What to do in Seattle?

Until about 2 weeks ago, I had nothing planned for my upcoming trip to Seattle.  Yes, I had purchased plane tickets and yes, I had a hotel booked (via Twitter, gotta love social media!).  I even made a couple dinner reservations, but as far as activities to do while there for 4 days, I had...zip...nada...nothing.

Enter...groupon and Twitter (again).  One day I came across a tweet from @SeattleMaven, the "Twitter-mistress" of the Seattle Convention & Visitor's Bureau.  The tweet mentioned a gourmet walking tour at Savor Seattle Tours.  Mom and I had taken the Pike Place Market Tour with Savor Seattle a couple years ago and really enjoyed it, so I checked out their website to see what this Gourmet Tour was all about and, you guessed it, I liked what I saw.  The Savor Seattle website calls this tour a progressive dinner at Seattle’s best restaurants and hot spots! From appetizer to dessert, we will eat your way through Belltown, downtown Seattle, and Pike Place Market.  It didnt' take long for my fingers to fly across my computer keyboard to book this tour.

A day or so after booking the Savor Seattle Gourmet Tour I received a Groupon email about a "green" walking tour in Seattle.  The Groupon deal was pay $15 for a $30 tour with Immersus.  Before buying the Groupon I checked out the Immersus Tour company website and, like with Savor Seattle, I really liked what I saw.  A four hour walking tour using public transportation and traversing more off the beaten "tourist path" neighborhoods of Seattle sounding just like our kind of adventure.  While reading the tour company website I noticed this tour covers four miles.  Keeping mom in mind, I emailed the tour company asking more specifics about the "hilly-ness" of the area covered during the tour.  I was impressed that I received a reply back within hours and it was a thumbs-up for us.  I moved on the Groupon deal, and booked this four hour walking tour for one of the mornings during our trip.  Not only am I excited about exploring a new corner of Seattle, I'm excited to use their bus system!

So, with 2 tours booked, a couple dinner reservations made and plans for "retail therapy" at Pike Place Market, and Nordstroms Rack downtown, the Seattle trip has fallen into place!  Looking forward to seeing the "Emerald City" again!

Fantastic Food Weekend in San Francisco!

To beat the heat and humidity in the South Carolina Low Country a quick 5 day holiday weekend trip to San Francisco was in the cards and that's where mom and I spent the July 4th weekend. 

We scored a good airfare on Delta.  At $300 round trip per ticket from Savannah to SFO, we were happy with the price and we'd accrue about 5,000 sky miles!  When I started looking for hotels, room rates were above the $200 mark.  I turned to Hotwire.com and snatched up a hotel for $120 per night.  The hotel was Le Meridien on Battery Street in the Financial District, and a short 10 minute walk to the Ferry Building and Market Street.  For us, it was a great location and we really liked this hotel.  The staff was accommodating, the room was impeccably clean and since we were given a handi-capped room, it was spacious with a peek-a-boo view of the Bay Bridge.

Thursday, June 30th

The alarm clock goes off at 3:30am, yes, I booked another 6:30am flight.  On the bright side, we got upgraded on the flight from Savannah to Atlanta, the connection in Atlanta was smooth and we landed in San Francisco 20 minutes early.

I have to mention the fact that I haven't traveled by air much during the summer months, usually I'm trotting the globe in spring, fall or winter, so I had a few instances of eyes-popping out of my head when seeing some of the fashion choices of my fellow travelers made. I know it can be hot in the south during June, July and August, but really people, do we need to see THAT much skin?  Leave something to the imagination!

Since we were in economy class for the flight to San Francisco we stopped and bought 2 Wolfgang Puck pre-made sandwiches in the airport to have for our lunch during the flight. In spite of the whopping calorie count (which I don't even want to think about!) and the price ($9.00 each) they were really good and I'd buy them again.  In honesty we held off bringing our own lunch in hopes we'd get upgraded on the San Francisco flight and when we realized that wouldn't happen mom dashed over to the sandwich stand so we'd have something other than the Delta lunch offerings.

