Bangkok Thailand

Wednesday, April 18th

Today we have a full day tour arranged thru Thai Tour Guide. Chob will be our guide. We will start at the port in Laem Chabang and drive in to Bangkok. Our tour will include the Royal Grand Palace and Royal Temple(Wat Phra Kaew, The Temple of the Emerald Budda)....Wat Pho (the Temple of the Reclining Budda)....Canal Tour...and the Pak Klong Talad (Flower and Vegetable Market).

The day started with a long ride in to Bangkok. Chob, our guide, was wonderful. He was very informative and made his country come alive to us.

Our first stop was the compound has houses the Royal Temple and the Royal Palace. The Grand Palace complex was established in 1782 and it consists of not only the royal residence and throne halls but also the renowned Temple of the Emerald Budda.



Chob.....he made the day for us!!!!








The Emerald Budda....all Thais feel they must come at least once in a lifetime to see and meditate at the Emerald Budda.






Our next stop was at Wat Pho...the Temple of the Reclining Budda. It is one of the largest and oldest temples in Bangkok and still an important center for Traditional Thai Medicine and traditional Thai Massages school.











Next on our tour was a canal tour in a Long-Tail Boat along the Chao Phraya River and the quiet Klongs (canals). This was a real experience!!!!!! Getting in to the boat was, at best, a laugh...I felt like I was thrown down in..had to jump/slide down about 3 feets. After getting in the boat, the rest was a piece of cake and a lot of fun.









Last stop of the day was at Pak Klong Talad. This is the most important flowers and vegetables market in town.









Then it was back in the van ....tired and hot....for the long drive back to the ship but I will remember this day for a long time. It will rank right up there as one of our best excursions ever!!!

Singapore

Thursday, April 12th

Hotel check in went smoothly. After taking a short nap, we headed down to the lounge for drinks and snacks. Since we felt pretty good, we decided to walk down to the Singapore Flyer...at 165m, it is taller than the London Eye.



The ride on the Flyer was different. It revolves so slowly that you really don't have any sense of movement.


View of the skyline from the Flyer......amazing.

Friday, April 13th

Today was very busy. We took the DuckTour......rode all the HOHO bus routes....and the HIPPO River Cruise. All of this in 95 degree, 75% humidity!!!


MerLion...mythical creature with the head of a lion and the body of a fish, used as a mascot and national personification of Singapore.


Marina Bay Sands....opened in 2009. 194m tall...Developed by Las Vegas Sands.


Clarke Quay.....found good Brewery!!!! Enjoyed the HIPPO River cruise.



In the evening we went to the Night Safari at the Singapore Zoo. We had heard such wonderful things about it...it was OK but I could have skipped it.




Saturday, April 14th

Our last day in Singapore. Our plan was to ride the HOHO and stop in Little India, Chinatown and end up at the Marina Bay Sands and go to the top for a drink. We accomplished 2 out of 3.....it was so hot that after little India, we skipped Chinatown and headed straight for the Marina Bay Sands.






Kuan Im Thong Hood Cho Temple





Our $18.00 beer......but the view was worth it!!!!



Last stop of the day was at the famous Long Bar at the Raffles Hotel. This is where the Singapore Sling originated.....Can't come to Singapore and not have a Singapore Sling!!!!!






We returned to our hotel to find that our toilet was plugged and could not easily be fixed......the good and the bad...we had to change rooms but they moved us in to a suite...

Tonight we registered for the cruise....bus to the ship at 11:30AM in the morning. We've had a good time in Singapore but we will be glad to get on the ship and have a few days to rest before our first port of Bangkok.

Final flights to Singapore

Wednesday/Thursday, April 11/12

We left SFO at 11AM. Good business seats. Convert to bed. Took Ambien...woke up after 7 hours. Decided to take another one..BIG MISTAKE...lost my balance twice and I have got the scrapes and bruises to show for it!



-pictures taken with the iPad...upper deck of 747 .

We are on our way

Something must be wrong....so far, everything has gone pretty smoothly. Mike and Jane brought us to the airport. Check In was easy. Not much in the way of crowds.

Our flight out of Chicago is delayed so we are sitting in the Admiral's club.



Don't mind the delay. We have a Very long lay over in San Francisco so sitting here in Chicago drinking wine is not all bad!!!

Now in San Francisco...wait of about 6 hours before our next flight. Can't wait for this trip to be over....Can't believe we are going to do it again this fall!!!!

We leave in 15 days

This has ben a very difficult cruise to prepare for. Getting our visas, getting approval to take prescription drugs in to Singapore, arranging for our land tour, getting Princess approval to take the land tour, etc! We have excursions planned in most ports. I have only arranged excursions in 2 ports so at least that was a little easier.

Still have so much to do. Clothes are laid out in the guest bedroom but now I need to cut out some of the clothes and pack the suitcases. Itsy wants to get in the suitcase...



Got to notify our credit card companies, banks, get money, stop mail....too much to do...not enough time!!!

Can't wait to get on the plane and start this adventure. This will be our first time (and probably our last time) flying Business. Purchased enough miles to do this. We ae really looking forward to that.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Getting ready for our next adventure

Today we start getting ready for our next adventure. This will be our first cruise without Rich and Delia. We will miss them a lot!! It just won't be the same without them....So much to do.......Got to get my act together !!!!
Trying to get this blog set up on the iPad. Don't want to take the netbook.


The girls are sad. They should be used to this by now. They like their aunt Tina and uncle Skip.......