Coming Down to the Finish Line Dec. 13th

We are back in Bangkok after spending yesterday in Pattaya, a beach resort city on the Bay of Bangkok in the Gulf of Siam on the northern edge of the China Sea . We were the guests of Suarachai Tangiaitrong, Bank's dad. We toured and ate at the Silver Lake Winery and stayed the evening at the Ravindra Beach Resort and Spa. A good time was had by all. The Silver Lake Winery is a wonderful place to visit and I can see why so many people stop to see it.

But before I go on, we left Taipei on Friday, Dec. 11th. The Taipei airport was packed. Lines everywhere. We managed to get to the ticket counter of EVA Air (never heard of them - they are similiar to Air Tran in US). We had a very nice ticket agent that for some reason upgraded us to business class. That was a real blessing. The flight from Taipei to Bangkok is just under four hours. The number of Chinese travelling is overwhelming. You will enjoy this: they have a security system that looks just like ours, but that's where the similarity ends. They don't make you take your shoes off or take your computers out off your luggage. It is very loose. Hard to believe> I guess there really isn't any reason to worry. Screw around and the Chinese will get you. That would make most careful.

Landing and getting out of the Bangkok airport was a real hassle. So many people. So many long lines at customs. Surachai and Dennis Dila, Surachai's right hand man, met us at the airport. Dennis recognized us by the Brewster baseball cap I was wearing. Lots of jovial banter exchanged before we pulled out for the city.

We had some time to get settled into our hotel, the Grand Centre Point, right in the center of the city. This hotel is top shelf and yet the cheapest to stay in on our entire trip. We dined at the Reflexions Restaurant, got acquainted, and talked about Thiland and other matters. It was agreed we would all go to Pattaya the next day to visit the winery and the city.

What caught my attention was the amount of security at all the hotels in town. Everyone of them have very visible security guards checking every car that comes into the entry ways. Not a big deal, but a reminder of what is possible here in a country near Indonesia.

Great time in Pattaya and at the Winery. After dinner, we headed into the city for a walk down the Walking Street where there was a large number of girlie shows and so many bars. The number of Thai girls willing to hookup was truly amazing. There were so many Russian guys in the town. All of them very willing to find a girl. Surachai new a special place, The Blues Factory, were the music was top notch. The three of us enjoyed taking it all in - the music and the maturations of the night.

A night of sleep and a lazy lunch at the side of the gulf was the order of the next day before we drove back to Bangkok. Surachai suggested a Thi food dinner at 7:30. Offer taken.

With me leaving in a two days, we squeezed some shopping in before dinner. You cannot believe the food and merchandise kiosks on the sidewalks in town. So many food smells I've never experienced before and the things for sale are amazing. All these people trying to make a living. We are so lucky in the U.S.

Dinner was great! It was my first real Thi food experience. This was a seafood treat. Prawns, crab, grouper, soup, and rice. All served with varying types of sauce that had a kick to them that was seducing. The all tasted wonderful when you first put them in your mouth, but it wasn't long before the fire snuck into your taste buds and you had to find some cold white wine to help cool down the fire. I loved it. They deep fried the grouper and then you just pulled the meat right off the fish. See the photo of the fish after we nailed it (Sorry about the ugly photo - it didn't look as good as I had hoped in the end result - but I did not know how to delete it). Love Thi food.

After dinner we all went off to catch the closing ceremonies of the King's birthday. While driving over to the festivitiesw, we got pulled over by the police for not wearing seatbelts. Surachai's driver told them to give him a picket, but the wanted to negotiate. To keep them happy, we gave them 100 Bart ($3.00) to let us go. This celebrating his birthday has gone on for more than a week. There were fireworks right over head, that was a little scary. Lots of vendors and people. And the lights, oh so many lights. The King's Palace lighted at night was spectacular. We were lucky to be in Bangkok at this time of the year to catch this amazing celebration.