I returned from Thailand last Thursday. After Japan, Thailand
seemed very hot and humid, but Fumiko and I and Kumiko and Aga had a
great time exploring.
In Chiang Mai, we rode elephants , rafted down a river on a
bamboo raft, ate lots of good Thai food, saw dozens of golden
Buddhas, shopped in the Night Bazaar, and generally enjoyed our
time off.
Fumiko and I left Chiang Mai and took a night train
to the ancient city of Ayutthaya. We arrived at 5 am but
found a hotel that was willing to let us have a room that early in the
morning. The next day, a tuktuk (3-wheeled vehicle) and driver
took us to all the many sites. We found using an umbrella is much
cooler than simply wearing a hat in the sun.
On to Bangkok and lots of sight seeing (also visiting the US Embassy in
order to get a notarization for the El Cerrito Police.)
Fumiko's car was towed on my street while we were gone, and we spent
hours trying to authorize Robert back in the US so that he could go get
the car. Finally, we solved the problem. The car is safely
parked in front of my house now.
One of the most fun things we did was have a coffee in the lobby of the
grand Oriental Hotel in Bangkok just to cool off from all the morning
and afternoon sight seeing (like the Emerald Buddha in the Grand Palace
and a boat trip up a canal.) After resting in the air conditioned
splendour, we asked one of the beautifully-attired staff members where
we could catch the sky train, and she escorted us personally over to
the hotel's "shuttle "boat" --a lighted, exotic teak boat that looked
like it was from a fairy tale. Three princely--uniformed staff
members took us in the boat about ten minutes away to the Sky Train
landing as a courtesy of the hotel. We felt like princesses
disembarking. A bystander said, "Boy , I want to ride on a boat
like that."
Home now in El Cerrito, and ready to clear the autumn leaves from the
back garden. It's cold here now. I feel like catching up on
correspondence and doing some fall cleaning. It's good to be
back. Time to start work on the new books for Japan. |