One last thing to mention about the flight to San Francisco, the pilot and crew were terrific!  The pilot kept us, the passengers, informed about flight duration, weather, and turbulence throughout the whole flight and I don't know if it was just a better PA system, or better pilot enunciation but I could actually understand every word he said...usually I can only catch every other word and it sounds like the teacher on the old Peanuts cartoons...waah-waah-waah.

We arrive in San Francisco just before 12noon and since we didn't check our bags, once off the plane we headed directly for the Airtrain which would connect us with BART.  We bought the BART tickets at the ticket machine right before getting on the train.  It was $8.10 for a one way ticket from SFO to the Embarcadero station in San Francisco.  By 1pm we were walking off BART and to the MUNI ticket desk located in this particular station. 

Before walking to the hotel we stopped at the MUNI ticket desk to purchase our 3 day Muni tickets for $20 this allowed us unlimited transport on MUNI operated buses, streetcars, and cable cars, it does not include BART.  I've used these 3 day tickets before and found them to be well worth the money, especially for us since we had plans to have dinner at a restaurant in Noe Valley and the Mission district, so instead of taking taxis I managed to map out the bus or streetcar routes we could take by using the MUNI website trip planner.

From the Embarcadero BART station it was about a 10 minute easy/flat walk to Le Meridien hotel at 333 Battery Street.  Since it was still before their posted check-in time I wasn't sure if a room would be ready, but we got lucky and they had a room available.  We had our choice, we could have a standard room on the 5th floor or a handi-capped room on the 15th floor.  We took the 15th floor option and glad we did.  As mentioned above it was spacious and had a nice view.

After a short rest and freshening up we walked to the Ferry Building, a place we just love and browsed around a bit and  then headed to Hog Island Oysters for their Happy Hour specials.  They run these specials on Mondays and Thursdays between 5pm & 7pm.  We were seated at about 4:45pm but had to wait until 5pm to start ordering the Happy Hour menu.  The special is a selected oyster, the ones this day happened to be from Washington State, for $1.35 each, the selected wines were $6 a glass and there were a few other specially priced items including a bowl of olives for $3 which were pretty darn good.

This was the first time mom and I ever had raw oysters and boy were they good, so fresh and briny tasting.  We started by ordering just eight since we weren't sure if we'd like them or not, but once we finished those first eight we ordered eight more.  We were lucky to arrive at Hog Island when we did, because there was already a line forming, but we were able to get a table right away, when we left about an hour later, the line to get in snaked through the shop adjacent to the restaurant...it pays to arrive early for Happy Hour and wait.  We got there about 30 minutes before the 5pm start time.

Just before 6pm we left Hog Island and walked to Rouge et Blanc Wine Bar near Union Square.  I found this place during my trip planning when I was looking for a wine bar near to the restaurant where we had dinner reservations.  The place was pretty crowded when we walked it, and it seemed to attract a young crowd.  There was nothing really remarkable about the place, the service was fine and we had 2 glasses of wine here to kill time before our 7pm dinner reservation.

Dinner this first night in San Francisco was at E&O Trading Company located at 314 Sutter Street.  When I started planning this trip I mentioned to a friend who lives in the Bay Area I'd be in San Francisco in late June/early July and she forwarded me a link to a Travel Zoo local deal for this restaurant. 

For $60 we'd get $126 worth of food and drinks.  I thought it was a good deal and bought it and made a dinner reservation.  We had mixed feelings about this place.  Some of our choices were definitely hit and miss.  The menu is Pan-Asian and we started with the corn fritters, which are a house speciality.  These were unlike any fritter I had ever had.  They were not the batter-type fritter I've become accustomed to, but simply kernels of corn and peas and I'm not sure how these massive misshaped fritters where bound together, but they did have an interesting taste and texture and my advice to you if you ever have these, is to definitely douse them in the accompanying sauce, the sauce really raised the flavor level!

