Apr. 6, 2003
Flew from Osaka to Bangkok. The plane left 15 minutes late because
someone's
luggage was on the plane, but they weren't on it. !!!
Relative to other planes, this one
was behind the times. It
did not have fans for individual seats and the dials were
mechanical.
(The movie was "Analyze That".) I stayed at the Watana
Mansion hotel.
I went to a couple of bars at the Nana Entertainment Plaza.
Everything closed at 2:00am.
It was necessary to take a taxi to get
back to the hotel.
Apr. 7, 2003
At 9am, I had breakfast. It was the 2nd day of a 2-day national holiday.
As such, few
companies were open including travel agencies.
I did some research about things to do
when my friends would arrive on
April 16th. For example, restaurants, hotels, golf, and
boat tours.
For dinner, I went to Soi 33 and had Italian food. After that, I went to a
few bars on Soi Cowboy.
Apr. 8, 2003
I changed hotels from the Watana Mansion to the Dynasty Inn. Although it
was more
expensive, it was more convenient for things to do. I
bought a 1-day rail pass on the Sky
Train. I went to the Central Pier
("Sathorn Taksin") on the Chao Phraya River. I also
went
to the National Stadium and the Thong Fah Cham Long planetarium.
Unfortunately, the latter was closed for reconstruction. I had dinner at
the Bus Stop.
Apr. 9, 2003
In the morning, I bought airplane tickets to go to Cambodia. It cost
10,750 baht ($253
at 42.5 baht per dollar). The travel agent told me
that it was necessary to buy a visa to
enter the country ($20) and
necessary to pay a departure tax when leaving the country
($25). I
left for Phnom Penh at 4:30pm and, after arriving, got a motorbike ride to a
guesthouse -- Apsara. (The ride was interesting -- on a motorbike for
about 7 miles in
about 20 minutes. Also, the driver tried to take me
to a different hotel, apparently
where he would get a commission if I
stayed there, but I insisted on going to the hotel
that I had chosen.)
Unfortunately, it turned out to be located too far away from things
to do. So, I recommend not staying there if you go to Phnom Penh.
After a rest and a
shower, I went out to a couple of bars and played 3
games of pool with a Vietnamese-
Cambodian woman.
Apr. 9-14, 2003
(Please refer to "Trip to Cambodia" and "Trip To Philippines"
pages for more
information.)
Apr. 14, 2003
After breakfast at 10:00am, I took a taxi to the airport and returned to Bangkok.
The
Thai New Year ("Songkran Festival") was under way
(from April 11th to 15th). I
learned that the city Chiang Mai is the
most popular place for it. I stayed at the Dynasty
Inn hotel again.
After relaxing, I went to the Bus Stop for dinner. (I watched part
of the
beginning of the final round of The Masters golf tournament.)
I went to a few bars.
Apr. 15, 2003
After breakfast, I took care of some errands, including (1) Calling the
airport's health
office about going to Vietnam and getting quarantined for
SARS; (2) Buying groceries;
(3) Getting cash, and (4) Checking email
messages. Afterwards, I went to the Grand
Palace and Wat Pho.
(I first took the Sky Train to Victory Monument and then hopped
in
a taxi to get to the sites.) I walked through the temple -- It is very
large and there are
a lot of things to see. I went to the palace,
but it closed at 3:30. (Note: The reason for
not taking a taxi
directly from the hotel to the palace and temple was because the
Songkran
Festival was in full swing between them and the taxis would not drive between
them without requiring a lot more money than I was willing to pay.)
Afterwards, I took
another taxi back to Victory Monument and took the Sky
Train to Asok Road
(Sukhumvit 23). I went to a beer/gaming bar and
had a few drinks with the owner's
sister, Mai. She worked part time
there and also part time as a university librarian in
Kohn Kren.
After, I was walking to the Sky Train and met a very informative man
from
Los Angeles, California.
