Fortune Smiles on Us

 The flight stoppage on Wednesday, January 11 on all domestic air travel led to a delayed departure from O’Hare. It would have meant no flight had we started our travels from Indianapolis. Fortune smiled on us all the way. Although our connection time was cut to an hour and the departure gate was miles from the arrival gate we made it just fine. 

Once in Bangkok our walk from the gate to immigration was again, miles. Again everything went smoothly. Our ride to the Golden Foyer Hotel was waiting for us and we were on the way! We both got a bit nervous as we went down alleys and through darkened streets. Then all at once the hotel was before us. Check-in was quick and by 1:00 AM Thursday morning we were ready for bed.

The next morning was bright and revealed the very lovely grounds of the hotel. The rice, cabbage, egg, chicken with vegetables and watermelon was not our usual breakfast but it was delicious. 

As was the terrace where we ate among the coconuts and orchids. 

On our way to Hua Hin—

Again pick-up at the hotel was easy. Our driver was early and we were at the condo by 3:00 PM. We were given an upgrade to a 2 bedroom. You are certainly invited to join us as long as you can do bunk beds!

Once unpacked we took a little walk around the condo which is costing about $43.00 per night. The pool is gorgeous and we will definitely be giving it a try.

Continuing our walk we found a lively street of mostly bars, working women, and a couple of restaurants. Still getting used to the time change we were the first customers in a large family owned restaurant. We enjoyed 2 local lagers of Chiang beer. We enjoyed the light flavorful beer so much we ordered a third to split between us. Bad idea, we absolutely could not finish. Too large! For dinner, we both had fish—mine was basil fish, Dennis had spicy fried fish. They were both very tasty.

On our way back to the apartment we stopped at the 7-11. A lady, foreign like us, approached me for directions. I said, “I’m sorry we just got here.” Her reply, “But you are brown!” What?!

We called it a night and were in our very comfortable bed by 9 PM. That night there were a few reading breaks between sleeping and getting up in the morning. 8 AM found us experimenting with the coffee—what kind of instant coffee is best? Horrible question. By 10 we were out the door and hunting for breakfast. We stopped at a very untidy (I don’t want to scare anyone) local place. The charming lone woman in the restaurant waited on us and cooked for us. The food was served in courses. Before the main course was served “Madam” was given soup (that would be me). Then the main course of an egg, bacon, tomato, beans, sausage and French fries. Second course—toast. Third course—deliciously sweet pineapple, mango, and sweet sticky rice. The service was wonderful and the food fresh and yummy.

Dennis finished Madam’s soup.

 We then conquered an ATM and went grocery shopping. What a day! After reading and napping we went out for dinner at La Mer.

The End!!

Dennis with the final word— 

Boy—her writing is a tough act to follow. She writes really well. Her accounts will be a travelogue that would make Rick Steves proud. Mine will be the down and dirty and at times, off-color, so please extend me some slack and don’t get offend or just skip this part. 😉 

We’ve been to Bangkok on an earlier trip and one day there, this time to acclimate, was enough for me. As an example, Chicago which is too big for me, has a metro area population of 9 million. Bangkok? 15 million. Tokyo where we will finish our trip and spend five days? Around 38 million. Me? I like small towns. Hua Hin where we are now and will spend two weeks is 3 hours by car southwest of Bangkok. Population? Approximately 70,000 and my kinda town. Big enough to get lost in but not big enough to “disappear” if you know what I mean. At 78 years old, I’m getting closer to the “final” disappearance but I don’t wanna get there sooner than necessary.

We’ll be here for two weeks. Tomorrow we will be taking a guided motor tour to get a better lay of the land and people— Hua Hin, the floating market, and a vineyard (Can you see why Cindy might have booked this one?).  “Lay” of the people is a bad word. Let me elaborate. You see, the world’s oldest profession is alive, well, and seems to be legal in Thailand. Last night while walking to a restaurant in our neighborhood, we noted some of the “working” women Cindy referred to in her blog. When we passed they smiled, giggled a bit and quietly talked among themselves inThai. We of course, couldn’t understand them but I knew what they were thinking. “Look at that good looking couple. Unlike us she can have that well-dressed gentleman all to herself and at any time she wants him. How lucky she is…” Yep, I could see it in their eyes even if I don’t understand their language. Did I hear a groan from some of you reading this?

I think I’ve probably written enough for today, yes? I’ll write again after our tour tomorrow to tell you more of what’s going on in Hua Hin. 😈 

 

 

  

Ready to go again!

 First words from Cindy--

We are once again almost ready to take off. We invite you to sit back in your armchair and travel with us. We've rented an apartment in Hua Hin, Thailand for two weeks. Next we'll spend three weeks in Laos. Ever since I read Colin Cotterill's series with Dr. Siri Paiboun a forensic pathologist who is both brilliant and inhabited by spirits, I have wanted to visit Laos.

In this blog I want to let you know a bit about the planning. Once again our patient travel agent Debbie (disom@travlead.com) has found us places to stay and places for us to go. She has also arranged our flights and transportation once we knew where we wanted to go. Now all I have to do is keep AM & PM straight. 