For appetizers we had the shitaki mushroom dumplings with foie miso....ding-ding-ding...this was definitely a winning dish!  I could have easily eaten twice as many as were served, these were very tasty.  We also ordered the dungeness crab dip which was also excellent, however, the server forgot about this dish and when we asked it was brought to the table with our main courses.

For our main dishes we both had the shaking beef, which our server told us was the specialty of the house.  I thought it was passable, mom didn't like it at all.  The beef was served in very big chunks, that weren't very tender and they were placed on a plate heaping with cilantro, sauteed tomatoes and onion.  Although we like cilantro, even for us, this seemed a little excessive.

The meal included two drinks, which would generally be an Asian twist on a margarita, but we were told we could replace it with any wine on the list under $10 a glass, so we each had a glass of Honig sauvignon blanc.  Dessert was also included and we, or I should rightly say me because mom is not into desserts, picked the chocolate silk road cake, which was good, but nothing out of the ordinary.  Mom had a coffee, which was $5 extra, but they served it in a french press and it was Illy coffee and mom said it was one of the best parts of the meal.  We also had an order of jasmine rice which wasn't included in the "deal".  The total bill for the meal (not counting the $60 paid for the Travel Zoo deal) was $15 and then we tipped on what would have been the total amount of the check with out the deal.

We left the restaurant just after 8pm and walked back to the hotel.  It was a beautiful evening, still light outside and a cool breeze and barely any humidity!   A great way to end a long travel day.

Friday, July 1st

We woke up to a beautiful day, sunny and cool.  We had a leisurely morning and walked to the Ferry Building just before 10am to have coffee at Blue Bottle Coffee.  Do you ever have a great food experience somewhere and when you go back, it's just not the same as you remember?  Well, that's sort of what happened here. 

Back in 2009 when we were in San Francisco we stayed around the corner from the Blue Bottle Cafe on Mint Street and on several mornings had fantastic coffee there. Since we were staying closer to the Ferry Building this time, we decided to go there for our Blue Bottle Coffee fix.  We ordered our coffees and then I spied the fresh made waffles that were on sale.  We got our coffees and they were OK, but just didn't taste as smooth as we remembered.  BUT, those waffles...WOW!  Now, mom is not much of a breakfast person, especially waffles or pancakes for breakfast, but when we both took our first bites of this waffles we thought there were angels singing.  The waffles came in their own little paper wrapper and they were hot, hot, hot, not too doughy, not too sweet, with the perfect amount of cinnamon.  The waffle blew away the coffee today!

With the waffles fortifying us we decided to check out more of the shops in the Ferry Building.  It was a Friday morning and the crowds were slim, it would be a much different scene on Saturday.  After browsing about we still had time to kill before our 2:30pm Gourmet Walks tour of Hayes Valley.  We hadn't been to Fisherman's Wharf since our first trip to San Francisco in the mid 1990's, so we decided to venture over there and scope out the meeting point for the tour we would be doing on Saturday.

We hop on the F line street car, with a zillion other visitors and made our way to Fisherman's Wharf.  The moment we stepped of the streetcar I knew why we hadn't ventured there on our more recent trips to San Francisco, it was jam-packed with people and all kinds of trinket and tee shirt shops.  We walked by the Boudin Bakery and stopped at the big glass window to watch the bakers "do their thing".  One young girl was very talented, and her lobster bread sculpture looked very realistic, well, as realistic as bread shaped as a lobster can be!

We found the location where we would be meeting for the Mr. Toad's Tour on Saturday and after about an hour of meandering about made our way back to the hotel for a quick pit stop before heading to the Hayes Valley neighborhood for our Gourmet Walks.

While planning this trip, I randomly Googled "gourmet walking tours in San Francisco", you can imagine how many websites came up...lots!  As I read through several one piqued my interest and it was Gourmet Walks, fun, foodie tours.  I really liked the Gourmet on Hayes tour they offered and decided this would be a new neighborhood for us to explore.  It was a 3 hour tour, with about 12 people.  The guide was very knowledgeable and the stops of the tour were a good mix of sweet and savory.

