Thursday

Off to Canada. Had a late checkout at the hotel. We did some last minute shopping but didn't find to much. I bought a silver chain for about $24. Had lunch at the German Beer House and supper at the hotel. Tried to connect with Yosh, but couldn't. Left the presents for him and Sid at the from desk. About 2030 we headed of to the airport. We couldnt check in until almost midnight and then we got the worst seats on the plane. No leg room and no reclining. Terrible flight to Beijing. We also couldn't get our seats for the AC flight to Canada so we had to go through customs and into China to the AC checkin counter. and here we wait. We've been waiting for about 4 hours and even the self check in kiosks don't work yet. I hope we get some reasonable seats for the flight back to Vancouver. We're sitting in a Starbucks in the airport. Technically we are in China now. I can't wait until we get out of the departure hall and back into the departure area. We met a couple from Calgary that are in the same boat as we are. We may catch up with them later.
Eventually the Air Canada counter opened and we got our boarding passes. Went back through Chinese customs and to our gate. Boarded the plane and 11 hours later, back at home. Cleared customs with no problem at all, caught the shuttle to the hotel and are showering up and getting ready to have some supper in a bit.
All in all it's been a super trip. Even the bad and frustrating things are laughable now. We'll be updating the pictures soon and I hope to be able to start working on the video that we took. Once the video is done, it will be on sale in the lobby at a reasonable price ;-). Actually we'll probably mail it out to any and all who want to be bored. We'll also be doing a few additions to the blog over the next bit on what to take and what to expect in Thailand.

Later folks and it sure is a treat to be able to get a glass of drinking water from the tap.

Getting ready to come home

Well, here it is Thursday and we are getting packed up to come home. Eve and Kyra left yesterday and are safe and sound back at home now. Friday morning at 1am it is our turn to make the trip home.
We had a hectic few days doing last minute shopping and visiting with Eve's Mom, Dad, Nephew and cousin. Monday, Eve, Deb and I went to the night market and to Khao San road. Both are very interesting. Khao San road is only about 2 blocks long, and you can see it is still for the back packers and the old hippies. Tuesday, Eve and Deb went shopping to China Town and a few other places while I went to MBK and Siam Paragon, Tuesday evening we went out to the Good View Restaurant for supper. Another great supper with the whole family.
Wednesday early AM, Eve and Kyra were off to the airport with her family. A bit of a tearful goodbye. Eve's family sure is great and we have come to love then a lot in this very short time. Later Deb and I did a bit more shopping and the went to a movie at Siam Paragon. This is a very civilized way to go to a movie. Reserved seating and very comfortable seats. A highly recommended thing to do while in Bangkok.
Well, we are off to get a bit to eat, finish packing, then supper and later get a cab to the airport. If there is an internet connection in Beijing, I'll do a quick update from there. If not, the final update(s) may have to wait until we get back home. We're looking forward to leaving the heat and humidity of Bangkok but regretting leaving the friends and extended family behind. We really will miss them.

Ken and Deb

And a lot more pictures

Finally back a the Grand President now. Uneventful flight from Phuket to Bangkok and we arrived safe and sound and are all checked in now. With little to no to very very slow internet connectivity on Phuket and Phi Phi I've finally updated the blog and uploaded a bunch of pictures.

Here are the links

link 1
link 2
link 3
link 4
link 5
underwater photos

Monday (or when a cheap flight isn't so cheap)

Finished packing, and made reservations for a taxi. Had breakfast and then got the taxi to the airport. Went in through the check in and our 198B flight ended up costing and extra 1700B for over weight baggage (about 150B per kilo over). So our flight ended up costing about the normal fare ;-) Also, no assigned seating, so it will be a free for all on the plane.

Sunday

Some more shopping, even Deb is getting shoped out ;-) Every 10 steps down the streets it's "Tuk-Tuk mister?", "Massage?" "Suit Mister?" It does get to wear a bit thin after a while. We did manage to get almost all of our shopping for gifts done though. Just a couple of things to pick up in Bangkok. We did find a really nice china shop that had some beautiful things in it. We had supper at one of our 2 favorite little resturants. These 2 places are right across from each other on a little Soi just down from the hotel. S&G and Sabai Sabai. Both are cleap, clean and have great food and service.

Sunday evening I Went to Muay Thai boxing. Very interesting and a couple of good matches. On the way back to the hotel, I was approached by 3 lady-boys asking if I wanted a bit of company. Quite funny actually.

The T-Shirt is right

I don't want a f..k..g Tuk-Tuk, suit or massage thank you very much. It does get a bit tedious after a while. Learning to ignore them takes a bit of doing.

Saturday on Patong Beach

Had breakfast and went to the beach for a few hours. I stayed in the shade of the umbrella for the whole time and still managed to get a mild sun burn. Deb still looks pretty good in her string bikini. Did some more shopping and I arranged for a suit fitting. The ad said $119 (about B4000) for 2 suits, 2 pants, 3 shirts and 2 ties. I decided to get 2 sets (one for me and 1 for Courtney). Off I went for my fitting. The picked me up at the hotle and drove me to Mr. Singhs tailor. Picked out the fabric for the suits and shirts and got all measured up. Then came the bill. What a shock, 63000B ($2100.00). Good thing I was sitting down. The tailor finally came down a lot in price (19000B) but his boss wouldn't go for it. After a bit of explaining on what I was expecting based on their ad, we agreed to disagree on the price and they drove me back to the hotel. No suits but quite a bit wiser ;-)
Had a nice sea food BBQ at the hotel (it had the cheapest prices by far).

Friday Off to Phuket

We had a nice breakfast, checked out and spent some time relaxing on the beach at the hotel until 1PM. That's when the longtail boat pcked us up and took us to the main pier for the ferry. We boarded the ferry and bid fairwell to Phi Phi Island. A beautiful day for a boat ride back to Koh Phuket.

We go off the ferry and into our van and off to the Royal Palm Hotel on Patong beach. We checked in and went up to our room (no elevators in the hotel). Our view is of a a wall about 18 inches away ;-). Oh well..... We checked into the price of a suite with a beach view, but it's an extra $100/night, so we are staying put. It's only for 3 days anyways. We did a bit of shopping and ran into the greatest salesman ever. He is a hoot. We got some reasonable deals from him on golf shirts and shorts but he was a real laugh to talk to. A real character. Had supper at the S&G restaraunt. Great Thai food and cheap. Did a bit more looking around and then to bed.

Thursday

Our last day on Phi Phi island.
Deb went for a run this morning while I caught up on my journal etc. Just another day to relax and get ove a bit of Delhi Belly for the 2 of us.

Relaxing time

Wednesday we had a nice relaxing day. Had breakfast at the hotel and then came back to the room to chill out and relax for a while. Had a nice long talk with Courtney. Every thing seems OK on the home fromt. We walked into town, did a bit of shopping and I had to get some cold water at the 7-11 to drench myself to cool off. It was seriously hot out. We went to the beach at Loh Dahlum Bay and relaxed for a while. A bit more shopping on the way back to the hotel. Deb bought herself a little bikini! She won't let me take pictures of her in it, but trust me, she sure looks good ;-) We had a bit of a bite to eat and a beer on the way back and bought a few DVDs to watch. We just spent a nice quite evening listening to the thunder storm outside and watching a couple of movies.