For this trip we shopped for travel insurance and found that InsureMyTrip.com had good coverage for a reasonable price. The best way to get the insurance, if you need it, is to call them. Then when the paperwork is emailed to you do not change any answers that the agent has completed for you or the price goes up. Just call them back and it will be corrected. It seems I learn everything by trial and error.

Even with a travel agent it takes many hours to prepare for a trip of this kind. We do most of the planning as opposed to a guided tour or a cruise. Where will we stay? How long will we stay? What will we do? Once we know that, Debbie can set up flights, hotels, tours but at each step she has to get back to us so that we can decide among the options. We usually travel for a month, perhaps, two. And we have a budget that is not to exceed what it would cost us to stay in Florida or Arizona for the same amount of time. Included in this budget are premium economy airfares.

Before we go I create a mixed media art book that I will add to as we travel. I do the backgrounds for the pages based on classes I have taken from Joan Fullerton (www.joanfullerton.com) and Laura Lein-Svencner (https://www.lauralein-svencner.com).

Top: a few middle pages

Bottom: first page and last page

Our trip ends in Tokyo where it will be in the 40's and 50's. Packing was a challenge as we needed to pack for five weeks of summer and one week of a mild winter. Thank you to whomever invented packable down jackets.

The last word from Dennis--

My turn to write a little bit. The prep for this trip has fallen entirely on Cindy's shoulders. My inadequate contribution has been moral support. I've been constantly reinforcing her with "you can do it" and "I don't want to slow you down so I'll just stay out of your way." I guess you could say I contributed nothing considering she probably spent about 100 hours on the keyboard arranging things. I've always felt it extremely important to know my own short comings. 😕

So this is it for now. I'm using this to help prepare myself for the next six weeks of hearing, " haven't you written anything for the blog yet?" Or "Can't you just sit down for 14 minutes and write something for the blog?" Yep...I know it's coming.

Art History All Tied Up with a Bow

Our day began with breakfast in the courtyard, a lovely green space. Hmmm, what do I want?

                     

The lovely courtyard was shared with creatures that belong in a garden like birds and bees, and insects. Good luck came our way by a tiny drop of sparrow poop and a bee sting for Dennis who then sought revenge. Breakfast was not a peaceful tranquil start to the day but it was delicious. 
And off we went for a tour of the Sistine Chapel and St. Peter’s. 

We were ready to go. Then we found out that June and Dale were assigned to a different group. In the end they were probably happy that it happened that way so that immediately upon leaving the Sistine Chapel, they could get into a taxi and go back to the hotel. The tour was 3 times longer then we thought it would be. The tour guide was enthusiastic and knowledgeable and he wanted to share. So we received a church and art history class in the glare of the sun which I’m sure was baked right out of our brains as they sizzled in the heat. But is it an amazing place? Absolutely! One of the facts that sticks to my brain are the “lines” that mark where other cathedrals around the world would fit inside St. Peter’s.

After standing in the hot sun, the cathedral was an oasis. The thousands of people walking through, taking photos, reading informational signs, listening to tour guides, talking to each other, and some even stopping to pray, were all swallowed up in the vastness of the place. We left the cathedral to begin our trek to the Vatican Museum and the Sistine Chapel. It was a long HOT walk. 

Once inside the museum, the walk through the museum to the Sistine Chapel was extremely crowded, if thousands of Covid infections were not transmitted here it is a true miracle. On the staircases people were shoulder to shoulder, the railings were grabbed by thousands of hands, everyone following an actual guide or an audio guide, all straining to see whatever was being described. Certainly an adventure with hidden dangers all around in a museum that has one of the world’s best collections of art from all periods, certainly a once in a lifetime experience.  

We ended the day with real Italian pizza, just down the street from our hotel.

And finally, a drink on the rooftop across from our hotel…

Sweet Dreams!

 

Roaming in Rome ain’t so Easy in the Heat

 We arrived in Rome, slightly groggy from lack of sleep but excited to be here. The cab ride from the airport was almost an hour accompanied by rock n’ roll music from the Platters, the Everly Bothers, the Four Seasons, all the rockers from the 50’s & 60’s interspersed with explanations about old and new Rome, current and past governments, and as we passed monuments, ruins, and famous sights, more commentary. We arrived at the hotel and found our rooms ready so even though it was early, we were able to settle in.

We are a party of eight: seven adults and one child. What a trooper that child is even without sleep or food that really appeals to her. Everyone went to their rooms but Dennis and I went out for a bit of a walk to try to see where we were and what was available in our area. We are near the Piazza del Popolo and in this heat we are making use of the taxis which are easy to find.

After we all had had a nap, seven of us decided to try the Hop On-Hop Off bus. It was quite a walk to catch the bus. But we made it, not quite a stroll along the Tiber river, more like a forced march but make it, we did!

Sitting on the top deck of the bus we were able to feel a breeze and see a bit of Rome. Unfortunately we could only go three stops before we were running out of time if we were going to make our dinner reservations. So off the bus we trooped, and into a taxi. We arrived back at the hotel in time to freshen up and go next door for dinner.

The evening ended with reminders to be in the lobby by 8:15 AM to catch a taxi to the meeting place for the Vatican tour. Good night, sweet dreams.