arriving in Vietnam (1/30/09)

Arriving in Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon, referred to hereon as HCMC) was a bit of culture shock, if you can imagine that. Each place has a different vibe and set of rules. One may begin by feeling anxious and out of place, but a sense of stability and familiarity quickly sets in. Jason almost caused a complete scene when a pushy taxi driver put his hands on our bags before we confirmed that he was our chosen driver. The taxi / tuk tuk drivers in general are about as dog eat dog as any profession you will encounter.

However, arriving in central HCMC was a huge treat. We were initially bummed out to learn that Tet, Vietnamese new year, was just days before our arrival. Luckily, they celebrate in style by having a week long party. So we arrived in HCMC to a true Friday night party! Here are several pictures from that evening.

last day in Bangkok - river tour and Khao San Rd. (1/30/09)

Our morning began on a bit of a stressful note. We were very concerned that we may miss our 9:00am meet up time with our German friends due to morning traffic (just insane). Luckily, they waited for us despite being 10-15 minutes late. Following a brief negotiation, we were off. The Chao Phraya traverses the city and it is said to separate "Old Bangkok" on the west from "New Bangkok" in the east. We stayed in Sukhumvit (near where it says Chitlom at right) and most attractions (Khao San backpacker area / Grand Palace / river tours) were in Silom (left). Map!



Unfortunately, we were a bit late for the markets, but the river tour was still amazing.









Thorsten and Alke!





Visions of home ...



River view of the Grand Palace



After our tour we had just enough time to grab a coffee with our friends and then take a quick stroll down the fabled Khao San Rd. Imagine Bourbon St. halfway around the world.





One last "other worldly" sign from the Skytrain ...

meeting new friends @ Sirocco (1/29/09)

There seems to be some consensus "must do" traveler attractions in Bangkok. Of these, Sirocco at the Dome in the State Tower Bangkok is on the top of everyone's list. Basically, a restaurateur created a multi-level, multi-function dining and drinking experience atop one of the tallest buildings in BKK. Despite the smog, the views were still spectacular.





Our camera was dying (and we forget that we carry an extra battery), so here are a couple from their website.





Just gorgeous. Drinks were $7-$50 (think Moet, Johnie Blue label), but well worth the view. As with all travel, the travelers that you meet are often even more rewarding than the tourist attractions. In this case, we were fortunate to be seated adjacent to an outgoing German couple. Within minutes we were already planning our next morning river tour together, which we will outline in our next post.

Cheap Charlie's (1/28/09)

Our second night in Bangkok led us to an ex-pat bar called Cheap Charlie's where we had some cheap beers and met a few interesting people...


This place is literally in the corner of an alley... the view down the alley...




The king welcomes you...


Apparently there was a recent addition to the bar...


The place is decorated with very weird and perverse things that you really wouldn't expect to see in a public place in Thailand, but since our parents are reading this, I'll keep it clean, and just show you a side shot of the crowd :)



The Indian restaurant next door obviously had some problems coming up with some original branding...


We took the skytrain back to the hotel, and on the way got a shot of Jason next to our favorite stop (the Thai announcer lady pronounces it Naaaaa-naaaaa)

Second honeymooners... (1/28/09)

We are a bit spoiled on this trip... staying on hotel points in places we wouldn't normally pay for. My account from travel is in my maiden name and my new passport is in my married name. So I called SPG before we left to make sure there wouldn't be a problem when we checked in. They must have taken this to mean that we had just gotten married. When we came back into the room the second day we were there we found this in our room...




Pretty cute.... We've decided we should say we're on our honeymoon on every trip we go on from now on!

Wat Pho (1/28/09)

After the Grand Palace, we headed over to Wat Pho (Wat means temple), home of the reclining Buddha and the birthplace of Thai massage.

The Buddha is over 150 feet long and 50 feet tall. The statue was built first and then the enclosure of the temple built around it.





The reclining Buddha's feet are mirror images depicting scenes of the reincarnations of Buddha. The inlaw is made of Mother of Pearl.



Jojo giving coin offerings to the temple for good luck.



Jojo pictured with "Lek" - a nickname supposedly similar to "tiny" in the US. In other words, he was a bit larger in height and, more importantly width, than most Thais. He was actually quite knowledgeable and spoke a few different languages. We chose not to get a guide at the Grand Palace, but for $8 he provided us with a lot of general information about Thai temples.

Grand Palace (1/28/09)

After we displayed our good ol' fashion American prowess (read: gluttony) at the impressively massive Plaza Athenee buffet, we made our way to perhaps the most impressive site in Bangkok - the Grand Palace. This is a collection of dozens of buildings that make up the grounds of the former residence of the Royal Family. It is a mix of temples and official state buildings that are widely influenced by cultures from around the region. It took us a couple hours and 250 photos to get through. For more info, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Palace . Here are some of our favorite pics:

Entry view with different styles of architecture on display.



Thailand is about 95% Buddhist and these paintings are throughout the Grand Palace, depicting the various reincarnations of Buddha



A few more of my fav pics...

Changed some settings...

Hi guys,

We changed the settings on our blog so that you can post without creating a Blogger account. Take that, Google! We'd love to hear your comments ... or not. Jerks.

(Obviously) Jason

Bangkok: MBK (1/27/09)

Our first external experience in Bangkok was taking the Skytrain to MBK (mahboonkrong). Pics of the main drag and exterior of MBK.



Check out all of the pink taxis!! Sensory overload!



This is like your typical American mall on steroids and crazy multicultural - think Northbrook Court meets knock off street vendors. Dozens of nationalities shopping together in a single massive structure housing old haunts like RL and J Crew like stores, mobile phone stands, hair salons, and knock off purse stands etc. Note the picture of the King at the top.





Crazy snacks mostly made of pork and fish products.



This guy was baking pork sheets.



Jojo with a cartoony friend.



A beauty salon smack dab in the middle of the ground level atrium.



Let me just note that the we were encouraged to eat at the mall food court. This was not what we had in mind, but we decided to listen to the concierge nonetheless. I'm really glad we did. The was about as gourmet as a food court gets - Indian, Vietnamese, Thai, Chinese, Japanese, Italian food galore ... everything looked delicious!! We opted for Thai (when in Rome?) and had an absolutely fantastic first meal in BKK. Sorry, no pics - we were starving!!!