October 14-16, 2007
Drove from San Diego to Los Angeles, flew from Los Angeles Airport to Taipei,
Taiwan,
on the way to Bangkok. Note: If one wants to save money,
then do not take a taxi or go
to the taxi stand located outside of the
arrival area (exit 'B'). Instead, go upstairs and
get a taxi that
is dropping off someone. (The driver will charge less than the drivers at
the taxi stand outside the door of the arrival area.)
October 16th
Arrived at the Ambassador Hotel at 3:00am and went to bed. At 8:00am, I
woke up
and had a complimentary breakfast. Shopped for a cell
phone, shirts, and food for the
hotel room. Checked email messages
and visited a friend. Went to dinner and then
out drinking.
October 17th
At 10:30am, I got up. Met a friend for lunch. Checked email
messages for friend's
suggestion for a hotel in Singapore. That's
all that I remember from that day and
night. D'oh!
October 18th
(I don't remember what I did this day, but it must have been fun!)
October 19th
Flew from Bangkok to Singapore ("SIN"). I learned (1) It takes 1 hour
to drive from
one end of the city-state to the other end, and (2) $1 U.S.
equaled $4.43 SIN dollars.
Got there before my two traveling
companions arrived, so I checked into their room.
I slept for 5-1/2
hours. My companions arrived at 11:30pm. We went out partying
until 5:00am. Ouch! We met a nice woman named Gretchen from
The Philippines
who was working in SIN as a computer systems analyst.
October 20th
After partying, we returned to the hotel room, cleaned up, went to the airport,
and
flew from SIN to Bali ("DPS"). The entry fee was $10 U.S.
I got some RP's ($1 U.S.
equaled 8,900 RP's) and we took a taxi
to my friend's timeshare unit -- Jimbaran
Hills. The driver told
us that the bars were located in the Kuta beach area and he
also taught
us some words and phrases in both Indonesian and Balinese. (Go to
Languages
for both these words and some phrases; also the same in Malay and
Tagalog
words and phrases.)
We arrived four hours before check-in, so we ate lunch and had a few beers.
The
beers "Bali" and "Bentang" tasted like
pilsners and seemed very similar (read, "Not
too good.") to me,
a beer snob (since I make beer at home). After we checked into the
room (one bedroom had a queen-sized bed and the other bedroom had two twin
beds),
I watched HBO while my friends took naps. At 9:00pm, we
went to dinner and then
we went out partying.
October 21st
At 6:00am, I was woken up when my companions returned from partying the
previous night. Ouch! Later, I got up later and had a
complimentary buffet
breakfast and checked my email messages.
(While on the Internet, I reserved a room
at the "Traders"
hotel, owned by the Shangri-La chain, in Kuala Lumpur for four
nights,
totaling $425.) After my companions woke up and ate breakfast, we went
to a
festival at the Nusa Dua area, next to the Swiss Grande Bali Hotel.
I entered a free
Chip-The-Tennis-Ball-Into-The-Umbrella contest,
but I couldn't even make one of the
four balls into the umbrella.
However, I did hit the first one in and it rolled out the
other side.
Afterwards, we walked along the beach and relaxed on lounge chairs for
about one hour. We went to dinner at "Ku De Ta" (very
nice; somewhat expensive),
went out to a few bars, and returned to the
resort at 4:30am. (I was glad that I
wasn't my friend, partying
like that two nights in a row! There is one street where
there are
several foreigner-oriented bars. I wonder if the bars that were bombed in
2002 and 2005 are along that street!)
October 22nd
Via the drive from the airport to the resort, we got the phone number from the
taxi driver so that he could take us sightseeing around the island.
We made plans
with him the previous night to drive us. He
drove us from 2:00pm to 5:00pm. (The
sign on his car's roof read
"Taksi".) He took us to a Hindu temple -- Latan Lok --
located on the beach. We got lucky because the tide rose while we were at
the
temple and we returned barely in time before it got too high to be
able to return
without removing our shoes/sandals. Our driver then
took us to a rice field terrace.
(Refer to picture.)
Afterwards, he dropped us off in the Kuta beach area. We
watched
the sunset at the Ku De Ta restaurant while we enjoyed drinks. The waves
were overhead -- around 6-feet high! We had dinner at "Wild
Ginger". It was
very good! Then we went bar-hopping.
Learned that Bali is about 8 degrees south
of the equator and that
it has approximately 4 million citizens. I saw more people
from
different countries than any other place that I've been, excepting Bangkok.
October 23rd
Our driver picked us up again, this time at about 10:30am, and drove us to
several
places. We drove through Sanur -- 25 miles from the resort
-- where the "naughty
nightlife" exists. We saw some rice
terrace fields ("Tagalalam Ubud"). Then we
went to an
extinct volcano -- Mon Agun -- that last erupted in 1965. We saw Mon
Batur/Bajor/Baton that had last erupted in 1975 and also nearby Choyo
Buka Lake.
He then took us to a temple named Tambak Shuri. Then we
went to a tree/flower/
garden park where they displayed all of the island's
fruits, vegetables, spices, etc.
Last, we went to a fire dance show --
Sahadewa. Unfortunately, the mosquitoes were
so annoying that I
only made it through 45 minutes of the hour-long presentation.
We had
dinner at JSB in Jimbaran Beach. Fortunately (for me), we called it an
early night and returned to the resort.
