Saturday, May 31, 2008
May 30th: Snakes, Curry & Moon Bar
We were both pretty tired so we were slow moving in the morning. I wanted to check out The Snake Farm. Fraser looked at the map and thought it would be a short walk. The short walk turned into 3 or more miles! It was really hard to find as well, so we looked like the dumb tourists asking everyone directions. Unfortunately we were given incorrect directions several times... even from police officers. How rude! We finally found it. The indoor viewing facility was 2 stories and fairly small. Fine with me since they were poisonous snakes! The facility is only 1 of 2 in the world to house snakes to supply anti venom. We looked at the snakes behind glass & stuck around for the snake show at 2:30. My mother is absolutely terrified of snakes! My Dad is fine around them as far as I know and my brother put one around his neck at a snake show when we vacationed in Morocco. I was still in elementary school and too chicken sh*t to put it around mine. This time I did! Go me!
Finally it was not raining so we enjoyed a restaurant that was not inside a mall. Yay! We went to Curries and More. We sat outside on the porch and had a clear roof with water running over it. I love Indian food & curry, but this was my first time eating Thai curry. It was delicious.
We took a cab to the Banyan Tree Hotel. On the roof (61 floors) we had amazing views & enjoyed a great atmosphere at the Vertigo Grill & Moon Bar. It was not raining (for once!) and we were lucky enough to get 2 seats at the bar. It was pretty crowded since the views were unbelievable.
Finally it was not raining so we enjoyed a restaurant that was not inside a mall. Yay! We went to Curries and More. We sat outside on the porch and had a clear roof with water running over it. I love Indian food & curry, but this was my first time eating Thai curry. It was delicious.
We took a cab to the Banyan Tree Hotel. On the roof (61 floors) we had amazing views & enjoyed a great atmosphere at the Vertigo Grill & Moon Bar. It was not raining (for once!) and we were lucky enough to get 2 seats at the bar. It was pretty crowded since the views were unbelievable.
May 29th: Buddhas in Bangkok
Had to wake up early (8am is early!) and I was extremely tired at first... until I enjoyed the shower. The shower head was amazing. The shower head was a rain machine. The water pressure was amazing as well. I hope I did not waste too much water! We had breakfast inside the hotel. It was delicious. I enjoyed miso soup, grilled salmon, dim sum, pork rolls, curry rolls, etc... and best of all I got to enjoy sushi for breakfast! I used to always joke that I could eat sushi for breakfast, lunch, and dinner! Fraser dragged me away from the food and we started our trek around Bangkok. Thankfully it was not raining. We walked about 4 hot hot miles (Bangkok is soooooo humid! You thought Virginia was bad? think again!) to the Wat Pho Palace. We walked around and enjoyed the beautiful architecture. Next we saw the Reclining Buddha. It was enormous, 120 feet long! Absolutely beautiful.
We took a taxi to the Jim Thompson House. Our taxi driver was very talkative and asked us lots of questions. He was really funny. He did not have a gray hair on his head. I would have guessed he was in his 50s. He started complaining about the taxes in Thailand and how expensive it has gotten, etc. He then said he wanted to retire soon because he was 79 years old!!!!! What?!?!?! Unbelievable.
We arrived to the Jim Thompson House and had to wait about 10 minutes for the tour to begin. Fraser started talking to another guy who looked our age. Turns out he went to college at UVA in Charlottesville, VA. I told him I went to JMU and his sister is still an undergraduate there. Small world. He was on a similar around the world trip and was on his way to Cambodia. We enjoyed the house and the shade (cooled us off a little bit). We toured the house for about 45 minutes and then caught the sky train to our hotel.
Bangkok is dirty, smokey, streets are crowded with taxis and scooters, terrible driving, and a handful of business men and prostitutes late night in our hotel. 95% of Thai women are gorgeous (other 5% are prostitutes = nasty!).
