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Published: March 26th 2009
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Saying Good-Bye to Work, Again...
Well, we've done it; handed in our resignations yet again. This WILL be the last time for KBR. Yesterday was an interesting day. We arrived into Dubai late evening and immediately went to human resources to resign. The HR gal had already gone home for the day so we were told to come back the next day. It doesn't take the company long to say adios. In the morning HR told us to come back in the afternoon as she had 10 other resignations to handle besides ours. Easy enough, we spent the day at our favorite shopping mall strolling around and when we came back and she had all our documents ready for our signature and our plane tickets for our last ride home. It's in the contract the company will provide you with a plane ticket back to your home of record. They don't want you hanging around and do their best to get you out ASAP. Our tickets had us bound from Dubai to Portland, Oregon leaving that night at 11:30PM (in 5 hours!) on United. No way! We aren't ready to return to the US yet, and at the same time
don’t want just toss the tickets.
The last time we quit, our efforts to make any changes to our return tickets were hopeless for they had purchased a ticket which allowed no changes at all. They have made some small changes in how they do things now and that combined with our luck at knowing some of the people who work in Dubai allowed us work a minor miracle. After some consultation regarding what we could and couldn't do with the tickets we took a cab across the city to the travel agency the company uses to book all its travel. The place is open 24 hours a day (Dubai is like Las Vegas in that respect) and we showed up on their door asking and hoping for a last minute ticket change. We felt like we were in The Amazing Race TV show trying to get a miracle ticket. We met some very nice Indian guys who were manning the computers for the agency and we scored!!!
In the beginning our options had been to toss the tickets in the garbage or put them on standby; we would have up to 1 year to use the tickets
but that would mean traveling back to Dubai. None of those sounded good, and when we called United, we were informed that they could not make any changes to the ticket (same story as last time) but the agency could. We didn't really believe we could make any changes but you never know until you try. We threw caution to the winds and requested our tickets be changed from Dubai to Hong Kong, departing on 22May. We are still floored that it happened. This will give us plenty of time to do our roaming around Southeast Asia before we head back to the USA. Hopefully, we'll be able to do some upgrading before we get on board so we don't end up looking and feeling like a pretzel after a 10 hour flight. American airline companies are not known for leg space or overall quality/comfort of flights, but there was nothing we could do to change that.
Hello Bangkok, Again...
It’s been a few years since we have been to Bangkok and the city is still crowded, noisy and hot, hot, hot. One of our main objectives while here was to get our Vietnam visas. We were able
to get our visas to Vietnam. We made our way down to the Vietnam embassy and were able to get them in 24 hours as we were willing to pay double for rush service.
We are staying at the Baan Suhkkavit guesthouse. We found it on Trip Advisor and it’s one of the highest rated places on the list. It’s just off Sukhumvit Road on Soi 20. It cost 1540 baht per night and included breakfast. Very clean, quiet and British Kevin (the owner) was very helpful with information. We stayed there 3 nights then had to change hotels as they were booked up. We moved to the Queen Lotus Guest House just down the street for the same price. A bigger place but same standard of hotel. Rooms were bigger and more comfortable and included WIFI and breakfast. We would recommend the Lotus. Good location close to the skytrain
The Skytrain is the elevated train that makes tourists life so much easier. It’s very easy to buy a pass and hop on and off as you want. It’s very clean, very fast, easy to figure out and much nicer than taxis or tuk tuks. There is also
Stoned at Ayutthaya
Old stones that use to be part of the ancient city. the subway system which goes in different routes than the skytrain. It will make your visit to Bangkok so much easier!
We spent one evening wandering wondering around one of Bangkok’s night markets called Suam Luan. It is just outside the Lumpini subway station, and is quite a big production. We have decided it’s better than the night market at Chang Mai though Changi Mai had more selection and better quality plus many of the hill tribes sold their goods there. But Suam Luan was nice in that it was close, clean and the sellers were not pushy or aggressive. There was a large food stall area with water misters overhead and a stage with a live band at one end. Must have had over 30 food stalls. You buy coupons at the entrance and pay with the coupons instead of money. Food was on one side and beer on the other.
Visit to the Ancient City of Siam
One of our days was spent on a guided tour of Ayutthaya. Ayutthaya is the ancient capital of Siam and what the tour shows you is pretty much the ruins of the temple complex. Extremely old as many of the ruins date back a couple of thousand years (not a history buff, can you tell). The multitudes of Buddha statues all had their heads broken off which happened when Burma invaded. Taking the tour is a good and relatively comfortable way to see the capital and the major temples between there and Bangkok. We were picked up at our hotel and taken to the motor coach. The capital was about an hour outside of town. We stopped at a couple of temples and the summer palace. The route back was done on a river cruise boat which included a buffet lunch. It was very pleasant way to do it. We met some nice people and learned a bit history at the same time
Clean Teeth are Happy Teeth
We were both due for a cleaning and chose a dental clinic recommended on the internet; Silom Dental. Not close to our guest house but an easy journey by Skytrain. We had an initial consultation for 500 baht ($15) which included panorama x-rays and exam. We both have molars missing and wanted to get implants. We have decided to get the implant (part 1 of the procedure) now and then complete the procedure (part 2 is getting a permanent crown attached) after Vietnam and Cambodia. The healing time between part 1 and 2 will be at least 2 months, but we are hoping we heal fast and can get it done in 6 weeks. The procedure went very smooth and we both were given the go ahead to return in 6 weeks for part 2. (providing all looks well)
The Journey Through Asia Begins, Almost...
Before we start the real journey, it's off to Koh Lanta for 2 weeks of beach life. We will fly to Krabi and then have to catch the ferry out to the island. Till then...
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Leanna Glander
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Yay! The Hayes' are returning home!
Great to hear that our globe trotters are done being in the desert! Come home soon- buy a house again : )