He informed me about many things including (1) Bars
in the Ratchada
Street/Patpong area; (2) The Peninsula Hotel was charging $23 per
room that
month instead of $220, probably because of the Iraq-U.S. war and also SARS;
and (3) The Grace Hotel had an after-hours coffee shop. Afterwards, I
ate dinner. I
met him at the Golden Bar (in front of the Nana
Hotel). He and I went to several bars
in the Patpong area.
Apr. 16, 2003
I had breakfast at the Bus Stop. After that, I got some cash and bought
some groceries.
At 1:15, I met 2 of my friends in the hotel lobby.
I told them that I was going to wait for
my 2 other friends to arrive.
They went to get massages. My other 2 friends arrived at
2:10pm. After they checked in, they took naps. At 6pm, we met my
other 2 friends plus
the man that I'd met the night before in the lobby of
the Nana Hotel. We all had dinner
together. Later, we went out
bar-hopping.
Apr. 17, 2003
That morning, I couldn't find my friends who were also staying at the same
hotel, so I
had breakfast alone. They returned while I was finishing
and then they had lunch at
another restaurant. My other 2 friends
met us there later and then my first 2 friends
and I took a taxi ride to
Pattaya. (A good driver and decent guy is Saba. His telephone
number is 09-4988-376.) After arriving at the Royal Palace Hotel, we
took 1-hour naps.
Then, we walked down to the "Walking Street"
and had drinks and played games at one
of the beer/gaming/square bars.
While we were there, people were spraying us and
others with water
as part of the Songkran Festival. (It was supposed to start in Pattaya
on the 18th, but people were getting an early start.) Afterwards, we
returned to the
hotel. After cleaning up, we went to the Blue Parrot
restaurant for dinner. (Mem and
Tden were working there along with 5
other people.) After dinner, we went to several
bars.
Apr. 18, 2003
I had breakfast at 10:30 and my friends joined me later. Then, I went to
check email
messages and shopping for clothes (in which to get wet during
the Songkran Festival that
day). I returned to the hotel and my
friends were still sleeping. So, I went out shopping
again.
When I returned again, we all went out to a late lunch (2pm). Then, one
of my
friends got his hair cut while we waited for him. We then went
to a foamy massage
parlor. My friends got massages and I decided to
go to a beer bar next door. After
they finished, we got money, they
went to check email messages, and I returned to the
hotel and cleaned up.
Later, we went to dinner and then went to a few bars. (The
Songkran Festival was getting stronger -- and somewhat annoying.)
Apr. 19, 2003
My friends and I ate breakfast. One friend and I decided to go on a
snorkeling trip at
Corel Island. (It is a 30-minute boat ride to get
there.) My other friend decided to take
care of some errands.
We planned on meeting him between 3pm and 4pm. However,
because of
the Songkran Festival, most companies were closed including travel-oriented
ones, Internet cafes, and most taxis. So, my friend and I went to a
couple of beer bars
and watched the festival. Needless to say, we
got very wet and I've never seen so much
celebrating. Even Buddhist monks
were involved! About 4 hours later, we returned to
the hotel and
rested. Then, the three of us went to an outdoor restaurant 2 blocks down
the road. After finishing, I went to the hotel for a minute while my
friends made
international phone calls. Then, as usual, we went to
some bars including the Marine
Disco.
Apr. 20, 2003
My friends and I had free breakfasts again at the Royal Palace Hotel.
Then, one of my
friends and I took the trip to Corel Island to go
snorkeling. (We bargained the person
from 1,500 baht down to 900
baht -- about $21.) It was fun, but it wasn't spectacular.
We returned to Pattaya, picked up my laundry, dropped off some more clothes,
returned
to the hotel, and rested for about one hour. We went to
dinner at a different outdoor
restaurant. Then, we went to a
different foamy bar.