The tour started at Patricia's Green a small little park on Octavia Street in the heart of Hayes Valley.  The first stop on the tour was at Smitten Ice Cream...wow, was this stuff good.  We tried the salted caramel ice cream and this is not your ordinary ice cream, it's made with a machine using liquid nitrogen...pretty cool.  To check out more on Smitten Ice Cream here is the website, http://smittenicecream.com/home/Home.html

The second stop on this gourmet tour was a big favorite and if you like tasty pork this place is awesome.  The Fatted Calf Charcuterie at 320 Fell Street is like walking into an Italian deli on steroids, it was as if I had arrived in heaven!  The owners made up a terrific tasting plate for our group and they did not skimp.  We had several different types of salami, prosciutto, and mortadella.  This shop also sets up a stall at the Saturday Farmer's Market at the Ferry Building if you can't get to the shop, just know the selection at the Ferry Building is much more limited than what is available at the shop.  And if you happen to be in the Hayes Valley neighborhood on a Wednesday night, they do a Pork Happy Hour from 5:30pm until 7pm.

The tour continued with a bit of a detour out of Hayes Valley and into Zen Valley to the Samovar Tea Lounge.  I am not a huge fan of teas, but I've got to say the 2 we tasted were pretty darn good, I don't remember the names of them, but the young lady at the counter speaking to us about the shop was very passionate and knowledgeable about teas.  If you are interested in checking out their website, here it is  http://samovarlife.com/

Once we were full of tea it was time to walk back down the hill returning to Hayes Valley and stopping at Fritz, a Belgian fries shop.  The whole shop is dedicated to crispy french fries with a ton of different dipping sauces to choose from.  We tasted probably 10 different dipping sauces, and as I sit here and type this I can't remember any that really stand out in my mind.  To be honest, this was our least favorite stop of the tour.

On the other hand, the next stop was another favorite after The Fatted Calf, and it was Arlequin, a little cafe where we had a great cheese plate.  The creamy goat cheese was perfectly sweet and the blue cheese was some of the best I've ever had.  With a glass of chardonnay this place ranked high for us.  I wouldn't hesitate to go back here on a return to this neighborhood.

The last 2 stops on the tour were sweet stops.  We popped into the Christopher Elbow Chocolate shop, and if I didn't know better, I would have thought this corner shop was a jewelry store.  The chocolates were lined up in perfect rows in sleek white display cases, they looked to pretty to eat!  The final stop was at Miette, a candy/bakery shop. The big claim to fame here was the macaroons.  The 2 samples we were given, pistachio and strawberry, were OK, but for us, macaroons are a tough sell.  We love the Lauduree macaroons in Paris and having that as the "bar" on our macaroon meter, any others are really tough to follow!

The tour ended at about 5:30pm in the same location where we began.  We said our thank-you's and good-byes to our guide and high-tailed it around the corner to an optical shop.  You may be thinking, weird...an optical shop?  Well, a couple things drew us to this place.  The first was the name, we loved it.  It was named "Through the Hayes" optical shop, we really liked the play on words as it related to the neighborhood.  The second thing that drew us in was an eyeglass loop displayed in the window.  I had been looking for something just like it for ages, and never finding what I really wanted until this shop.  We popped in the shop and they were so nice and friendly. 

I purchased my La Loop and while paying I asked the sales girl, if there were any good wine bars in the area.  She recommended Arlequin, where we had been on the tour.  Then I said, "Well, what wine bar would you go to?"  I love using that question, because alot of times when locals are asked for a recommendations they may say a place they think a tourist would like to go.  If I ask were they go, that can sometimes be a completely different answer and that's what happened this time.

The salesgirl recommended a place called Hotel Biron, it was about a 10 minute walk from the shop, and fortunately for us, in the direction we needed to head anyway.  Some people may have been put off when she told us it was in an alley (just behind Cafe Zuni), but once mom and I heard that, we knew it would be just the place we would like, and our gut feeling was correct.  The interior felt rustic with a bit of a hodge podge of wooden tables, iron chairs, low couches and exposed brick walls. Here is their website http://www.hotelbiron.com/

We had a couple glasses of wine at Hotel Biron, and as far as we could tell, it looked like we were the only non-locals in the place.  Although we didn't have anything to eat, the meat and cheese plate the table next to us had looked pretty good.

