We arrived at the Bangkok airport last night after a smooth flight from Tokyo. A quick run through immigration and we were in a taxi taking the highway to our hotel. This road was not built when we were last in Bangkok - cut our trip downtown in half.

Checking into the Royal Princess hotel was our first Internet test. We were pleased to find out that not only were our reservations received by the hotel, but they were actually correct! Our room is perfect - nonsmoking (rarity in Asia), king bed (again, unusual in this part of the world) room with the all important satellite TV connect to CNN.. $50/night also includes a complete breakfast buffet - eggs made to order, fresh papaya and pineapple, frenchtoast, etc.

At breakfast we met Tim Breen, a travel photographer and retired computer instructor from Michigan. Tim is into the 3rd month of a 4 month trip. He gave us all sorts of tips for Laos, Myanmar and Cambodia. Thanks Tim!

Next step is to connect with Bea and her friend Ooy and to return to some of our favorite sites in Bangkok. At least until jetlag catches up with us!

Ooy, Moo, and Jo joined us for dinner

We met up with Bea and Ooy for a wonderful afternoon and evening. They took us to an island outside of Bangkok - a site popular with the locals. We had a great boat ride around the island, stopping twice to see the desserts that are the specialty of the people who live on the island. They are also known for their pottery. We thought that the pots were mass produced until we walked by an area where they were throwing the pots on a wheel. It was amazing to see how uniform they were able to make each pot, throwing one per minute! Later that day Ooy took us to the aluminum factory where she works and introduced us to JO, her sister, and Moo, her brother-in-law (the owners of the shop). We met them all for a great dinner that night - giant river prawns the size of lobsters, crab, scallops cooked with garlic and shrimp, deep fried grouper, green curry, morning glory (a veggie), etc.

Tuesday:

We continue to be pleased with our hotel choice. It seems to be popular with people who are doing business with the United Nations. It's much more relaxed and "real" than the traditional tourist area near the river. We explored the streets around our hotel. Tailors, herbalists, women threading flowers on strings for offerings, fresh food market.

One street had shops selling automotive parts, complete with doves in cages hanging outside the store and huge pots with water lilies.



The contrasts were great. We passed a print shop where they were setting type by hand and a shop where a man was printing cigarette cartons one by one. As we were looking at the shops, people were walking by talking on cell phones! And then we rounded the corner and came to an ATM machine that gave us access to our credit union account! This is also a great spot to eat. The woman cooking chow fun told us that a lunch plate would cost 5 baht - 20 cents!

The Nation, Thailand's Independent Newspaper, fit right into our sense of contrasts. An article about the March 4th election for senators included this paragraph: "Khunthong, 47, a well-known tarot fortuneteller, said he might have to randomly pick the "lucky" candidate from the three or four he had in mind."

Wednesday & Thursday

We couldn't spend the week in Thailand without going to the usual tourist sites. There are so many incredible palaces and temples, that we stumbled upon a few that we haven't been to before.

We combined the #1 tourist attraction - the Grand Palace - with a local flavor. When the tuk-tuk drivers wanted 100 baht to take us to the palace, we decided to try to figure out the bus routes. We jumped on a regular (non-air conditioned) bus hoping that it was going to the palace. As we tried to figure out if we were heading in the right direction, a gentleman spoke us and assured us that we had selected the correct bus. It turned out that he was a tourist policeman on his way to work at the palace. We not only had a scenic bus ride, but also a personal guide - all for 7 baht (18 cents).

The Grand Palace and Wat Pho are so amazing that we quickly spent 3 hours wandering through the grounds. There is now an audio cd self-guided tour that made our time at the palace even better than when we had a guide. The first 2 pictures were taken at Wat Pho, the 3rd is from the Grand Palace and the 4th picture is from inside the Marble Wat.

Given the 98+ degree weather, we did decided to upgrade our ride back to the hotel. We took the air-conditioned bus for 13 baht. Our splurge continued through the rest of the day. Eating lunch - 104 baht ($2.70) for 2 bowls of udon noodles with chicken and soft drinks; taking our shirts to the 24 hour laundry ($2.50 for 5 shirts); and having dinner (spring rolls, stir-fried veggies, beef with oyster sauce and Singha beer) at a restaurant with live piano music ($9).

Walking back into our hotel brought us back to the contrasts of Bangkok. The parking lot was filled with Mercedes, BMW's and even a Land Rover!

CHIANGMAI AND CHIANGRAI

After a quick trip to Cambodia, we flew to Chiangmai, Thailand. We had to do a bit of fast talking (something about Christmas presents for family) to the customs agents when they saw our two large boxes filled with purchases from Cambodia. Fortunately they did not open the boxes and unwrap each item! The best part about landing in Chiangmai was seeing three familiar and welcoming faces at the airport. We were so happy to see Addy, Bea and Parp waiting for us outside of customs. You should have seen their eyes when they saw our luggage and boxes!