Apr. 21, 2003
After breakfast, my friends and I got a ride back to Bangkok from a woman that
one of
my friends had met the night before at the Stardice Disco.
(She was starting up her own
restaurant.) We went back to the Dynasty Inn and
rested for about 30 minutes after the
2-1/2 hour drive. Then, she
went home and we went to a beer garden on Soi Seven.
(There were
approximately 100 women sitting around the place.) After a beer, I
checked the Internet. I returned to the bar and discovered that my
friends had
returned to the hotel. They had brought a girl with them
for me. !!! We had some
drinks and played some card games in
my friends's room. We then went to a restaurant
/bar on Soi Five for dinner and played pool/billiards there. I met an
American man
there who had moved to Bangkok about 2-1/2 years before.
In the U.S., he lived
approximately 10 miles from my house! I
also met 2 American men who were in the
army and one of them was from
Riverside, California. After about 1 hour, I returned to
the hotel.
(I was exhausted from all of the partying in Pattaya the past few days
plus the
car ride back to Bangkok earlier that day.)
Apr. 22, 2003
After breakfast, one of my friends and I took a taxi to Bangkok Airport in order
to go to
Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. It was a 1-1/2 hour flight.
At the airport, my friend's
friend's nephew met us and we took a
taxi to the Tan Hai Long Hotel. It cost $19 per
day, included
breakfast, and was very nice. We cleaned up and the three of us went to
dinner. After that, we went to the Club Number One bar. My
friend and I didn't like
it because it was too loud, although they were
playing English-based music. After
finishing our beers, we left and
caught 2 motorbike taxis to another bar -- 777.
Unfortunately, the drivers
were dishonest. My friend's driver robbed him with the help
of 3
other Vietnamese men. Mine took me way out of town. Fortunately,
I realized that
something was happening and walked away, catching a ride from a
different motorbike
driver. I got back to the hotel at 12:15am and
decided to stay there for the rest of the
night. My friend knocked
on my door about 20 minutes later and told me his story.
Welcome to
Vietnam!
Apr. 23-24, 2003
(Please refer to "Trip to Vietnam" page for more information.)
Apr. 25, 2003
I got up at 10 o'clock, cleaned up, ate breakfast, and packed my suitcase for
the return
trip from Ho Chi Minh to Bangkok. My friend and I checked
out of our rooms and we
waited for our 2 friends to meet us in the lobby
for lunch. We rode motorbikes (as
usual) to a Vietnamese restaurant.
After that, I rode with one friend to visit a pagoda
and to buy a
conical hat, the type used by people when working in the fields picking rice,
vegetables, and fruit. (Note: A pagoda is different than a temple.
A pagoda honors
Buddhist priests whereas a temple honors Buddha -- God --
himself.) We returned to
the hotel, I cleaned up, and we took a taxi
to the airport. After arriving in Bangkok, my
friend and I checked
into the Dynasty Inn hotel (again) at about 10:00pm. We unpacked,
cleaned up, and went out to a few bars. We had a late night and had a
late-night dinner
at a restaurant within a store on Soi Five.
Apr. 26, 2003
After the late night out, my friend and I didn't wake up in time for breakfast
and went
out to lunch instead. We went to the restaurant-billiards
place that we went to prior to
our trip to Vietnam. (My friend
realized that we could use the Internet there for free.)
After about one
hour of checking and sending email messages, we went to the beer
garden on
Soi Seven. Then, we went to the MBK Mall where, after going to several
vendors, I bought a suitcase that was very large -- Large enough to help
carry the many
things that I had in Japan that I wanted to take back with
me to The United States.
After that, we returned to the hotel, rested,
cleaned up, and went to an Italian restaurant
on Soi 33. We spent
the rest of the night at a bar near Clinton Plaza.
Apr. 27, 2003
My friend and I had breakfast at 11:00am. Our Thai taxi driver friend --
Saba -- drove
me to the airport and I took a Thai Airways flight back to
Osaka.