The temples & palaces are absolutely gorgeous once you arrive there. The walk there is smokey and noisy... in the future we will catch a taxi instead. Thai people are very friendly. On the occasion you will get scammed. Fraser had 5 different men approach him who ironically had just traveled to England for 3 months and knew where his hometown was. Rightttttt. As soon as that line started we knew they were trying to scam us and we politely (since they were being polite in a sneaky way) say we had to go and walk away fast. The first scam was weird but the others became annoying and made us feel uncomfortable.
We cooled off in the pool and enjoyed Tiger beer. As we were getting ready for dinner the rain started again. This time the hotel next to us disappeared. It was raining the hardest I'd ever seen in my entire life. Unfortunately the rain was so awful we had to eat inside the mall again. We enjoyed a Japanese restaurant. We shared a large sushi dish and enjoyed Asahi beer and Saki. The service was awful. At this point we realized we needed to wave servers down to make an order, reorder something, and to get your bill. As expected, service in every country is different. These girls were younger and did not want to come to the table even if you waved at them! We ordered green tea ice cream with red beans. The red beans were gross and the green tea ice cream was pretty nasty too. I mixed the 2 together and it was delicious. Amazing how 2 foods can interact. Delicious.
We took a taxi to the Jim Thompson House. Our taxi driver was very talkative and asked us lots of questions. He was really funny. He did not have a gray hair on his head. I would have guessed he was in his 50s. He started complaining about the taxes in Thailand and how expensive it has gotten, etc. He then said he wanted to retire soon because he was 79 years old!!!!! What?!?!?! Unbelievable.
We arrived to the Jim Thompson House and had to wait about 10 minutes for the tour to begin. Fraser started talking to another guy who looked our age. Turns out he went to college at UVA in Charlottesville, VA. I told him I went to JMU and his sister is still an undergraduate there. Small world. He was on a similar around the world trip and was on his way to Cambodia. We enjoyed the house and the shade (cooled us off a little bit). We toured the house for about 45 minutes and then caught the sky train to our hotel.
Bangkok is dirty, smokey, streets are crowded with taxis and scooters, terrible driving, and a handful of business men and prostitutes late night in our hotel. 95% of Thai women are gorgeous (other 5% are prostitutes = nasty!).
The temples & palaces are absolutely gorgeous once you arrive there. The walk there is smokey and noisy... in the future we will catch a taxi instead. Thai people are very friendly. On the occasion you will get scammed. Fraser had 5 different men approach him who ironically had just traveled to England for 3 months and knew where his hometown was. Rightttttt. As soon as that line started we knew they were trying to scam us and we politely (since they were being polite in a sneaky way) say we had to go and walk away fast. The first scam was weird but the others became annoying and made us feel uncomfortable.
We cooled off in the pool and enjoyed Tiger beer. As we were getting ready for dinner the rain started again. This time the hotel next to us disappeared. It was raining the hardest I'd ever seen in my entire life. Unfortunately the rain was so awful we had to eat inside the mall again. We enjoyed a Japanese restaurant. We shared a large sushi dish and enjoyed Asahi beer and Saki. The service was awful. At this point we realized we needed to wave servers down to make an order, reorder something, and to get your bill. As expected, service in every country is different. These girls were younger and did not want to come to the table even if you waved at them! We ordered green tea ice cream with red beans. The red beans were gross and the green tea ice cream was pretty nasty too. I mixed the 2 together and it was delicious. Amazing how 2 foods can interact. Delicious.
May 28th: Bangkok, Thailand
Today was an early morning! We woke up at 5am and got to the Hong Kong Airport at 7am. The airport was nice and the Cathay Pacific lounge was pretty luxurious. We had dim sum for breakfast & then walked to the other lounge which was closer to our gate. The news was on so I got updated on all the horrible tornadoes, China earthquake, and Bush/McCain talking. Even on vacation it is impossible and selfish to ignore what is going on around the world. I could have done without the US political news though.
