Mariner - Bangkok to Hong Kong, 2/19 -3/19/19

[forgap]

The cure for jet lag if you’re lucky enough to be in Bangkok?  Thai foot, neck, and shoulder massage....ridiculously cheap at $7!  Tomorrow’s  cure?   Traditional Thai massage....one hour for ten bucks! 

 

[Hambagahle]

The Mall next to you is River City - a favourite "hang out" of mine.  But across the river there is a mega mall that just opened and is apparently fabulous - IconSiam -- maybe take a boat over and check it out?? 

Just a bit up river towards Wat Arun on your side of the river is a superb small restaurant called The Deck.  I have eaten there several times with Thai friends.

Have a wonderful time in Bangkok (once you recover from your flights...)

Bon Voyage!

Gerry

[forgap]

30 minutes ago, Hambagahle said:

The Mall next to you is River City - a favourite "hang out" of mine.  But across the river there is a mega mall that just opened and is apparently fabulous - IconSiam -- maybe take a boat over and check it out?? 

Just a bit up river towards Wat Arun on your side of the river is a superb small restaurant called The Deck.  I have eaten there several times with Thai friends.

Have a wonderful time in Bangkok (once you recover from your flights...)

Bon Voyage!

Gerry

Thank you, Gerry, for your advice about restaurants.   Once we no longer resemble the living dead, we’ll check it out.   Ironically, we just returned from Iconsiam, the mega mall across from us.   The Sheraton has a vintage wooden boat that makes the trip to the mall.  On the return, we hopped onto the free Icon ferry, but it didn’t have he charm of yesteryears !  

 

The mall has mega high-end shops but on the bottom floor they have Sook Icon, which is a “food court” featuring Thai street food in sort of an authentic setting, right down to a fake river and boats tied up to the shore selling food, sundries, and drink.   The advantage was air conditioning, no soupçon of diesel fumes, and  (seemingly) no questionable food preparation practices.  We had some grilled pork sate that was delicious with no ill effects so far!  

 

[Hambagahle]

The Food Court sounds great!  There used to be a mini one at River City...     And The Deck is close to the Grand Palace if you are going that way.

 

Bangkok is one of my most favourite places in the world.   I used to go there a lot (worked for a while with universities all over SE Asia) and it was a real treat.  Have fun!  And don't miss "The House on the Klong" - Jim Thompson's house.  There is a pretty decent restaurant there too.

[WesW]

Jennifer (and Georges); You're very welcome; gotta love our points & miles hobby. Now, using our BA miles stash to fly to CDG (Charles De Gaulle) for either the D-Day 75th or 76th anniversary Beyond the Band of Brothers Normandy tour.

 

enjoy Bangkok--did my best when we were there,--to keep Ida from the Jim Thompson (silk)house, failed.

 

btw, when on board you could book next July's Explorer Copenhagen to Reykjavik voyage and join Rich, Ginny, Ida and I. 

Edited February 21, 2019 by WesW

[Travelcat2]

On 2/19/2019 at 5:10 PM, UUNetBill said:

I know - I HATE it when my head arrives before my feet.    

 

 

 

Just kidding - I'm not a fan of flying backwards, either.  The flight itself isn't so bad, it's the odd feeling while taking off and landing...

 

I enjoy being backwards because it means that Dennis and I face each other on the BA flights.  It I great for doing. Toasts, talking, etc.

 

In any case, really looking forward to this blog.  Love Bangkok Southeast Asia.

[forgap]

I forced George’s to get up at 7 pm and he thought it was 7 am!  Went to the hotel’s Riverside Grill and watched the water/music/light show at IconSiam and then unexpected fireworks up river.   A warm breeze and my love at my side, what could be better? 

[ronrick1943]

9 hours ago, forgap said:

The cure for jet lag if you’re lucky enough to be in Bangkok?  Thai foot, neck, and shoulder massage....ridiculously cheap at $7!  Tomorrow’s  cure?   Traditional Thai massage....one hour for ten bucks! 

 

 

Ok, looks nice.  We're going to be in Bangkok in April--Do you recall the place you got the massage-we'll also be staying at the Royal Orchid before we leave to Tokyo to catch are cruise on Regent.  Looks like the start to a wonderful cruise, enjoy. Rick

 

[forgap]

Rick, 

The place is called Magic Hands (672/11 Thanon Si Phraya, Bang Rak, Bangkok 10500).  It is a two minute walk from the hotel.  A nice zen-like atmosphere but low key - not a high end US spa.  Enjoy!  Jennifer

[ronrick1943]

3 hours ago, forgap said:

Rick, 

The place is called Magic Hands (672/11 Thanon Si Phraya, Bang Rak, Bangkok 10500).  It is a two minute walk from the hotel.  A nice zen-like atmosphere but low key - not a high end US spa.  Enjoy!  Jennifer

 

Jennifer,

Thank you so much, we'll try it when we  to the hotel.  Enjoy your cruise.......Rick

[RachelG]

Your Georges sounds like my George.  Never can figure out what time it is when in Asia or Australia.  He would sleep at all hours the;stay up half the night.  I just look at the clock and adjust.  He did remark that our recent South America trip was so much easier, I suspect due to the minimal change in time zones,

[forgap]

Thai Massage - Part Two

 

i convinced Georges that he needed to try a head, neck foot massage and he finally agreed.  He Is not one to gravitate to spa treatments but I convinced him he would love it and he did!   He even went so far as to say he would go once a week if we lived here.  High praise, indeed.  

 

I decided to try a traditional Thai massage.  Well, my back does feel better but this treatment is not for the faint hearted.   The first step is to change into cropped hospital scrubs, then the massage begins.  Imagine being on a rack and the rack is actually a young woman pulling and pushing every muscle and joint with her elbows, forearms, knees and feet.   At times I felt like a wishbone.  Was this a relaxing treatment?  Definitely not.  However, my chronic lower back pain (due to aging, not injury) feels much better.  