October 24th
Our driver picked us up at 12:20. About five miles down the rode, the car
had a flat
tire. We helped our driver replace it with the spare
tire. He then took us to a bird
park, but we didn't go in because
it was too expensive. Instead, we went to the Bali
Zoo. (Refer to
photographs.) Then we went to a gold-and-silver store. The young
women there tried their hardest to convince us to buy our significant
others -- or
them -- something nice. We went to Sanur Beach and
Sanur for massages (40,000
RP's or $41 US). We had dinner at ESC
in the Kuta area. We went partying again
in the same bars as
before. Interestingly, the power along the entire road went out
for about 30 minutes. That's an iffy situation considering the bombings
that occurred
there during the past 15 years! We went back to the
resort at about 11:00pm.
October 25th
At 7:20am, I took a 15-minute taxi ride to the airport. (The exit fee was
100,000 RP's
or $17). When they scanned my carry-on, they confiscated
my pair of small scissors.
(Sheisen! I had them for 30 years and
used them for tying flies for fishing!) They
plan left SIN at 8:45.
Then I took another plane at 11:45 to Kuala Lumpur. I got
lucky and onto a flight that left 3-1/2 hours earlier than my scheduled flight.
Notes:
(1) At that time, the Malaysian currency -- ringhets -- were
worth 33 for every $1 US;
and (2) Singapore Airlines had the inaugural
flight of the French A380 plane out of the
SIN airport. My
traveling companions would arrive the next day from Bali, so I was
on my
own that night. I checked into the Traders Hotel and after cleaning up, I
ate
dinner at a food court in a mall located underneath the famous
Petronas Twin Towers.
I returned to the hotel and watched Larry King
Live's coverage of the fires in San
Diego county. At 10:00, I went to
bed.
October 26th
I had a complimentary buffet breakfast at the hotel at 8:45. After
returning to the
room, I watched some of the highlights of the World
Series and horror stories about
the fires in San Diego County.
Then I went to the Malaysian Cultural Center, rode the
monorail, and took
the subway. After my companions arrived, we went to dinner and
then went out to some bars (i.e., Zouk). We returned to the hotel at
2:30.
October 27th
I had a complimentary buffet breakfast at the hotel with my friend at 10:00.
After
that, I checked my email messages via my friend's laptop
computer. (The resort had a
wireless Internet system.)
After relaxing in the room for a while, at 2:30, we went to
the KLCC
mall and a few other places, looking for disc jockey stereo equipment for
my friends. (I wondered how they were going to get the equipment to the
United
States!) Then we went to Chinatown, a night market-type of
area, for about 30
minutes. They bought some knock-off watches for
themselves and as gifts for their
relatives and friends. While we
were there, it occasionally sprinkled lightly. We
returned to the
hotel, cleaned up, and went to the complimentary happy hour. It
included both as much as you could drink and also hors d'houvres that one
could
eat. After that, we went out to a shopping area named Bukit
Bintang for some drinks.
October 28th
I had breakfast with my friend. I took a light rail to KL Central to
choose the flight to
Manila (while my friend exercised). (It cost
50 cents as opposed to $6.) At 2:30, we
went shopping for more DJ
equipment. Then, we walked to Chinatown, took a taxi to
a Muslim
mosque (was closed due to prayers), walked past a planetarium, to a bird
display, to a flower garden, walked to the Natural Monument, and then walked to
another mosque. We took a taxi to the hotel, went to happy hour,
and returned to our
rooms at 11:00. We packed our bags for the
next day's trip. I wanted to go to the
Sultan Alam Shah Museum,
the Bandar Palace, the Central Market Festival, Aquaria,
the Islamic Arts
Museum, the casino (as large as a city), and the twin Kuala Lumpur
towers, but we never had the chance.
October 29th
At 7:25, I woke up, showered, went to breakfast, checked out of the hotel, took a
buggy
to KLCC, took a taxi to RLIA, and missed my flight (by 20 minutes).
I went to
Malaysian Airlines' office and they had no more flights.
I then went to Singapore
Airlines. They could get me to
Manila via Singapore. I checked out other airlines --
China,
Cathay, and Thai. All of them went through their own respective hubs.
So, at
2:30, I flew from Kuala Lumpur to Singapore and at 4:10, I
flew from Singapore to
Manila. (The latter flight was 45 minutes
late.) I arrived at the Royal Bellagio hotel
in Makati City at
10:30pm. Although my reservations didn't work, they had one room
available. I went out for a few drinks and then returned to the hotel.
October 30th
I don't remember what happened in the morning, but in the afternoon, I went to
the
new "Mall Of Asia". I bought miscellaneous things for
the bathroom. Then, I had
lunch and went to a karaoke bar. I
returned to the hotel.
October 31st
After breakfast, I checked my email messages and then returned to the Mall Of
Asia to
meet a friends' friends' friend. We went to a restaurant
in the back of the mall and
had a few beers. Afterwards, he took
me to a few of the local bars.
November 1st
I had breakfast, read the Manila Bulletin, researched flight costs to Cebu,
checked out
of the hotel, and checked into the Aloha Hotel. I
think that I went out bar-hopping,
but I don't remember for sure.
(This was becoming a bad habit!)
November 2nd
I went to a mall named "Harrison Plaza". It was a smallish,
locals mall. Both
the employees and the customers would stare at
me, surprised to see a foreigner there.
I ate a late breakfast, shopped,
and checked my email messages. I took a nap and then
went out to a
few bars.
November 3rd
I didn't feel well and slept in until 3pm. I went to another mall, ate
lunch, checked my
email messages (again), checked out airplane flights to
Cebu and Clark Air Force Base
(in order to get to Subic Bay), and
reserved a hotel in Cebu. Then, I took a nap and
walked around
the local part of town until I returned to the hotel to sleep.
November 4th
I learned a few things while I was in The Philippines. One was that Cebu
was getting
expensive because people from other parts of Asia were
retiring there. I got up at
9:00, ate breakfast, and bought plane
tickets to Cebu. I then took a nap, had dinner at
the Mall Of
Asia, and went to bed at 11pm.