We boarded the plane and got delayed for an hour. Normally this is irritating but I wasn't bothered, until it got really hot. I can't remember if something with the ventilation while the plane is parked was broken or if the air doesn't start until the engine is on. Either way, it got really hot! The flight attendants tried to distract us with champagne. I just put the cold glass against my face! We had dim sum for breakfast again. Didn't bother me since it is delicious. I had a hard time opening the lotus leaf (wrapped around hot rice) so I cut open the leaf with a knife. The head stewardess came over and yelled at me for using utensils. I told her I was a chop stick professional, but this was my first lotus leaf. She laughed. It was a fairly short flight~ 2 hours and 30 min. I read the in flight magazine which wasn't the best idea. The opening article was about the deadly plane crash from Bangkok to Phuket! A survivor told her story~ only 44 out of the 130 passengers lived. The weather was bad and when they attempted to land the plane broke in half. As we were landing I finished the article. Thankfully we landing safely!
We took a 20 min taxi ride to our hotel, Conrad Bangkok Hotel. It was right in the middle of the city, and was amazing. Very beautiful. Our bedroom was gorgeous... huge bed, great decoration, and the bathroom was awesome. I'm going to try to design our future bathrooms in our future home like this.
We decided we needed to take a short nap. I set the alarm for 3pm which was only an hour and a half of rest. Better than nothing! Eventually I woke up and it was 5pm- whoops! At first I thought I was a complete dumb ass and did not know how to set an alarm clock! Thankfully the clock was set to AM instead of PM. It was bas ackwards so it was not my fault! We planned what we would do in Bangkok during our stay... then the rain/thunder/lightning started. Good god was it raining! We could not see anything next to our hotel! Thankfully we had options downstairs in the mall that was connected. Of course like every mall there was a food court but there were a few restaurants as well. We decided to try the Thai restaurant. It might have been equivalent to an Outback Steakhouse or something worse, but we did not have to walk in the rain. We were the only customers in there too! It was delicious! We had rice cakes and sauce to start, fried rice with grilled pork, crayfish (we thought we ordered shrimp!) with sauce. The crayfish were difficult to eat so I ate most of those. We also ordered beef with hot sauce. We had 2 beers as well. The total bill was $37! What a deal.
We walked a short walk and escalator ride through the mall back to the hotel. One of the most popular bars in Bangkok was in our hotel so we sat down, used the wireless internet, and listened to the awesome jazz band. Almost sounded like John Mayer except the man was Asian. We had to get up early the next day, but with the long nap we had I was not tired. We stayed downstairs listening to the jazz music for a while, and I had the pleasure of experiencing, I mean: seeing, Bangkok prostitutes. Thai woman are already beautiful to begin with, but when they get dressed up in tiny dresses and lots of makeup, wow! The most disgusting part (as if being a prostitute is not disgusting enough already) they were with fat, ugly, bald, white mean who were clearly business men from English speaking countries. Some men appeared they traveled all the way to Bangkok even if they worked at 7-11 to be with Thai prostitutes. I knew this happened, but seeing it with my own eyes astonished me. What a first night!
Me love you long tammeeeee!
We boarded the plane and got delayed for an hour. Normally this is irritating but I wasn't bothered, until it got really hot. I can't remember if something with the ventilation while the plane is parked was broken or if the air doesn't start until the engine is on. Either way, it got really hot! The flight attendants tried to distract us with champagne. I just put the cold glass against my face! We had dim sum for breakfast again. Didn't bother me since it is delicious. I had a hard time opening the lotus leaf (wrapped around hot rice) so I cut open the leaf with a knife. The head stewardess came over and yelled at me for using utensils. I told her I was a chop stick professional, but this was my first lotus leaf. She laughed. It was a fairly short flight~ 2 hours and 30 min. I read the in flight magazine which wasn't the best idea. The opening article was about the deadly plane crash from Bangkok to Phuket! A survivor told her story~ only 44 out of the 130 passengers lived. The weather was bad and when they attempted to land the plane broke in half. As we were landing I finished the article. Thankfully we landing safely!
We took a 20 min taxi ride to our hotel, Conrad Bangkok Hotel. It was right in the middle of the city, and was amazing. Very beautiful. Our bedroom was gorgeous... huge bed, great decoration, and the bathroom was awesome. I'm going to try to design our future bathrooms in our future home like this.