At about 7pm it was time to catch the Muni J line to Incanto for our dinner reservation.  This is a Chris Constantino restaurant and I was eagerly anticipating our meal here.  Here is the restaurant's website http://incanto.biz/

We walked through the front door of Incanto at 7:45pm on the dot for our reservation and we were seated right away.  The first thing that struck me about the place was it's size.  From the pictures on the restaurant website I thought it would be bigger.  The second thing that struck me was that although many tables were occupied the restaurant was not "busting at the seems" for a Friday night, maybe it was because of the holiday weekend.  The flow of the night seemed to be by 8:30pm things were slowing down and then by 9pm the tables were full again.

Our server, Heather, was just terrific.  We started with duck liver on walnut bread to share.  Oh My God...all of it was absolutely delicious, I would have been happy if that was all we had and left, but hey, who am I kidding, we continued the food frenzy!  We ordered a bottle of Orvieto recommended by Heather.  The bottle was $38, which we appreciated Heather not trying to "hard sell" a more expensive wine, we told her what type of wine we liked and she came back with a great recommendation for us...love that in a server!  Oh, and the bread and olive tapenaude amuse bouche was terrific and so were the rosemary bread sticks.

For our main dishes, mom had their handkerchief pasta with pork ragu and duck egg.  Heather told us this never comes off their menu and now we know why...yes, it is THAT good.  The pork ragu is decadent and delicious.  I had the lamb main dish, it was perfectly cooked and tasty with squash blossoms, zucchini and olive puree and a spicy curl of sausage.  My dish may have had a slight lead in the "winning" dish of the night, but not by much, that pasta was fantastic!

Mom and I usually like to end our Italian meals with a limoncello but this was not an option on the menu so we ordered 2 espresso.  As we got to talking I realized mom had never had Vin Santo.  I've had it in Tuscany and enjoyed it and thought, "heck, why not?'  So we ordered two glasses of Vin Santo.  And boy are we glad we did...this was the smoothest Vin Santo I have every had.  It was a Badia di Morrona 2006 and it truly tasted like honey.  And, it was an extremely generous portion.  For us, the meal was absolutely perfect.  The total cost came to $140.

We left the restaurant at about 10pm and walked a few blocks to the Muni J line stop.  This neighborhood is definitely residential, the streets at 10pm were very quiet and few people were out and about.  We took the J line to it's last station stop, Embarcadero and walked 10 minutes back to the hotel.  We then fell asleep in a happy food bliss.

Saturday, July 2nd

It was another beautiful sunny day and being a Saturday we high-tailed it down to the Ferry Building, can you see a pattern developing here with the Ferry Building?  BUT, the big draw to the Ferry Building on Saturday's is the farmer's market, it is fantastic.  We stopped for a quick caffeine fix at Peet's Coffee and by 9am the farmer's market is bustling.  We walked through the market stalls, there is so much great produce, cheese, charcuterie, flowers, breads, it's a market shoppers paradise.  We picked up a few things including the pomegranate molasses mom had been on the hunt for, for months.

We've been to the Saturday farmer's market here before, 2 years ago and had the most unbelievable porchetta sandwich in the world, and no, I'm not exaggerating.  It was all thanks to Fodorite Kristina for tipping us off to the Roli Roti truck back in 2009.  By 10:30am there is already a line forming for this heavenly sandwich.  We had every intention of going back here for this memorable morsel, but the more I started to think about it, the more I didn't want the memory of that first fantastic Roli Roti porchetta sandwich to be tarnished.  Maybe I was having doubts after the Blue Bottle Coffee let down, so I asked mom how she would feel if we didn't have the Roli Roti porchetta sandwich for lunch?