Our time in northern Thailand was beyond belief. We were no longer tourists in a foreign country. Instead we were part of an extended wonderful Thai family.

After a quick evening in Chiangmai, we flew to Chiangrai with Bea and Parp. Their friend Anothai met us at the airport. We had an incredible 2 days, sightseeing, eating every 5 kilometers, laughing, bargaining at the markets. We first went to Mae Salong, a beautiful resort in the hills, then shopping at the Burma border and overnight at Chieng Saen Lake View Resort, a beautiful lake resort near the Golden Triangle (where Burma, Laos and Thailand borders meet) - see the picture on the left below. That is the view from our room in the morning. We were the only guests at the hotel and had our pick of rooms.

After a visit to the Chieng Saen museum and wat, we had breakfast at a shop on the street across from the Mekong River. Breakfast was a soup, potstickers, noodles and a fish dish. We all shared the dishes, tasting everything. Bea, Parp and Anothia picked the restaurant because it had posters showing that it had been reviewed by 3 of the local TV stations. This was just one in a series of food stalls which we would have missed if we were traveling on our own.

In the afternoon we went to the King's Mother's favorite spot in northern Thailand. The grounds were breathtaking. Flowers everywhere, lakes and imaginative fountains arching over the walkways. That's Parp and Anthai under one of the fountains!

Returning to Chiangmai, we were Parp's guests at her condominium in the city. No hotels for family!! Saturday morning we went to Bea and Addy's house so that their mother could give Tim his cooking lesson for sticky rice and mangos. The kitchen was filled with laughter as Tim tried his hand at making sticky rice with Mama watching over his shoulder. We eagerly watched as Mama tasted Tim's rice and pronounced it perfect. She took Tim's sticky rice and shared it with the neighbors as we took off for our power shopping.

On the way to the district that is known for their wood carving, we stopped at the local tailor shop to make 2 sleep sacks to take to Bhutan. Boy were we surprised when it turned out that the seamstress had her shop on the street corner. For 80 baht ($2) she sewed 2 sleep sacks and had them ready the next day!

That was just one of many surprises for us. While we were in Bangkok we saw stores selling plastic buckets filled with emergency supplies (soap, umbrella, towels, etc.). We assumed that since Y2K had passed without a problem, that there was a sale of these emergency supplies. Addy and Parp had a great laugh when they explained to us that the Thai people bought the buckets as donations to the monks. Another lesson for us about assumptions of other cultures.

Wisely, Parp and Bea had met us up that morning in a pickup truck. Stopping every kilometer, we filled the truck with statues and wood elephants, rushing to the shipping company with a full load just before they closed at 5 pm. We ended up shipping 2 crates back to the US, a total of 1.5 cubic meters. In one month the boxes will arrive at the Oakland port.

Sunday morning Addy and Parp took us to the district known for making paper from mulberry trees. After going crazy buying sheets of paper, bags, journals, photo albums, etc. we took off for the grocery market to shop for our next cooking lesson. We went to Janya's house where Tim prepared pasta with a red sauce and pesto, garlic bread and salad as well as chicken tacos! This was the first time that Italian food had ever been cooked in that kitchen! All of the relatives came over to meet us and to taste Tim's cooking. The pressure was on. We sure were happy when they asked for seconds!

After lunch, Janya taught Tim how to make pad thai - our favorite Thai dish. First Janya made pad Thai while Tim watched and then it was Tim's turn at the wok. We had a taste test and the children like Tim's better! We decided that was because he added more sugar!

We met Noon and her parents and brother at Janya's house. Noon is Janya's niece. Noon has just completed her undergraduate degree and is interested in getting her MBA in California. Her parents were not convinced that she should go that far from home and had lots of questions for us about colleges in the Bay Area. We must have made an acceptable impression, because that evening over a feast at a Chinese restaurant, Noon's parents said that it was ok for her to proceed with her application to Stanford. Leaving the restaurant, Noon's parents took us to a guest house that they have just built on the street behind their home. The house is beautiful - garden with shaded sitting areas, large living area, 2 bathrooms (!), sliding doors that lead to the garden. Best of all, we received an invitation to stay in the house the next time we are in Chiangmai! We will be e-mailing Noon to help her as she completes her Stanford application. Hopefully the next time we see her will be in California.

We were sad to leave Chiangmai. We will miss Addy, Bea and Parp and their family and friends. This short week has convinced us that we need to return soon and stay for a minimum of 1 month. Addy has agreed that we can rent her motorcycle! We're already looking at our work commitments to see which month would be best.