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Tuesday, 8/3

Wake-up call 6:00 am, leave 7:30 am

When Amy and I got up, I pointed out to her that we could see our bus parked on the street from our hotel window. We saw a man hand-washing himself with just a towel wrapped around him, but we couldn't see if it was Surin or Noi (and we were really trying to see!). After awhile, we saw the man go to the trunk of a car also parked on the street and realized that he must be with a different tour. Seeing this man and knowing that this was probably similar to what Surin and Noi did everyday made Amy feel bad for them all over again.

We had all been talking about getting each other's contact information, so while we were on the bus, I passed around my notebook and had everyone write down their information. I told them that I would email the contact list out to everyone when I returned home.

On our way to the Mekong River and the Golden Triangle, we stopped at Wat Chedi Luang.  We didn't go inside, but just looked and took pictures from the sidewalk.

Noi was so cute. When we got off the bus, he told Amy, in Thai, that she looked very beautiful that day. She didn't understand him and Wat had to translate. When he did, Noi laughed and seemed a little shy or embarrassed.

Before getting back on the bus, Amy and I took pictures with Surin and Noi since this was our last day with them. Thank goodness we took the picture then because the rest of the day was pretty rushed and we might not have had time to take it later.

                                    Amy on the bus...
 

Throughout the tour, Noi would go up the aisle and sell drinks after each stop.
Sodas - 20Bht
Water - 10Bht

GOLDEN TRIANGLE

We arrived at the Mekong River and boarded boats to see the Golden Triangle.

Interesting note: The Mekong River is 6600 km long.



 

Amy in front of the Mekong River.

After riding on the boat awhile, I began to think that visiting the "Golden Triangle" really wasn't very impressive. The strip of land separating the Mae Sae River and the Mekong River IS the Golden Triangle as it separates Laos, Burma and Thailand. The postcards showing an aerial view were more impressive, but riding by on the boat really wasn't.

Laos on right;
Burma on left - red roofed building is a casino.

Interesting note: There is no gambling allowed in Thailand.

Interesting note:     Chang Saeng period art showed bigger Buddhas.
                                Sukothai period showed slimmer Buddhas. 

LAOS AND BURMA (Myanmar)

Back on the bus, we were given box lunches that the hotel had prepared. The lunches consisted of a cheese sandwich, a tuna sandwich, a banana, rambutan and chips. We ate on the bus on the way to the airport.

We arrived at the airport and it seemed like maybe we were late as we had to rush. I asked Surin if he or Noi had email addresses and he said that they didn't. We gave them their tip although we forgot to get envelopes.

I took a quick picture of Surin and Noi dropping us off at the airport.
This is exactly what we saw every time we got back on the bus (minus the step stool that Noi usually had by the door).

It was funny because Amy had left a couple of cheap CDs that didn't work on the bus because she didn't want them. Noi checked the bus and chased her down to return those CDs to her.

We went into the airport, went through security and were checking in our luggage when Noi called me over. He gave me a paper that looked like some type of transport receipt for Turismo Thai, but it had Surin's name on it. I didn't know what it was, so I asked Wat. He said that it was just Surin's full name, so I had Noi also write his name. He could only write it in Thai, but I said that it was alright as I could have Craig translate.

We took a Thai Airways flight to BKK. Amy had a window seat, but it was over the wing, so didn't really have much of a view. Flight took 65 minutes. When we arrived at the BKK airport, we were picked up by another Turismo Thai bus. It was kinda sad and strange having a different driver and assistant with us.

We arrived back at our hotel and got our room keys. We gathered everyone to take a group picture and then all said our goodbyes. A lot of people told Amy that she made them think of their own daughters.
 

 
Front (l to r): Me, Mary Ann, Amy
Back (l to r): Pat, Wat, Amy, Tim, Dave, LaMar, Sheila, Ryan, Jan

I asked Wat to write down his contact information in my notebook and also asked for the names of the places we had stopped for lunch during the tour. I took a picture of Amy with Wat and he told her that she reminded him of his daughter also.

As Amy and I were on our way up to our room, Amy asked me if I knew who hadn't said goodbye to her. I didn't know, so she gave me a clue by saying, "Miss Amy" and I asked if Scott had been in the group picture. We realized that he hadn't, so we decided to try to find him to take a picture with him alone. We weren't sure which room he was in, so we first looked around the pool and in the fitness center before returning to our floor. We tried to remember where we thought his room was and then randomly knocked on a couple of doors. After going to one wrong room, I remembered that I had Scott's last name on our tour list and could call the front desk to connect me to his room. I tried his room, but got no answer. We started getting ready to go out when I heard a door close. I took a chance and rushed out to the hallway to see who it was. It was Scott! I told him that we had been looking for him and why. Scott told Amy that if he ever has a daughter, he hopes that she's like her. We decided to go downstairs to take our picture. Wat was still down in the lobby to make sure that everyone was alright, so he took our picture.
 

Before we went back to our room, I asked Wat if he knew which BTS station to get off at to go to the Seafood Market. He showed me which station and said that the restaurant is very good. He said that the lobster is a little tough, so to get the shrimp (prawns).

We walked to the Victory Monument skytrain station, stopping at a 7-11 on the way. When we got off the skytrain, we decided to shop at the Emporium before dinner since it was right there. This mall was very high class and expensive. After looking around a bit, I went into a bookstore and Amy went to a music store. We both bought stuff at our respective stores. Amy bought a BUNCH of CDs and even had to come and borrow some money from me to pay for all of them. From the Emporium, we walked to the Seafood Market. It was a bit further than we expected, but not a horrible walk.

The restaurant is HUGE! We were seated by the waiter and asked if we'd ever been there before. He explained that we go up and select our food and then we select how we want the food prepared. We went up towards the food and a girl in a blue suit joined us with a shopping cart and plastic bags. There were several different sections of food; seafood, produce, fruit, etc. We selected 7 small prawns, a potato, a corn on the cob, morning glory and halibut. I was surprised to find that we had to purchase the entire fish! After we paid, we went back to our table where our waiter came and asked how we wanted the food prepared. Luckily, he made some suggestions, so we ended up with:

        Corn - Grilled with butter
        Potato - Baked
        Prawns - Sauteed with butter
        Morning Glory (Phag Bung) - Thai preparation (stir fried with garlic and chili)
        Halibut - Thai preparation (but, I had them put the sauce on the side because it's spicy and Amy wouldn't be able to eat it)
        Rice - 3 bowls

The food was delicious!! Amy really liked the morning glory and we ate everything except for the potato and corn, which we later took with us in a "doggy bag". The sauce for the fish was really good - very "limey" with chilis - but, we had to ask for shoyu (soy sauce) for Amy. She said that the sauce was a little spicy, but she still liked it. At one point, the waiter came up to me and asked, "Mama, where are you from?". We got a chuckle out of that because I kept getting called "Mama" on this trip. Amy said that this was the 2nd best meal she'd had on our trip (1st was our cooking class).
 

Whole fish to choose from - Amy's pointing to the  halibut.

Produce section

After we were done, we walked back the skytrain station, which seemed much further away than when we walked from the station to the restaurant. While we were walking, I realized that I had forgotten to take a picture that I wanted to take at the Seafood Market. When we had first approached the restaurant, there was a large windowed area showing all the cooks cooking. The kitchen was huge and there were a LOT of cooks! It was quite a sight!

We got off the skytrain at our Victory Monument station and did a little shopping as we walked back to our hotel, but most vendors had already closed.

CENTURY PARK HOTEL (Bangkok)

  . . . . 8/4/04