 

Regent passengers are arriving today getting ready for the pre cruise portion of he trip to Chang Mai, Siem Riep, or the tour of Bangkok.  We did the Chang Mai tour last year and the Siem Riep tour four years ago, so Bangkok is our tour this year....along with 180 of our soon to be friends!!! 

[forgap]

This a building near our hotel.  What was the architect thinking?   Am I too sensitive after 9-11?

[UUNetBill]

4 hours ago, forgap said:

This a building near our hotel.  What was the architect thinking?   Am I too sensitive after 9-11?

According to Google, it's the MahaNakhon tower - mixed use building.  The geometric cutouts are for balconies and greenery on the residential section of the building.  Designed by a German architect and opened in 2016.

 

And yeah, it's kind of odd in my opinion...

[Hambagahle]

Did your Thai masseuse walk on your back?  I had that "pleasure" once in Singapore and am still trying to get over it!!

 

That building looks like a Gehry.  Clearly it isn't but maybe Gehry inspired!

[jeb_bud]

8 hours ago, Hambagahle said:

Did your Thai masseuse walk on your back?  I had that "pleasure" once in Singapore and am still trying to get over it!!

 

That building looks like a Gehry.  Clearly it isn't but maybe Gehry inspired!

 

I like that part. The best Thai massage I ever had was in Singapore. The “Pleasure Palace” in Chinatown. With a name like that I almost didn’t go in but a very nice, professional massage. 

[forgap]

Today our pre-cruise, The Essence of Bangkok, begins at 8am.  We are still not sleeping more than 4 hours so getting up for the hotel breakfast buffet was not a hardship.   Call me a curmudgeon in the morning, but I find it hard to appreciate the multicultural explosion at the buffet line (reaching, grabbing, cutting in line), the cacaphony of morning conversation, and tables way too close together.  And, did I mention jet lag?  Yes I did, so that is my excuse for being singularly crabby this morning!  

 

Sunrise over bangkok:

[WesW]

No worries Jennifer, just love your pre cruise posts and photos from Bangkok.

Hope you both get in normal circadian rhythm soon.

[Gilly]

Jennifer, I'm with you on breakfast buffets.  In fact, I think I'm with you on buffets generally!  Have a great day in Bangkok and hopefully you'll find time for a few zzzzz at some point during the day.

[Hambagahle]

All I can say is - next time you are in BKK stay at the Oriental.  Their morning breakfast buffet is so incredibly "civilised" to be (almost but not quite) boring.  The food is divine.  And sitting outside looking at the river is too - but you probably have that at the Royal Orchid...

[forgap]

Our first tour day in Bangkok was nicely done.  We are in groups of about 30 on large air conditioned busses.  We traveled from the hotel, across town to a large flower and food market.   We had a nice walking tour and our guide, Owen, did a decent job keeping us safe and moving but it is a bit like herding cats and I think he was a bit frustrated with us by the end of the day.   After the market, we piled into tuk tuks to traverse the city in a makeshift caravan to get to Wat Pho, the temple housing the reclining golden Buddha.  Bangkok’s air is not exactly pristine so we all got a good dose of pollutants in our lungs. Some wise passengers brought high tech looking masks which were probably helpful.  Personally, I don’t like my airflow restricted so I’m in a bind.  

 

We returned to the hotel for a lunch break and reconvened for a tour of the river, a taste of  life on the canals, a visit to the royal barge museum, and finally Wat Arun.   One has to be mentally and physically fit for a full day of touring in the heat and by the time we got to Wat Arun most of us were just ready for a shower and a beer.   

 

We found a lovely restaurant near the hotel, The Gallery, where we had great Thai food (green papaya salad, steamed sea bass with shaved garlic, hot peppers and mint, and stir fried prawns in a black pepper sauce).  We are outside and there was a nice breeze with Edith Piaf on the sound system.   It was the perfect end to a long day.  

 

On a a technical note, I am posting from my iPad and I am unable to embed pics as I go along.  They show up at the end of the post.  Does anyone know how to fix this?  

 

 

[Mr Rumor]

On 2/21/2019 at 4:04 AM, WesW said:

btw, when on board you could book next July's Explorer Copenhagen to Reykjavik voyage and join Rich, Ginny, Ida and I

Yes, please!

 

1 hour ago, forgap said:

On a a technical note, I am posting from my iPad and I am unable to embed pics as I go along.  They show up at the end of the post.  Does anyone know how to fix this?  

 

Jennifer,  assuming you're cutting and pasting, paste your entire post, then: 1.) move the cursor to a desired insertion point (cursor should start a new line),  2.) choose your file,  and 3.)  click "+"  on the uploaded photo(s).  Repeat  this process to your heart's content or for whatever the maximum numbers of photos per post is, whichever comes first!

 

Rich

 

Edited February 23, 2019 by Mr Rumor

[forgap]

Thanks, Rich!  I’m going to try this now.....

 

canal life

M

 

An abundance of orchids

 

detail of embedded Chinese porcelain and ancient cowrie shell urgency at Wat Arun

 

 

[forgap]

Rich, doesn’t  seem one workng in the CC format.  I think you can attach old pics from “insert other media” but not new pics.  

[Mr Rumor]

 

53 minutes ago, forgap said:

Rich, doesn’t  seem one workng in the CC format.  I think you can attach old pics from “insert other media” but not new pics.  

Hmmm, we’re sitting in the car and I just tried a dummy post, with a photo I took of our fresh snow this a.m. and another I took just now, and each posted where I placed the cursor ( below a line of dummy type).  Puzzled!