Happy New Year!

We moved to the Shangri-La hotel today on the river and had a great New Years Eve with dramatic fireworks on the river

Jim Thompson's House and Shopping at MBK!

Nora, Eddie and I headed over to Jim Thompson's House today after breakfast. Below is a picture of an alter in his garden and I tried to get a picture of one of the pieces of his home. The structure is a post and beam structure, with the living area on the second floor above an open air lower level. This is done, traditionally, so that during the rainy season there is less of a chance of flooding in the home.

Jim Thompson was an American that fell in love with Bangkok and Thailand and relocated here after WWII. He is credited with reviving the silk industry here in Thailand. His traditional Thai home is actually six traditional homes put together. He was a trained architect and managed to create an amazing tribute to the Thai culture. He collected Thai art going back thousands of years. The house was his home but is now a museum.

After our visit we went to a shopping mall that many people told Nora she would love....the MBK Mall. It was amazing....shop after shop of anything you could possibly want or need. She walked away with several purchases and was heard to say..."I could live here". Amazingly enough, she can just about fit into the clothes here in Thailand. There is only one size on most of the cheaper items - and she just about fits into them. Most of the women in this country are much more petite than anywhere else.

Monday - Nothing Planned

Some images of Bankok - a mailbox, Ronald McDonald with his hands in the traditional Thai pose and a Bangkok sign at one of the train stations.

Today was a day to relax, try to catch up on emails and pack Kevin up for the airport. We went in separate directions....Eddie finding a laundromat and a Thai massage, Nora and MJ getting massages, manicures and pedicures and doing a bit of shopping and Kevin went running and some last minute shopping.

Dinner was in a pretty classy restaurant which boasted a Thai-fusion menu and they also had a wine bar. It was great relaxing day. Kevin's flight was at 11:30 pm so he was able to spend a full day in Bangkok before starting his journey home.

Biman Air Day

Departed Bangadesh for Bangkok on Sunday. Biman Air cancelled our flight and drove us crazy. We finally got to Dhaka and almost missed our flight to Bangkok. Luck was with us as the plane was delayed about 30 minutes. Arrived back in Bangkok around 6pm.

Driving into Bangkok and back to our hotel - Baan Sukhumvit - had the feeling of going home. As crowded and intense as Bangkok seemed on our first visit a week before, it actually seemed much calmer than being in Bangladesh. The noise level was lower - they don't honk horns here for the heck of it constantly and no one was staring at us. When we arrived at the hotel, the manager and staff embraced us like family returning...and were happy to make us tea.

Should you ever travel to Bangkok...this hotel is a gem.

Day Trip to Rangamati

Today we spent a lovely day in the hill tracts outside of Chittagong called Rangamati. It was a long ride by van, but the road was much better than going to the Tea Plantation. There was an actual dividing line in the highway - not that it made much difference, but it was an attempt at keeping traffic divided.

It took about 2 hours to get to the Hill Tracts plus time to stop at check points to sign in. We stopped at 3 checkpoints, two for us to give our visa numbers and one for the driver to register the van.

The Rangamati area is where indigenous people of Bangladesh live "protected" by the government. The roads were better than any in and around Chittagong and we were able to stop and take a boat ride on Lake Katai with an armed guard. Lake Katai is a large man-made lake created to support an electric plant. It displaced thousands of people at the time and the government made many concessions to finish the project.

The boats don't look to sturdy but they got us where we wanted to go. It was a very hazy afternoon and we were able to get lunch at a restaurant on one of the islands in the lake.

Below is a picture of one of the homes we passed in the region.

On the way back our van was stuck in several political rallies ... one with thousands of people. Having that many people marching past the car was a little disconcerting but with the upcoming elections in Bangladesh - it seems everyone is getting excited.

It took us over 3 hours to get back to Chittagong....it was nice to be staying at the Guest House for the University. We were well taken care of there.

Back To Chittagong

Friday Dec 26.

Drove back from the tea garden this am. We all had a great time. In was very interesting.

We moved into the guest house for the unversity - very nice. The woman who runs the house Shaheda, was wonderful and made our stay very enjoyable.

Today had lunch with the family of a collegue of Kates, Nur and his wife and 3 children. It was a lot of fun. All their family and friends were in and out to see us. The kids in particular got a kick out of watching as they ran in and out. During the visit there was a polical rally outside

Hundreds of supporters on foot and in trucks took the streets over.

Then came the candidate.

All of us watching the rally.

Nur's daughter, Priya and her cousin.

Kate and Nora having tea.

Christmas Eve (Wed.) Off To A Tea Plantation

Merry Christmas everyone! Today we went to the Neptune Tea Plantation outside of Chittagong. It was a long, bumpy ride to get there, but well worth it. The serenity and the beautiful smell of tea were a wonderful welsome. The meals we were served were delicious and there was always too much food.

Here is a picture of our little group, Angela, MJ, Irfan, the Manager of the Neptune Tea Plantation, Eddie, Kevin, Nora and Anna. Kate was taking the picture.