We decided we needed to take a short nap. I set the alarm for 3pm which was only an hour and a half of rest. Better than nothing! Eventually I woke up and it was 5pm- whoops! At first I thought I was a complete dumb ass and did not know how to set an alarm clock! Thankfully the clock was set to AM instead of PM. It was bas ackwards so it was not my fault! We planned what we would do in Bangkok during our stay... then the rain/thunder/lightning started. Good god was it raining! We could not see anything next to our hotel! Thankfully we had options downstairs in the mall that was connected. Of course like every mall there was a food court but there were a few restaurants as well. We decided to try the Thai restaurant. It might have been equivalent to an Outback Steakhouse or something worse, but we did not have to walk in the rain. We were the only customers in there too! It was delicious! We had rice cakes and sauce to start, fried rice with grilled pork, crayfish (we thought we ordered shrimp!) with sauce. The crayfish were difficult to eat so I ate most of those. We also ordered beef with hot sauce. We had 2 beers as well. The total bill was $37! What a deal.
We walked a short walk and escalator ride through the mall back to the hotel. One of the most popular bars in Bangkok was in our hotel so we sat down, used the wireless internet, and listened to the awesome jazz band. Almost sounded like John Mayer except the man was Asian. We had to get up early the next day, but with the long nap we had I was not tired. We stayed downstairs listening to the jazz music for a while, and I had the pleasure of experiencing, I mean: seeing, Bangkok prostitutes. Thai woman are already beautiful to begin with, but when they get dressed up in tiny dresses and lots of makeup, wow! The most disgusting part (as if being a prostitute is not disgusting enough already) they were with fat, ugly, bald, white mean who were clearly business men from English speaking countries. Some men appeared they traveled all the way to Bangkok even if they worked at 7-11 to be with Thai prostitutes. I knew this happened, but seeing it with my own eyes astonished me. What a first night!
Me love you long tammeeeee!
May 27th: farewell Peninsula Hotel
Unfortunately today was our last day to enjoy our fabulous hotel. Thankfully we could have a late checkout of 4pm. I felt guilty staying in and enjoying the hotel even though we had seen so much in Tokyo. It was raining pretty hard so I did not feel too terribly guilty he he. Fraser enjoyed the sauna & steam room and I was a computer nerd and caught up on this blog and bills... as free and irresponsible as I feel I still need to pay the bills ha ha. 4pm rolled around quick and we had to leave. So sad! We will definitely be back though. We took a taxi to the Novotel Citygate airport hotel. Not as luxurious as the Peninsula but I really liked it. Only 5 minutes from the airport so there wasn't much to do outside of the hotel. We had planned to go to Ngong Ping Village via the Ngong Ping Cable Car but the front desk said it closed at 430pm. I just looked at the website and it said it closed at 630pm. No wonder we saw the cars moving past 430! Annoying! So we were forced to be lazy again! We were really tired so this worked out. There was a mall attached so I decided to browse. I wanted to buy a Coach purse and was hoping the prices in Hong Kong were cheaper. Nope, same price. The mall was gigantic so I wandered around trying to find a grocery store or 7-11. I wanted to buy some water & beer because it is so expensive in the hotel mini bar. I eventually found a grocery store and as I was walking through the wine/beer section there was a clearance rack. I looked and found a $3 bottle of red wine from Valencia, Spain! $3! I bought some disgusting Lucozade for Fraser and went upstairs. As sorry as a $3 bottle of wine sounds it was actually really good. I do not drink 'house' wine or cheap wine, so believe me! As I was walking back to the room I passed a shop called, Agatha Paris. It had just closed but there was an adorable purse in the shape of a Scottish terrier! Ahh I wanted it! I went upstairs and Fraser & I enjoyed our cheap delicious wine and then went downstairs for dinner. Everything in the mall had closed except for McDonald's. Yup, McDonald's ha ha. Typical Americans!