November 5th
I toke up at 7:30. I packed, ate breakfast at 11:15, went to the domestic
airport, and
flew to Cebu. Interestingly, while the plane was at
the terminal, "misters" were
spraying from the ceiling in order
to cool down the plane. I wanted to read a book
during the flight,
so I tried to move the direction of the light towards my food's tray
table. Unfortunately, it wasn't adjustable and I broke it. D'oh!
Also, my seat would
not lean back. It turned out that I was
in a row where they couldn't adjust. However,
the seats had ample
legroom. Surprisingly, the flight attendants could enter the flight
cabin simply by calling the pilots from the passenger section of the
plane. After
arriving in Cebu, taking a taxi to Eddie's Hotel, and
checking in, I ate dinner at the
hotel and went bar-hopping until 3am.
Ouch! Suggestion: At Eddie's Hotel, get a
room in the back
so that the traffic does not (1) Keep you awake, and (2) Wake you up
early in the morning.
November 6th
I woke up at 9am and ate breakfast. It was raining when I woke up and
stopped at
9:45. I shopped for snacks and toiletries. I
walked around the neighborhood to get a
feel for the area and then took a
nap. I went to a beer bar, a disco, and returned to
the hotel at
about midnight. It was a very clear night and I could see many
constellations including some that could not be seen from California.
November 7th
I woke up again to rain. It ended at about 10:15. I ate breakfast
and walked around
the neighborhood again. I checked my email
messages, stopped by a couple of real
estate company offices, checked out
a couple of book stores, and then took a nap. That
afternoon, I
met a Filipino friend that I had known since 2000 and he took me to a very
good seafood restaurant. (Unfortunately, I don't now the name, but
I'd recognize it if I
saw it again.) He took me to a karaoke bar,
left after about one hour, and I stayed
until they closed at 2am.
BTW, it was lightly raining again when I left the bar and
stopped at
2:30. Then I went to a local disco named "Pump" until 3am.
Being very
obvious, one security guard and sometimes two of them
stood at my table the entire
time while we were there.
November 8th
I ate breakfast at 10:00 and then went to Robinson's Mall, about 5 blocks down
the
road. While I was there, I visited another real estate
company, talking to them about
condominiums (the Mactan area), changed my
airplane tickets going to Clark by one
day, and checked my email
messages. I then got some cash, extended my hotel stay
by one day
(so that I could go sightseeing for potential retirement property with my
Filipino friend), returned to the hotel, and watched the movie 'The Island'.
I had
dinner at the hotel and then went bar-hopping.
November 9th
I woke up at 7:45 and had breakfast. At 10:00, I was ready for my friend's
driver
picked me up in order to drive around the island. He arrived
at 11:20. With him
were another employee (female) and her two
sisters. I later learned that the female
employee had told her
sisters about the trip and they wanted to join us, primarily
because we
were going to parts of Cebu Island that they had probably not seen before.
And they were born and raised there! So, we drove down the southeastern
coastline
from Cebu City. The cities that we drove through included
Naga, Carcar, Argao
Delagusta, Boljoon, Oslob Bato, and Sambaan. We
also drove past Camotes Island.
That week/weekend, Boljoon was holding its
408th annual town festival. They had
balloons hanging from trees
and poles lining the road. When we reached Sambaan,
we could
easily see Negras Island -- where Dumaguete City is at -- about 5 miles away.
They told me that there is a community of foreigners that live in
Dumaguete. We spent
about 30 minutes in Sambaan and then drove back
to my hotel. I took them out to
dinner to thank them for their time
and effort with me. (My friend told both them and
me that I was not
supposed to give them any money.) After returning to the hotel, I
watched a movie ("Meet Joe Black") until midnight and then went to
sleep.
November 10th
I had breakfast at 9:00 and then checked my email messages. At 11:30, my
friend's
driver, the female employee, and one of her sisters picked me up
again. The previous
night, my friend suggested going to both Busay
and Balamban. So, we went to Busay
(about a 10-minute drive into
the hills above Cebu). While we were there, we went to
Christmas
Park (between 1:00 and 2:00). Then we drove to Balamban, arriving at
3:00. Along the way, I noticed many animals loose along the road
including goats,
dogs, horses, and cattle. The hills are high
enough so that one is eventually driving in
the clouds. Also, many
people live in shacks alongside the road. But wow --
Balamban is a
nice place! The sun was shining on that side of the mountains and it
had a much more relaxed atmosphere than the hustle and bustle of down in
the city.
We had lunch at a local outdoor restaurant. (It was very
inexpensive -- 140 pesos
(about $3.25 US) for seven dishes and five rices.
We drove back to the hotel after
picking up my laundry. (It
was nice to get out of the city's pollution!) I took a shower,
watched a movie on Cinemax ("Star Wars"), checked my email messages,
ate dinner
("Yellow Cab Pizza"), and went out.
November 11th
Due to all of the partying, I slept in until the early afternoon. I went
to a mall and
bought shorts, checked my email messages, and bought
breakfast for the next morning.
(I wasn't going to have enough time to
eat prior to leaving on my flight.) I returned to
my hotel, packed
my suitcase, watched some TV, and went to dinner ("Yakiniky").
Afterwards, I had one drink at one bar, returned to the hotel, and went to sleep.
November 12th
I woke up at 7am and ate breakfast. At 8:15, I took a taxi to the airport
(200 pesos, an
airport taxi would have charged about 460 pesos). As
opposed to what the hotel
personnel told me, it took 25 minutes to get to
the airport, not one hour. At 11:00, I
flew to Clark. After
arriving, I tried to check into the Swiss Chalet. Unfortunately,
they didn't have my reservations. (I wasn't sure if it was going to work
because the
Web site didn't work correctly when I used it 3 days before.)