We spent a lot of time relaxing.


The tea plants themselves are planted in rows on hillsides. Here is a tea picker picking leaves to be processed into the tea we know. She will harvest the same plants her entire life.

We enjoyed our stay at the Neptune Tea Plantation. Since we had no Internet access, we were just able to add the pictures. Enjoy them.

For information see: http://www.ispahanibd.com/link%20pages/ispahani_tea.html

We spent two days there and then went back to Chittagong on Friday.

Merry Christmas!!!!

Shopping And A Visit To Kate's Apartment

Tuesday we spent the am hanging out at the hotel. We took a very short walk outside (first time we dared). As it turns out our timing was impeccable. We are walking down the street and see a lot of guards or police with guns. They tell up to move to the other side of the street with the crowds. Then make us wait in a driveway while some officials drive by. The officials were candidates in the upcoming election and their convoy had many guys with guns. Made for an interesting morning walk.

We shopped in the afternoon and spent the evening at Kate's apartment. Here roommates, Angela and Anna have also been great hosts.

A very quiet street scene - which is very uncommon.

Mary Jane buying fabric in the true tradition of "The Cotton Pickers" (her quilting bee).

Buying a sari in a local department type store.

Kate's apartment in candle light. This is a common occurance as power is lost a lot and they are still not properly hooked up to the building generator.

Visited Asian University For Woman

On Monday we spent the day at work with Kate. We had a chance to meet many of the faculity, administration and students.

Arrived At The Chittagong Club

After arriving at Dhaka Airport we started to experience Bangladesh. Many, many people. Moving from the international arrivals terminal to the domestic terminal we were taken back to where our airports and terminals were 30 years ago. We took Biman airways to Chittagong with an old plane with a 1970's interior, which included Woodstock type cabin walls. Not to mention that the plane seemed to be held together with staples and tape. It rattled and shook as we taxied down the runway.

Arriving at Chittagong, we were met by Kate, Angela - Kate's roommate and their driver, Alam . We had an interesting drive to town, realizing that if we thought Bangkok traffice was unruly, there were clearly no rules here we could ascertain.

Here is the Chittagong Club. The hotel is in a nearby building

The food here at the Chittagong Club has been very good. Here is a fresh chicken delivery.

Here is the typical local taxi, a CNG for "compressed natural gas". This is a quiet road near the Chittagong Club. This is not typical. Usually there are dozens of CNG's and hundreds of people. Will post those pictures later. It is hard to post pictures here due to some international lines being down.

Today (Sunday) We Fly to Chittagong

We leave Bangkok and fly to Dhaka (capital of Bangladesh) have a 5 hour layover (yuck) and get to Chittagong in the evening. Thai Air has suspeneded its flights to Chittagong, so they had to book us on another airline.

Chatuchak Weekend Market

Spent Saturday picking up plane tickets and at the Chatuchak Market. Thai Air could only issue old fashion paper tickets for our flight tomorrow to Chittagong. I just found out Saturday morning - avoiding a disaster. Next on to the market for Nora to shop.


The market has over 7,000 vendors.




Nora had hoped to buy more but found a few things.

The selection included foods of all types.

Visit To Floating Market, Grand Palace And Wat Pho

We spent Friday with a tour guide from Tour With Tong ( see http://www.tourwithtong.com/ ) named Tai. She took us on a day long excusion to this sites She was a great guide and very helpful.

Yes, a reak snake!

Exploring Bangkok and a Cooking Lesson

In our first full day in Bangkok we got some sleep, explored the city and took a cooking lesson.

The city is busy and colorful and you could walk it for days and only see a fraction of it. Also ordered Kevin a suit. We will try to post a picture. They will have in done in 3 days after 3 fittings.



Here is one of the elephants we mentioned. Apparently a big debate as they need to sedate the poor animals to keep them calm in the crowds.







Rush hour traffice - worse than the beltway.

Me passing the aforementioned elephant.

Cooking class with Mrs. Balbir's Cooking school ( see http://www.mrsbalbir.com/ ). We had a great time making thai food and hearing from Vinder Balbir about her restaurant and many other activities in Bangkok.

Nora sunbathing on the hotel roof.

Bangkok Arrival

We got to our hotel around 2:30 am (Thursday here), funny there was some traffic. Passed two elephants around our hotel - that got our attention......

The hotel ( www.baansukhumvit.com/Soi18 ) is great and the staff really helpful and of couse we have WIFI.

The new aiport is very well decorated.

A local park near the hotel

Tokyo Layover.

Arrived in Tokyo after a 14 hour flight to find out our Bangkok flight is delayed for two hours. Nora seems very happy to spend time in the United lounge and extend her stay in Japan. Mary Jane says its because of the cold tap beer and internet connections.

Parting is Such Sweet Sorrow

As Kevin had not planned to join us on the trip until a late date, he is flying solo on another airline and as Nora has reminded him often he will have to suffer in coach as we were able to upgrade to business.