May 26th: Spa, trams & shark fins
Today I had the pleasure of enjoying my birthday present. Fraser treated himself & I to a 1/2 day at the Peninsula Spa, ESPA. We went upstairs in our robes and slippers. We enjoyed an hour in our private room that included spa chairs, a hot tub with amazing views over the Victoria Harbor, steam room, and a shower. We also had a fridge full of organic smoothies and Fiji water. Afterwards we enjoyed an hour massage. We laid on our stomachs and enjoyed a 1/2 hour massage on every point on our back, even the back of my pinky toe! Then we flipped over and had a massage on the front. I've never had a head, arm, or calf massage. It was amazing. Then the 1 hr facial began. I've only had one facial in my life (which included extractions). This facial was more of a massage with a million different lotions, etc. I know falling asleep is meant to be a compliment, but I must have fallen asleep about 4 times! To make matters worse when I sleep on my back (I never do because of this) I snore! I must have snored a few times, how embarrassing! We enjoyed a complimentary lunch downstairs by the pool as well. 4 hours later our spa day was over (tear!). Thank you Fraser :)
We took the ferry again to Hong Kong Island (minus Mr. Miagi) and took a tram for what seemed to be hours!
It was raining on and off so we thought this was the best & cheapest way to see everything.
We must have been on board for 2 hours! We were on the 2nd floor so we had a great view and wind so we were not so hot. Majority of the city was beautiful except for shark fin street. We got to a specific area where the signs started to say 'Joe's Shark Fin City' etc... I expected to see 1 or 2, but not 20 different stores! I wanted to cry (instead I got angry and cussed) and Fraser was nice enough to try to distract me. As you know I love sharks and am very educated about them, and the cause of their near extinction (fingers crossed it does not happen). But this was unbelievable. Every shop must have had 200-400 fins in a plastic box at the front door. Ahhhhh I wanted to get out and scream at everyone. I knew it was bad, but until you see something yourself, you have no idea how bad it really really is. I'm getting angry~ here is a happy picture...
This is going to make me seem like a hypocrite, but as far as I know most sushi fish are not close to extinction. Fraser & I went and enjoyed sushi. Not as good as I was expecting, but then again this is Hong Kong and not Japan. Still sushi, so I was happy :)
We took the ferry again to Hong Kong Island (minus Mr. Miagi) and took a tram for what seemed to be hours!
It was raining on and off so we thought this was the best & cheapest way to see everything.
We must have been on board for 2 hours! We were on the 2nd floor so we had a great view and wind so we were not so hot. Majority of the city was beautiful except for shark fin street. We got to a specific area where the signs started to say 'Joe's Shark Fin City' etc... I expected to see 1 or 2, but not 20 different stores! I wanted to cry (instead I got angry and cussed) and Fraser was nice enough to try to distract me. As you know I love sharks and am very educated about them, and the cause of their near extinction (fingers crossed it does not happen). But this was unbelievable. Every shop must have had 200-400 fins in a plastic box at the front door. Ahhhhh I wanted to get out and scream at everyone. I knew it was bad, but until you see something yourself, you have no idea how bad it really really is. I'm getting angry~ here is a happy picture...
This is going to make me seem like a hypocrite, but as far as I know most sushi fish are not close to extinction. Fraser & I went and enjoyed sushi. Not as good as I was expecting, but then again this is Hong Kong and not Japan. Still sushi, so I was happy :)
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
May 25th: My birthday in Hong Kong!
We decided to be productive today. We got up early and enjoyed a lovely breakfast downstairs in the lobby. Considering The Peninsula Hotel is the #4 thing to see in Hong Kong (according to our Lonely Planet guidebook) it is a pretty popular place. It was quite funny watching tourists walk in and take photographs and then get escorted out (for using a flash). We decided to cross the Victoria Harbor to see the Peak. We took a ferry and got some great views of Kowloon and Hong Kong Island. The ferry was quick, but actually seemed like ages because Fraser met Mr. Miagi. The ferry had 2 levels with seats facing either direction. As we were sitting down (backwards) I had seen someone reverse the seat because it was on a pivot. I told Fraser and he pivoted the seat immediately, not noticing another man (Mr. Miagi) was sitting on our bench as well. Fraser apologized or not noticing him and this sprung up a lifelong relationship (Mr. Miagi wanted one!). I was eavesdropping on the conversation and Mr. Miagi must have been a lonely lonely man or half crazy. He started talking to Fraser about trustworthiness and how to be one with one's self! I was laughing hysterically inside while listening. I also felt so sorry for Fraser, but he should have looked before he flipped the seat. Do'h!