So, I checked into the
Orchid Inn. I had made a backup
reservation with them because of the uncertainty
with the Swiss Chalet
reservations. The room wasn't clean, so I ate lunch in order to
give them time. I returned to the room and the room still wasn't cleaned
up. So, I
walked around town and bought some essentials (water,
mouthwash, and snacks). I
returned to the hotel, had a few beers at
the hotel's bar by the pool ("Blue Oyster",
cleaned up, and went
out. I returned to the hotel at 12:30.
November 13th
At 9:30, I ate breakfast. I got information for taking a bus to Olongapo/
Subic Bay. I
went to a mall and then returned to the hotel and hung
out at the bar again. I ate a
late lunch, took a nap, and then went
out. When I returned to the hotel, I took a
sleeping pill in order
to sleep better/longer.
November 14th
I ate breakfast at 11:30. I stayed at the hotel all day, reading and
napping. I went out
to a couple of bars, ate breakfast at a
restaurant named Margarita's, and went to bed
early after watching the end
of a Filipino movie.
November 15th
At 9 o'clock, I ate breakfast, packed, and went to the bus terminal. At
11:30, I took a
bus ("Victory Liner" -- 110 pesos) to Subic Bay.
(They played old American country
music on the bus.) As
planned, my friend picked me up at the Kalayaan Gate. After
hanging
out at his apartment for a while, we went to dinner ("Vascos") with his
girlfriend (who I later discovered was his fiancee) and a couple of their
friends (an
American man and a Thai woman). Afterwards, we returned
to the apartment and got
an early night's sleep. Hallelujah!
November 16th
We played golf at the Subic Bay Golf Course at 9:00 with a couple of my friend's
Federal Express colleagues. I played terrible, but I got an eagle
on the par 4, 275-yard
fifth hole when I chipped in from 10 yards short of
the green. Afterwards, I took a nap
while my friend and his
girlfriend prepared for that night's party. We went to the
party at
6 o'clock. I met people who would be playing in the next day's FedEx golf
tournament ("Jay Cos"). We returned to the apartment at
about 9:30 and crashed
(into our beds).
November 17th
At 9:00, my friend and I had breakfast with the other golfers. One of the
directors
explained the rules and informed us who would be teammates in
the 2-man scramble.
At 11:15, the majority of us took a bus to the course
located at San Miguel Navy Base.
I played poorly and my partner and I had
no birdies. (I discovered at the beginning
of the round that he
hadn't played golf for 5 years!) After the round, there was an
awards ceremony. Then, we went to the nearby "VM bar", a
restaurant/bar, an after-
tournament party, and then went home at 11:30.
November 18th
My friend and I ate breakfast at his apartment at 9am. My friends went to
a brunch-
type party while I stayed at the apartment to check my email
messages, clean my
laundry, and pack for my return trip to Thailand that
afternoon. When they returned,
they drove me to catch the Victory
Line bus to Manila. As we were turning onto the
main road out of
the base, my friend noticed that the bus that had just passed in front of
us was the one that I wanted to catch. (If I didn't get that one, I would
have to wait
another hour for the next one and might miss my flight.)
So, about three miles down
the road, he passed it, drove another
mile where he found a place for the bus to pull
over, I flagged it down
and got on it. There were about 10 stops before we arrived at
the
Pasay station. I didn't have reservations at any hotel (in Manila), so I
went to 6
hotels until I checked back into the Aloha Hotel. I took
a shower, ate dinner at a local
restaurant on Rojas road -- located across
the street from Manila Bay, met 3 Filipino
women who were eating there
(Grace, Lea, and Donna), went to a couple of bars, and
went to bed at
12:30.
November 19th
I got up at 9:30 and went to Harrison Plaza again. (I had lost the
sunglasses that I
bought when I went there the previous time and I wanted
to get another pair.) I ate a
Filipino-style breakfast, checked my
email messages, and bought the same sunglasses
(795 pesos, ~$18.50 US).
I returned to the hotel and took a taxi to the airport (160
pesos).
I flew to Bangkok (approximately 3 hours). The immigration line was
VERY
slow. At 5:10, I looked for a taxi to go to Pattaya.
The taxi stand at the arrival area
wanted 1,500 baht to go there. I
told them that it was too expensive. I spoke to some
other drivers
and they wanted the same amount. I decided to try something that I'd
heard had worked for other travelers there -- Go to the departure area and
get a taxi
there. It worked. I told the driver that I wanted
a ride to the bus station so that I
could ride a bus to Pattaya. I
bargained him down to 1,000 baht, plus 60 baht in toll
fees, for a ride
with him. It took 1-1/2 hours. I checked into my usual hotel, the
Royal Palace. They had a limited number of rooms because it was the
high/peak
season. I cleaned up and then went out to a few bars.
November 20th
I woke up with a sore throat. It was probably from the changes in air
temperature and
the cigarette smoke in the bars. I went to
"Viking Beachcomber", a restaurant owned
by an American named
George. He gave me ideas for hotels to stay at because I had to
check out of the Royal Bellagio after the next night. He suggested either
Lido or Tim's.
I went to "Walking Street" and ate breakfast at
P72. Afterwards, I went to the Lido
Hotel and reserved a room
there. I checked out other hotels but they were either full
or had
raised their prices. I returned to the Royal Palace, packed my bag,
checked
out, and went to Lido. I was exhausted and took a 4-hour
nap. Wow! After cleaning
up, I ate dinner at 'Baywatch' on
Beach Road, went to a few bars on Walking Street,
and went to bed at
about midnight.
