Thanks for sharing. Sounds like a great trip with pictures and summaries. You
guys are doing it right.
Safe travels.
OB (Rico)
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On Sun, 9/11/16, Charlie Hopkins <chopkins294@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Subject: [sogagg] Charlie and Sarah Bangkok Trip
To:
Cc: "Sarah Lamade" <slamade@xxxxxxxxx>, "Charles (Charlie) K. Hopkins"
<chopkins294@xxxxxxxxx>
Date: Sunday, September 11, 2016, 2:15 AM
Photos:
You can view my shared album on the
web:https://www.icloud.com/sharedalbum/#B0DGgZLKuo3zPKhttps://www.icloud.com/sharedalbum/#B0DGgZLKuo3zPK
Bangkok has been fabulous. We checked the weather
reports before we left and saw temps in the mid 90's and
thunderstorms. It has been that hot and very humid, but we
have not been rained on, yet. Most of the tourist
attractions in town have been heavily trafficked, but we
have been on our own for most of the out-of-town
visits.
The more than 24-hour travel to Bangkok from San
Diego was high quality food and service, even during the
long layovers where we hung out in the United Club. We
arrived late Monday, slept in Tuesday morning, and started
with the Temples Tour Tuesday afternoon. The Sulhthai
Traimit Golden Buddha (3.5 tons of solid gold) and the
reclining Buddha at Wat Pho were the most impressive. Who
knew that this would be the first of what seems like dozens
of temples that we visited this week. Dinner
Tuesday was at the Vertigo Restaurant on the roof of the
59th floor of the Banyon Tree hotel. Fabulous view, meal,
and service--and just a 20-minute walk from our
lodging. Wednesday morning we took a private
tour of the Royal Grand Palace grounds, the Emerald Buddha,
and the Temple of the Dawn. Private tours are the way to
go--just a couple of bucks more than the "jump on the
bus an go" group events, but in a private car with a
guide. That evening we visited a local Thai
restaurant, "Sara and Janes's" for an
authentic low-end but nice Thai
meal. Thursday we took a full-day private
tour to Thailand's first Capitol, Ayuthaya (sounds
similar to "how you say it"). En route, we
toured the grounds of the Royal Palace at Bang Pa-In, also
known as the Summer Palace. Ayuthaya is a ruins, quite
fascinating as it was the capital of the
Kingdom of Siam and a prosperous international trading port
from 1350 until razed by the Burmese in 1767. The ruins of
the old city now form the Ayutthaya
Historical Park, an
archaeological site that contains palaces, Buddhist temples, monasteries and
statues. (See. More temples.). We returned on a rather
unimpressive river cruise--but the food was very
good. Friday
was an exceptional outing, with a visit to the floating
market, an amazing place, followed by the JEARTH Museum,
cemetery, and bridge memorializing the over 100,000 that
died building a railway from Thailand to Burma. This set us
back on our heels a bit and made us reflect on the
atrocities of war and man's inhumanity to fellow
humans. Saturday was higher spirited with
perhaps the best cooking class Sarah and, certainly, I have
had. The chef at the Blue Elephant Restaurant (a short walk
from our lodging) began by leading us to and through a local
market, advising us on how to buy the best ingredients. His
people then demonstrated four entree preps, and we cooked
the same following their direction. Our reward was eating
our own cooking as served in the Blue Elephant
restaurant. Today has been a catch-up and workout day. We
are going to the Blue Elephant Restaurant for dinner tonight
to enjoy the professionals'
talents. Tomorrow we take a full-day trip to
Khao Yai National Park before we leave just after midnight
for Shanghai. We arrive stateside Tuesday
morning.
Sent from my
iPhoneWarm Regards,
Charlie Hopkins
