Asia

The wake up call came in at 6:00 and we were to meet our airport transit at the lobby at 7:00. Our travel to Bangkok was by Thai Air and it was about an hour flight. As we departed the airport we found our driver holding the sign ERNEST. We’ve been trying to settle on our tour title - “Tours by Ernie” “Ernie does Thailand”!!!” “Mr Ernie on Holiday” (our Mr. Bean). Ernie has done a great job planning everything to the smallest of details and everything has been perfectly orchestrated – except perhaps the weather a couple of days.


Monks Only Area	airport time	hotel lobby

After checking in at the Hyatt we walked over to the transit station and rode the skyway over to Chatuchak Market. It is the HUGE weekend market that I don’t think you could have walked completely around in two days! It was very crowded and very hot but we enjoyed for about four hours. After meeting at our designated time by the market tower we decided to take the transit from there to MBK. Mah Boon Kron is a seven story legendary shopping complex and was AIR CONDITIONED. I think half of Bangkok converges on the shopping areas on the weekend to catch the bargains. We ate at the food court on the 5^th floor where most of the food choices are Thai foods. It’s interesting seeing what everyone chooses. We allocated our hours for shopping and headed back to the hotel about 8:00.

Bangkok is a huge city. The road we drove in on resembled an interstate and was built right over the top of the city. The downtown area around our hotel was beautiful as we came in tonight with all the bright lights. There are vendors lining the streets everywhere selling all kinds of foods. We won’t risk eating with them but it’s interesting seeing the variety of things and the novelty of the items. I’ve seen fruits here I’ve never seen before.

Everyone is pretty tired tonight and sunburns are giving a little discomfort. I think we will all sleep well. We all have noticed the beds are quite FIRM. They are basically a mattress pad on a wooden frame but the rooms are beautifully decorated.