November 21st
I ate breakfast at 9am. I went to the hotel's travel agency office and
research crocodile
and tiger farms/shows (450 or 650 baht, at 11:30 or
1:30, 20 or 30 minute drive to get to
them). Afterwards, I took
so long checking my email messages that I missed both
shows.
Instead, I got my haircut and then went to some beer bars along Beach Road
between 1:30 and 6:00. I returned to the hotel, cleaned up, and
had dinner at Viking
Beachcomber (spaghetti and meatballs). The
Blue Parrot across the street, a
restaurant owned by an American named
Kevin, was closed until November 22nd for
renovations. I went to
Walking Street again and then went to bed at 11:30. (I still had
a sore throat and wanted to get some rest for it.)
November 22nd
I ate breakfast at 9:15, reserved a crocodile farm tour, and checked my email
messages.
While checking messages, I reserved a hotel room in Bangkok in
case I would go there
in a couple of days when one of my friends arrived
from The United States. Later, I
went to the crocodile farm --
"The Million Years Stone Park & Crocodile Farm". The
crocodile show lasted 25 minutes and I spent the remaining hour and fifteen
minutes
touring around the grounds. After returning to Pattaya, I
took a nap, checked my
email messages again, and had dinner at the Blue
Parrot. After that, I went out.
While I was out, I met a man from
England and we ended up partying together for the
rest of the night.
We decided to exchange numbers so that we could get together in
future days.
November 23rd
At 11:30, I got up. I had breakfast at "Baywatch", checked my
email messages, and
bought a 1GB pen/thumb drive, for 1800 baht, in order
to back up photographs on the
memory cards in my digital camera.
Then, I took a nap and then had dinner at the
Blue Parrot restaurant.
I met the owner, Kevin, and we spoke for a while. Among
other things, he gave me the link to his Web site and asked me to critique it for
him.
Then, I went to a beer bar, played some games, and went out with my
new friend. I
went back to the hotel at 1:30.
November 24th
Today was Loy Krathong. I woke up at 9:30, ate breakfast, checked my email
messages, and backed up my camera's memory cards. I walked along to
the north end
of Beach Road and had a small lunch at Gulliver's (hardly
anyone was there). I bought
some more Immonium AD pills for my
upset stomach. (During the entire 2-month trip,
I took 8 of them.)
I walked back down Beach Road and took photographs of people
preparing for the Loy Krathong celebration. After I returned to the hotel,
I took a
nap, cleaned up, and went out with my friend until 2am.
November 25th
I had a complimentary breakfast at the hotel at 10:15. I took some laundry
to a
cleaner on Soi Post Office. Then I went to the Blue Parrot
and asked the people whom
I knew there about sightseeing outside of
Pattaya. One of the women (Mem) said that
there were temples that I
could go to. I agreed, so she called one of her friends to give
me
a ride to them (600 baht). The car picked me up at 2:30 and we went to Wat
Kaocheechan (sp?), Venarnra Sien (or "Anek Kusala Sala"), and
Wat Yan. Venarnra
Sien was very interesting. It had items/
objects from both Thailand and China. They
included things from
both hundreds and thousands of years ago such as parchments,
paintings,
and sculptures. Some of the sculptures were made of marble, were 8 feet
high, and weighed in the tons. Regarding Wat Yan, unfortunately, it
was closed.
Nevertheless, I was able to walk around the grounds -- among
the wild dogs! On the
way back to Pattaya, I asked the driver about
Jomtien. He then drove me along the
road beside the ocean so that I
could see it for myself. (It is very nice and has a much
more
relaxed atmosphere than Pattaya. Then again, what city doesn't? At
8:30, I had
dinner at Baywatch. And as was becoming customary, I
went out with my friend from
England.
November 26th
I must have out late the night before, because I didn't have breakfast.
Instead, I had
lunch at the Viking Beachcomber. I noticed that many
people were wearing yellow "I
Love The King" shirts. I
asked about this situation and was informed that I could buy
one for 150
baht at the nearby Wat Chai, 2 blocks away. (I later learned that the
reason why Thai people wore the shirts predominantly on Monday was because
the 60th
anniversary of the king's reign had occurred on a Monday two
years beforehand.) In
order to buy one of the shirts, I walked to
the area. The least expensive one that I found
cost between 250
baht and 450 baht. Since I was determined to get one for only 150
baht, I didn't buy one. I decided to buy one the next day after my friend
from America
had arrived. At 4 o'clock, I went bar-hopping with my
English friend again. I
remember that I went to bed at 3:30am.
Ouch!
November 27th
At 12:30, I ate lunch and picked up my laundry and dropped off some more to get
cleaned. I returned to the hotel and watched a movie --
"Silent Hill". I walked
around the Wat Chai area and then
played some games at a beer bar. I met my San
Franciscan friend at
his hotel who arrived that day. We went to a beer bar, had some
dinner, and then went out to some other bars. I returned to my hotel at
1:15.
November 28th
At 10:00, I ate breakfast. At 11:45, my friend and I determined our mutual
trip plans
for the next week, checked our email messages, and went to his
hotel -- "Siam
Bayshore" -- and hung out at the swimming pool.
(Note: The hotel is actually a resort
and, is conveniently located
across the street from the ocean and the Bali Hai Pier, and
costs $130 per
night.) After about one hour, I returned to my hotel, cleaned up, and
met him at the Blue Parrot for dinner. My friend from England met
us at the
restaurant and the three of us went out partying. At one
beer bar, my friend won the
"Shut The Box" game 11 times in 90
minutes. Even the mamasan/owner bought us
drinks to celebrate!
November 29th
My San Francisco friend and I at breakfast at 10:15. Afterwards, we bought
tickets for
both minivan and boat rides to Koh Samed. We then
checked our email messages and
re-planned the rest of our trip. We
ate dinner at a steak house. Then, we went out.
