable distance... One can buy a second-hand Phuket-style tuk-tuk for around 2000 baht ($50): they're made by Diahatsu. If I could figure out how to ship one home, I'd be very tempted. I think it ... read more

The budget airline I'd booked my return to northern Thailand mysteriously cancelled all of it's flights from Phuket this week effectively stranding hundreds of passengers in paradise. I've booked a flight on a different airline but the earliest I'll be able to leave is early in the evening this coming Friday, which will cause me to cancel my plans for the River Kwai area and crossing into Burma. It's no problem because I'm enjoying myself here in Kamala and I didn't have anything booked until my scheduled return to Bangkok on January 7th. Now, I'll just get back to that city a day early which will give me a bit of time to get oriented before checking into the "cool" hotel. On New Year's Eve, I was introduced to a very nice woman named Tim who ... read more