Saturday, March 24, 2012

Day 2-ish

Day 2

Well it is actually our first day on the ground. We arrived to our hotel room at The Dream Hotel a little after 1:00am last night. Since most international flights don't arrive into Bangkok until late at night, G and I decided we would go get a cocktail to celebrate finally being here. Unfortunately, the local bars were closed so we settled into our room and finally got to take showers. Still not overly tired, we found the mini bar which contained a bottle of Veure Cliquot (my favorite champagne) so we popped the bottle and toasted to the start of  our honeymoon. perfect.

We got up at 8:00am local time to work out. As most of y'all know, that is normal for G, but not so normal for me. After sitting on a plane for 27 hours and having meal after meal served without a single calorie being burned, I felt the need to find an elliptical and some free weights. We came back and ate a wonderful breakfast buffet including omellettes to sushi. Yes, sushi and it was amazing.  Then we started out on our 'we have no idea besides what Frommers said' journey. We took a taxi to a place where we thought was the pier we were supposed to go, paid the fare (which we both thought was fair, ironically) and later discovered we got 'scammed'. Either way, it was awesome. We took a boat, completely by ourselves, north on the Chao Phraya River. Yes, it is some nasty water and not all the sights were beautiful (see when I add pictures), but it was a great way to see Bangkok. We stopped and got to climb some steep, steep (did I say steep? Like I was scared to death) stairs at the Temple of Dawn. I had to rent a sarong to cover my knees as we viewed the amazing piece of art. Back on our boat, the next stop was the floating markets. Although they were not what Frommers pictured, it was cool enough that G and I bartered for some little trinkets for some of my co-workers (and 3 beers..2 for G and 1 for our captain...0 for this GF). 





We were let off of the river at a market which was the gateway to The Grand Palace. Interesting to say the least. (pictures to be added) I did want a snack and went with a bag full of fresh strawberries. Amazing. I want those to always be so readily available at home when I want snack. We, not thinking that we look THAT much like tourist, we're told by 3 ( yes, three) different people that The Grand Palace was closed today until 3 due to a ceremony and that we should take their 'nuk-nuk' to 'another' tour site. Thank goodness for my research and communication with bloggers that I knew that this was one of their scams. G later admits he fell for it as he had one foot in a 'nuk-nuk' to only have me throw a temper tantrum for him to get out. Just a bit later, we arrive at The Grand Palace by foot to find out its hours are 8:30-3:00. Those jerks were going to have G miss out (because I sure as hell wasn't going with them). It was awesome. See pictures when posted. The museum shop was even better as I got some very fun, unique surcees. 

We tried to head  back to the hotel via taxi, but it was more difficult to find one than we thought. While I fell in love with the museum store, it apparently poured down rain so everyone was leaving at the same time. Not only that, but the taxis we did find wanted to negotiate a price versus starting their meter. Thanks to Kate, a blogger from TX ( yes, my family would love her), who made it very clear NOT to get in a taxi before they start their meter, another temper tantrum ensues. And rightly so, and G is later thankful. 

Afternoon snack....fresh strawberries. yum!

I took the second shower of the day (don't remember the last time that happened, but I sweated like a fat pig in 90degree humid weather) and then we were ready for our big night on the town. We started with cocktails in our hotel's bar (the only attendees of the BOGO free cocktail) then headed to the rooftop of The Banyan Tree Hotel. It was awesome even though another storm came in preventing us from being on the top floor. We settled for outside, 3 floors down, with the exact same view. Dinner was later served at Baan Khanitha and was nothing short of amazing. We started with crispy rice and a spicy curry sauce. G got what would turn out to be the world's best Sea Bass and I got very good GF pad Thai. (yep, authentic pad thai is GF and that made me happy). The only thing that made tonight better was the wine bottle serving basket (see picture) and G and I finally (quasi emotionally) recapping the wedding. Perfect night. We are ready for relaxation in Koh Samui tomorrow. 

It was very windy on the rooftop...obviously.

I loved this wine basket/server






Friday, March 23, 2012

Honeymoon...day 1. The Lost Day

So I have decided to journal our honeymoon via my iPad notes when I get a chance so I can just copy and paste and share. We are now in Bangkok, we have worked out and eaten breakfast and are about to hit the town.

Below is a journal entry from yesterday (or 2 days...not sure, hence the lost day). Pictures will follow when I figure out how to get them onto my iPad (forgot my do-dad)


Honeymoon

Friday, March 23rd 6:19pm-Tokyo time (5:19am SC time)
We have boarded our 3rd and final flight at the Narita Airport in Tokyo, Japan. Our last flight was from Minneapolis and was 12 hours and 45 mins. I realized quickly that I haven't travelled recently on a sophisticated plane as we had a touch screen in front of us that offers endless music, tv, movies, games, you name it, it was there. I only pulled my iPad out to play drop7 a couple of times. Oh and there were electrical outlets on our plane. What? Grant and I watched The Descendants early on. After dinner, I slept off and on (mostly off because every time there is an announcement, its announced 3 times. English, Japanese, and Chinese) while watching New Year's Eve and Bridesmaids. I caught up on a few TV shows as well. Food was actually decent/good. We had grilled chicken with yellow rice for dinner and an omelette for breakfast. Exceeded my not so high expectations anyway. We were only in the Tokyo airport for less than 1 hour, but the most fascinating thing to me was the toilets. I will have to insert picture here. (yes, I stopped and pulled out my camera in the potty) ....(addition-and then inadvertently erased it while clearing my memory card...hopefully I'll have another opportunity)
Crap. They just announced that we have a maintenance problem. I may be able to go back an revisit that interesting toilet (hope not). They also just said that this flight is 6 hours and 34 minutes. Piece of cake. G is sleeping beside me right now, but I'm confused because we had already discussed NOT sleeping on this flight because we arrive in Bangkok at 11:45 pm. Plus, we are in economy seating and our alcoholic beverages are free. Yep, taking advantage of free on this trip after shelling out so much money for our wedding.
My to do list for this flight:
Beat level 20 on drop7
Watch another movie
Figure out how to fill out this Thai Immigration Bureau arrival/departure card
Be 'that girl' and read and outline our 'to do and see' list for tomorrow in Bangkok (while wearing my Tory Burch 'we love Thailand' shirt)
Finish my People magazine
Change into my PJ pants that I brought aboard
Enjoy at least a couple of cocktails....

Follow-up...
We have 3 hours and 59 minutes left per our personal monitoring screens.  So far I have mapped out our day tomorrow (probably will do something completely different), watched Friends With Benefits (love Mila and Justin), eaten dinner (if sticky rice counts), started Juno (mainly for the soundtrack while I try to figure out these games Julie had me download on my iPad) and had 2 cocktails with my most favorite Sprite can ever (see picture).

I just went to the bathroom and now know why you have to be in love with someone to travel for 27 hours together. I need a face wash, deodorant, new outfit, among other things. So close to a shower. Every time I look at the plane flying over a map and realize where I am physically on planet Earth, I get a little freaked out and excited at the same time. Although our Honeymoon has been planned since August-ish, I have no clue about the journey we are about to embark. But what I can tell you is that I couldn't imagine going into this 'uncharted territory' without Grant. So here we go....well in less than 4 hours and customs, and finding transportation to our hotel without getting scammed...all after midnight.

Wish us luck...

(it's now 9:01am at home. Who knew? Cause we are all messed up) (sorry for all the parentheses. It's late....or early)






Rebecca Long Gillespie