My friend wanted to
go back to the beer bar where he won Shut The Box 11 times.
Wouldn't you
know it, in another 90-minute period, he won 14 times! Mainacheuwa!
("Unbelievable!")
November 30th
At 11:20, I checked out of the Lido Hotel. (I had stayed there for 10
days!) At 12:10,
the minivan arrived to take us to the pier to take
a boat to Koh Samed. (It was supposed to
pick us up at 11:30.)
We arrived at the pier at 1:40. (The travel agency told us that it
would take one hour.) When we were waiting at the office prior to
getting on the boat,
we were informed that we each needed to pay a 400-
baht island tax. What?! I was not
happy! I called the
travel agency and asked them why they didn't tell us about this
extra cost.
I reminded them that I asked them when my friend and I were paying for
our tickets if there were any other costs involved in order to go to Koh
Samed. The
person responded but I was so angry that I don't
remember her answer. So, my friend
and I paid the 800-baht fee and
took the boat to the island. After arriving at 3:45, we
ate
lunch and found a hotel -- "Samed Sands Beach Resort". They
hadn't quite finished
building all of the bungalows/cottages, but the ones
that we stayed in were very nice.
They cost 2000 baht per night and they
were right on the beach. (The next morning, my
friend negotiated
them down to 1800 baht per night because they weren't finished
building
and the construction in the area was annoying.) After settling in, we
relaxed in
chairs on the beach. After about 30 minutes, we
walked down to the east end of the beach
and back. We then took
naps and after cleaning up, we had dinner at a restaurant on the
nearby
(paved) road. Then we went out to a few bars. I thoroughly
enjoyed the nighttime
sky since the sky was much darker than other
places that I'd been during my trip. Some
of the celestial
objects were Orion (straight overhead) and Mars. Also, some of the places
shot off fireworks.
December 1st
I was woken up by hotel construction at 9:15. We went to the beach and my
friend got
a foot massage. (He initially arranged to pay 200 baht.
But they asked him if he
wanted "this" and
"that" and he ended up paying 600 baht. D'oh!) While we
were
there, he spoke with 2 Thai nurses who were vacationing there.
Unfortunately, he
couldn't speak much Thai and they couldn't speak much
English. Nevertheless, he gave
it his best effort. Later, we
rented motorbikes and rode around the island for 1-1/2
hours. It
was a great idea and I highly recommend doing it if one ever goes to Koh
Samed. After riding around, we checked email messages, had dinner, took
naps, and
went out. One interesting thing that happened that night
was that there were 7 or 8
orangish points of light in the sky.
They were located about 10 to 15 degrees above the
horizon and
west-southwest of Orion. After about 5 minutes, they individually faded
out. I believe that they were flares, but it was strange how evenly
they were spaced
out. Maybe they were the result of an unusual
firework.
One place that we went to was "Reggae Bar". I asked the
bartender if I could request
the band to play some songs. She asked
them and they asked her to ask me if I could
sing with them. What?
They insisted, so I did. I sang Take Me Home Country Roads,
Wonderful Tonight, Ob-La-Di Ob-La-Da, and Hotel California. (My friend
said that
I started out well but didn't end so great.) Oh well -- I
had a great time! We both
mentioned how we felt that 2 days was the
perfect amount of time to spend on the island.
December 2nd
We ate breakfast at 9:15. I watched a show where Thais were singing songs
in honor of
the king. (I believe that they do it every Sunday
morning.) We took a taxi to Nadan
Pier (for 20 baht). (It is
a 30-minute ride, not a 45-minute ride, from that pier to the
Banpre Pier
on the mainland.) We arrived at 12:40 and ate a small lunch while waiting
for the 1:30 minivan to take us back to Pattaya. After getting
there, we checked into our
hotels (my friend went to Lido while I went to
the Pattaya Grand on Walking Street).
After cleaning up, we played some
games at some beer bars, had an Italian dinner, took
naps, and went out
until 2:15.
December 3rd
I ate breakfast in the room (a muffin and some juice) and
checked out of the room at
12:10. I had lunch with my San Francisco
friend at 12:30 and then took a private taxi to
Bangkok (800 baht and the
toll fees -- 80 baht). I checked into the Dynasty Grand Hotel
on
Soi Six. After resting, I met my friend from Subic Bay and his girlfriend/
fiancee and
we had dinner together. Afterwards, I met the friend,
and her friend, of one of my Thai
friends in San Diego. I spent
about 2 hours at an outdoor restaurant with them in the
Lumpini area.
They took me back to the BTS, I rode it back to the hotel area, returned
to the hotel, and went to bed at 11 o'clock.
December 4th
I got up at 8:00. At 9:00, I met my American friend and his fiancee, went
to the
Emporium area for their marriage. (I signed so many
documents that my wrist got tired.
Ha! Ha!) After completing
everything, they discovered that she could not get a new
national ID card
there but had to travel to her hometown in order to get one. What?!
Then to get a passport, she would have to return to Bangkok. What
(again)?! Weird!
So, we had lunch, separated, and I napped at the
hotel's pool. (My friends made
arrangements to go to Burirum and
then return to Bangkok in time in order for them to
fly back to The
Philippines in 3 days so that he could get back to work in time. At 6
o'clock, I had dinner and then went out to some bars and also played
billiards/pool. I
met both a man from Palestine and a man from
Morocco and we had interesting
conversations about existing situations
around the world. I went to bed at 2:30am.