The ferry got to Hong Kong Island and we escaped quickly. We wandered around by foot trying to find the tram to the top to the Peak. What we thought would be a few minutes turned into a longer adventure and we were dripping wet. Hong Kong is very hot and fairly humid. Eventually we found it but we realized we were halfway up it. As the tram approached it had to grind to a halt to stop to pick us up.
All the seats were taken, so we had to lean against a board and hold on for dear life!
We got to the top and walked inside the information building for a bathroom break and breathe of fresh air (aka air conditioning!). Afterwards we walked the loop around the peak which was around 2 miles. We had amazing views and i took a ton of pictures.
We rushed back to the hotel because we had reservations for afternoon tea. Thankfully we got reservations because we were guests at the hotel. All the tourists and locals had to wait in a terribly long line. ha ha! You had to be dressed up, so I wore a black dress. We ordered the Peninsula signature tea which was delicious. We also got biscuits with marmalade, chocolate truffles, pound cake, tiramasu, and anything else sugary and sweet to make me completely stuffed/sick! It was delicious!
As we struggled up the elevator (ha ha) to make matters worse, a birthday cake was waiting for me in our room! Obviously we said no way and kept it for later.
We had reservations at the Cantonese restaurant inside the hotel called the Spring Moon for 8pm. The food was absolutely delicious. Dad you would be proud... we had goose meat (very similar to duck, but not as greasy) with shrimp and beef. It was family style, so we ordered fried rice and lotus vegetables (?) and put anything on your plate that you wanted. I ate plenty of it and managed to eat half the birthday cake when I got upstairs! I'm sure you are not surprised! ha ha. After a full day, off to bed!
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
May 22nd: last day in Vienna
It was warm and sunny today, beautiful! We walked another 5-6 miles. We had proper Italian pizza for lunch (Dad you would have loved it!) and some delicious Italian wine. Later we decided to spend our left over Euros when we passed a gelato shop. Little bit of a lie... it was actually ice-cream, the best I've ever had in my life! I had biscotti and tiramasu flavor. The owners were Italian so they knew how to perfect their homemade ice-cream. I enjoyed listening to them speak, reminded me of living in Naples, Italy when I was younger. When we left they said 'ciao!'
We checked out of our hotel and took the free cab (thanks to me) to the airport. I was sad to leave the beautiful dog friendly city, but glad to get away from the smokers!
We checked out of our hotel and took the free cab (thanks to me) to the airport. I was sad to leave the beautiful dog friendly city, but glad to get away from the smokers!
May 21st: beautiful Vienna
As you can tell the rain finally slowed down, thank goodness! We had a wonderful breakfast and enjoyed the beautiful hotel in the morning. Afterwards we began on our long journey. By the end of the day we probably walked 7-8 miles! Vienna is a very walkable city (when it is not raining!). We had wiener schnitzel for lunch and I enjoyed another German beer. I'm not going to go into much detail because we saw so much (as you can see above)! We were so exhausted by the end of the day, we decided to stay in. We grabbed some pizza, enjoyed the champagne in our room, the chocolates, and watched the Champions League futbol (soccer) game. If anyone watched the game, I'm sure you would understand when I say, what a game! Penalty shots drive me crazy!
Then the smell of smoke in the room began, ugh! I called the front desk and they explained someone was disobeying the 'no smoking' rules, but there was nothing they could do unless they caught the individual in the act. They moved us 2 rooms down (like that would help!) for the evening. We left all our belongings in the other room and got them in the morning. Thankfully we were not charged for the 2nd room, especially because an hour after being in the room, the smoke snuck in as well. We said screw it since it was after midnight and went to sleep. I could not get us a free night since we got upgraded, etc... but I did get us a free ride to the airport which is a long drive. I felt better after that!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
