Sawadee krab! Early in 2009 we threw an invitation to the Hertz family (our daughter Kayle, her husband Rick, along with granddaughters Elisebeth & Amber) to vacation in Thailand with us. Essentially, we were going to duplicate our 2006 trip by going to Bangkok and then our timeshare on Phuket Island. However, Elisebeth was in the process of looking for a job after getting certified as a lab technician, and Amber was starting her first year of medical school. As a result, neither of the girls felt they should make the trip.
On January 2nd, 2010, Mary and I left for Portland and then flew via San Francisco, to Incheon, (Seoul, Korea) where we met Rick and Kayle. After a short layover we all boarded a plane for Bangkok eventually arriving at the J.W. Marriott hotel about 2 a.m. I think it was Sunday morning local time, but just as it was in 2006, after crossing the International Dateline and about 15 time zones plus the total flying time of about 22 hours, I’m not sure what day or what time it was. I know we were tired and we all went to bed quickly.
The trip started off a little strange because when the taxi driver took us to the hotel we realized we had booked the wrong one. However, we decided to sort it out the next morning. So after breakfast and a trip to a tailor where Rick & I were measured for new suits, we called another cab and transferred to the Bangkok Marriott Resort Hotel.
Other than the hotel mixup, the Bangkok portion of the trip had some of the same highlights as before. Because there are some things that are a "must do" for first-time visitors Mary & I gladly repeated them with Rick & Kayle. This included a tour of the Grand Palace and another dinner at Cabbages & Condoms. However, this vacation resulted in fewer auto taxi rides as we availed ourselves of long-tail boats and water taxis for a lot of our travel around the city.
One of our dinner highlights was a result of a connection that Kayle had with one of her students at University of Wisconsin. The student was from Bangkok and she arranged for her mother, Rataya Dumrongpol, to show us the sights, and take us to dinner one evening. She had intended to take us to Bangkok’s tallest building, the 997' Baiyoke Tower II. Due to a massive traffic jam we finally substituted the 771’ Centara Grand Hotel. Joined by Rataya's other daughter Ploy, we had dinner overlooking Bangkok at night from the restaurant on the rooftop. A truly beautiful setting, a wonderful meal, and delightful dining companions.
I've added some pictures from the second trip to the Thailand photo album.
(Well, not yet... but soon.)
Photo Album
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