December 5th
Today was the king's birthday. Starting at 10:00, I watched the
celebration/ceremony on
TV. The procession of cars drove from the
Chitralada Villa in the Dusit Palace to the
Grand Palace. (They
rode in a yellow car.) At 10:30, he sat on the balcony, most of the
other members of the royal family stood behind him, and they listened to a song
dedicated
to him. At 10:33, his son read a prayer. At 10:40,
the Prime Minister, Surayud, read a
blessing. At 10:45, the
president of the National Legislative Assembly read a blessing.
At 10:51,
the president of the Supreme Court read congratulations for the king. At
10:57, They played a song in the king's honor. At 10:58, the king
read a speech. At
11:01, They played another song for him.
At 11:03, the king and everyone else there left
the balcony. At
12:00, the king and the motorcade left the Grand Palace in order to
return
to Dusit Palace. (By the way, the program that I watched was in English.)
During the celebration, the television commentators described the king's
achievements,
talents (Besides Thai, he spoke French, German, and
English.), and pointed out that he
moved to Thailand in 1945. 176
countries received the telecast. Both Thais and
foreigners lined
the road where the cars passed by. They yelled "Pratchadan!",
meaning
"Long Live The King". One elderly Thai man ran
into the street in order to show the
king a sign that he was holding over
his head. At 12:15, the king and queen arrived
home.
At 1:00, I ate lunch, checked my email messages, and bought a couple of boxes of
chocolates for my friend's family (mother, brother, sister, and the
sister's son) who I was
going to spend time with later that day and night.
At 3:15, I took a taxi to their place.
After arriving, they asked
me to play bocci ball with them. It was the first time that I had
ever played it and I had a great time! After about one hour, we walked a
few blocks to a
"community gathering" of Thais in order to
celebrate the king's birthday. In the
beginning, an 8-year old
girl (I think) performed a traditional dance. Then, we watched
a TV
station that was televising the celebration. The people there had also
hooked up
amplifiers and speakers from the TV so that everyone in the area
could listen to it, even if
they could not see it. After about
1-1/2 hours, we returned to my friend's family's home
and ate dinner --
pad prik king, tom yum (soup), and fish. At 10:15, I left and took a taxi
from their home to my hotel. (My friend's gave me both a gift for
her sister and a gift for
me -- a homemade necklace and a key chain,
respectively. After I cleaned up, I went out
for a while.
December 6th
At 11:00, I got up and packed my suitcase. At 12:00, I checked out of the
hotel and took a
taxi to the northwest bus terminal near the Mo Chit BTS
station. (The taxi driver told me
that I could get a ride to Korat
from him for 2500 baht.) At 1:00, I took a bus (212 baht,
the
white-and-blue express) to Korat. I arrived in Korat at 4:10. (I
crossed paths with
my friend from Subic Bay as he drove back from Burirum
to Bangkok.) My friend from
San Diego, who lived in Korat with his
girlfriend, picked me up from the bus terminal.
After we arrived at their
new home (built about 9 months before that), we watched the
Southeast
Asian ("SEA") Games both on TV and, after hearing it outside their
house,
walked down the street to watch it live from the main road.
At 8:45, we went to dinner
("Koy Chang"). We went to bed
at 10:15.
December 7th
I got up at 7:30 and ate breakfast. At 10:00, my friend and I walked to
the SEA games.
At 10:45, we watched women's beach volleyball. The
games that we saw included
Malaysia beating Vietnam and The Philippines
beating Laos. At 12:30, my friend and I
had lunch and played
snooker at a place named "Friends", owned by a Canadian man.
At
3:30, we went to "The Mall Korat" and watched "tagaw"
(sp?) -- hands-free
volleyball. (It is similar to hackysack except
that the ball is plastic and a 4-foot high
volleyball-type net
separates the competing teams. The game that we watched had Laos
beating The Philippines. (Note: The game had 3 men per team.) At
6:00, we returned to
Friends and after my friend's girlfriend arrived in
her truck, we went out for a Thai
dinner. At 7:45, we picked up
some golf clubs from my friend's friend. I would use them
the next
day. Similar to the previous night, we went to bed at 10:00.
December 8th
I got up at 7:00 and ate cereal for breakfast. At 9:30, my friend, his
girlfriend, and I
played golf at "Rooks Korat Country Club".
(My caddie, a woman, was named Baa.) I
shot 93 and did not
get any birdies. At 3:00, we ate lunch, went home, showered, and
went to Friends at 6:30. At 9 o'clock, we ate dinner at their house and
then went to bed
at 10:30.
December 9th
At 4:30, I woke up and checked my email messages. At 6:30, I went back to
bed. I got
up (again) at 7:30. At 8 o'clock, I packed for
our trip to Cha-am and Hua Hin. We took
a taxi to the bus station
at 8:30. We took a bus to Bangkok, leaving at 10:00 and arriving
1-1/2 hours later. (They were showing the movie "Transformers"
on the bus. It was in
Thai. Imagine that!) At 3:10,
we took a train to Hua Hin. I guess that you could refer
to it as a
cattle car -- It had no air conditioning and after the sun set, mosquitoes and
gnats
were all over the cab. We arrived in Nakhon Pathom at 4:55.
There was a very large
temple there. We arrived in Hua Hin
around 8:45 and checked into the "Siripatchkasem
Hotel" at 9:00.
We ate dinner at a German beer garden-type of outdoor restaurant (550
baht for all of us) and returned to the hotel immediately afterwards.
December 10th
My friend and I ate breakfast at 'Slip', an outdoor restaurant on the corner and
across
the street from the hotel. We found a better hotel (1000
baht per night) next door at the
"Rajana Garden House", checked
out of the previous night's hotel, checked into the new
hotel, and walked
to the beach. We stayed there for 3 hours. Afterwards, my friend
and
I played billiards/pool for about 2 hours. At 7:15, We ate
dinner, my friends returned to
the hotel, and I went out and played more
pool.
December 11th
At noon, we checked out of the hotel and ate breakfast. At 2 o'clock, we
took a VIP bus
to Korat (360 baht). We passed (1) Petchaburi, (2)
Ratchaburi, and (3) Nakhon Pathom.
We arrived in Korat at 8:45 and
immediately ate lunch at a local Thai restaurant. While
we were
there, the Thai men's swimming team for the SEA games arrived and also ate
dinner there, along with their coaches. At 10:30, we called it a night and
slept.
December 12th
In the morning, we went to The Mall and had brunch. I bought two DVD's --
Simpsons,
The Movie and Bee Gees: One Night Only. I also tried to
buy a 100% silk shirt but none
of them at the store that my friend's
girlfriend took me to fit well. After some more
shopping, we
returned to their home. At 7:30, We ate dinner at an outdoor restaurant.
We all went to bed at 9:30. Beforehand, I backed up my latest
digital camera
photographs to the pen/thumb drive.
December 13th
My friend and I relaxed at the house until 2 o'clock until we went to The Mall
again.
We had lunch and watched another SEA game contest -- A woman's
takraw game.
Note: Each team had 2 teammates. Then, we went to
Friends, had a couple of beers,
played one game of snooker, and then went
to "Korat Pizza Shop". Afterwards, my
friend, his friend,
the owner of the restaurant, and I partied at a bar named "Boulet".
We finally went back to my friend's house and to bed at 2:15.
December 14th
My friend's girlfriend went to an all-weekend seminar. My friend and I
again hung out
at his house in the morning. Early in the afternoon,
we went to Friends again. I played
snooker with a good player --
Robby -- who trounced me! My friend and I then went to
Korat Pizza
Shop. At 9:15, We returned to his place. I watched some TV prior to
going
to bed at about 10 o'clock.
December 15th
I woke up at 6:30 and ate breakfast. It was time to return to Bangkok
prior to returning
to the United States on the 17th. So, I took a
tuktuk (sp?) to the bus station at 9:30. At
10:00, I took a bus to
Bangkok. I arrived at 1:10. Interestingly, we hit "the edge of
Bangkok" about 45 minutes prior to arriving at the bus terminal.
I dropped off my dirty
clothes at a laundromat, checked my email
messages, determined which books by
American author and my acquaintance/
friend Dean Barrett that I wanted to buy, played
pool, and took a nap.
Later, I ate dinner and went out on the town. I went to bed at
1:30.
December 16th
At 9 o'clock, I woke up and called my Thai friend's friend about going
sightseeing and
souvenir shopping. She suggested where I should
meet her. So, I took a shower and at
11:30, took the BTS and then
the subway to Lat Prao, Soi 21 and arrived at 11:50. She
arrived at
12:30. We went to a shop to make a chain/necklace for the Buddha amulet
that I received as a gift from the people at the Thai temple in San Diego.
We got
something to drink from a nearby 7-11. About 15
minutes later, we picked up the amulet
and the necklace. Then, we
went to 3 malls in order to buy posters and a 100% percent
silk shirt.
We could not find a shirt, but I bought 3 posters of the 9 Thai kings of
the
Chakri Dynasty. (They cost 20 baht, or 50 cents, each.)
She was willing to go to other
malls to try and find a silk shirt, but I
both was tired of shopping and felt like she had
already put in too much
effort towards it. So, she took me to the subway at 5:00 and I
returned to Sukhumwit Road. I bought 2 of Dean Barrett's books and met him
and some
of his friends at the "Londoner" at 7:30. They
were leaving early the next morning for a
wedding in Korat. So they
weren't going out that night. Nevertheless, I went out by
myself
and returned to my hotel at 2am.
December 17th
I got up at 10:00. At 11:30, I checked my email messages, ate breakfast,
picked up my
friend's suitcase from his apartment, and packed my suitcase.
At 12:30, I checked out of
the hotel and took a taxi to the
airport. (It only took 20 minutes.) Since I arrived at the
airport 4 hours before the flight (since I had to check out of the hotel before 1
o'clock), I
browsed through the shops in the airport. I ended up
buying a book about the king of
Thailand titled "In His Majesty's
Footsteps". I still had plenty of time before the flight,
so I
began reading it. At 5:00, I flew from Bangkok to Taipei. I sat
next to a Thai man
who was, coincidentally, going to the Forest Monastery
in Valley Center, located outside
of San Diego. When we arrived in
Taipei, we were able to walk directly onto the
airplane for the flight to
Los Angeles. At 11:25, we took off for Los Angeles.
Unfortunately,
the man sitting behind me kept putting his feet on the back of my seat,
thus pushing my seat forward and making it uncomfortable. In order to try
and prevent
him from doing it, I reclined my seat back as far as possible.
Eventually, I took a
sleeping pill. It worked because I then
slept for 5 or 6 hours, virtually until the plane
prepared to land.
We arrived 25 minutes early at 6:25. Immigration took 20 minutes
and it took 50 minutes to get the suitcases from the luggage carousel.
(That's the reason
why I avoid checking in luggage when I travel.)
My friend from San Diego, whose
suitcase I brought with me from Thailand,
was waiting for me when I exited the terminal.
He drove us down to San
Diego, arriving at my house at 10:15pm.
Epilogue
Here are a couple of other good "tricks" about saving money with
taxis, no matter which
of the above-mentioned countries in which one is
traveling --
1) Do not take a taxi that is waiting outside of an establishment (i.e., hotels)
, and
2) If this cannot be avoided, ask someone in the establishment what the charge
should be
for the taxi. Ideally, have the person speak with the
taxi driver about the expected
charge.