Leave it to mom to come up with the most enticing alternative to the Roli Roti...mom said, well, we haven't tried the clam chowder or the grilled cheese sandwich at Hog Island Oysters, why don't we try that?  BRILLIANT idea mom!   We wouldn't be deflated if the porchetta didn't live up to our memory, which, honestly I think it would have been just as terrific, but hey, why not try something new!

We wandered over to Hog Island and they weren't quite open for lunch yet, so we got in line.  Yes, I do believe there is always a line at Hog Island!  We were about 4th in line and as soon as they opened we were seated in a terrific spot outside, but in the shade, it was getting hot in San Francisco!

Our server, Greg, was great, super friendly and ready with recommendations.  When we said we'd like to try the clam chowder and did it come in a cup or bowl, since we wanted to share it, he said we could order one and he would have it split in 2 bowls, perfect.  Then we said we'd each like a grilled cheese sandwich.  Well, it looked us in the eye and said, "You really just want one to split," and we said, "OK".  Boy are we glad we followed his advice.  The clam chowder was unlike any I've had and believe me, I've had a lot after spending 4 years of college in New England.  This chowder was so silky and creamy but the best part was that the clams were whole, fresh clams still in their shells, wow, can't get more fresh than that.  When Greg placed the grilled cheese sandwich down and our eyes popped out of our heads he gave us a nod, a smile and an "I told you so" wink.  This sandwich was another out of this world, oozey, gooey, crispy bread, crunchy, perfect golden brown grilled cheese sandwich.  And, the pickled fennel and radishes that were the garnish to the sandwich made our lips pucker with savory delight.

This perfect lunch was an early lunch for us since we only had coffee for breakfast, so by 11:30am we paid our lunch bill and headed off towards our hotel to drop off our market purchases and then make our way to Fisherman's Wharf for our afternoon tour.

Instead of going back to the Ferry Building and trying to cram onto the Muni F line there, that would take us to Fisherman's Wharf, we left the hotel and walked over to Market Street and hopped on an almost empty F line streetcar there.  I'm glad I came up with that little deviation because when the streetcar we were on arrived at the Ferry Building it was mob scene getting onto the streetcar.

While researching things to do for this trip I found Mr. Toad's Tours on Trip Advisor.  Here is their website.   http://www.mrtoadstours.com/index.html   I thought the 3 hour "Postcard San Francisco" Tour sounded fun so booked it.

We arrived in the Fisherman's Wharf area about an hour before our tour was to start and wandered about for a bit and then walked to the meeting spot.  Our tour guide, Eric, was terrific, very knowledgeable and alot of fun.  We rode about the city in a 1924 Yellowstone bus.  It was remarkable how many smiles on passers-by we saw from our perch in this vintage open air bus and I'm sure we are now etched in many a vacation photo across the globe.  Eric kept up the commentary continuously throughout the entire 3 hours, not a small undertaking, his sense of humor was great and I learned quite a bit about San Francisco.  We also saw alot of neighborhoods of San Francisco we hadn't been to yet, and probably wouldn't have had time to see on our own.  We even had a stop at a fortune cookie factory in Chinatown.  We chugged through the Presidio, a first for us, and glided down to Crissy Field and a stunning view of the Golden Gate Bridge.  We loved this tour, there were lots a terrific photo opportunities too and being a sunny day made it all the more better.

Just before 7pm we left the hotel and headed to Flour + Water for dinner.  Here is their website:  http://www.flourandwater.com/

Before I go on with our dinner experience I want to mention how I found this restaurant.  Last November we went to Bologna, Italy for a week.  On the flight over to Italy I read in the Delta Sky magazine a one page article about the chef at Flour + Water in San Francisco.  We knew we'd be back in San Francisco eventually so pulled that page out of the magazine.  The article mentioned this chef had gone to Bologna in order to learn how to make pasta.  It just so happened that we had booked a market tour/cooking/pasta making lesson with a family in Bologna (Bluone Tours).  While spending the whole day with this family, shopping, cooking and making pasta in their home the conversation turned to this article I had read.  It turned out the chef at Flour + Water had worked with this same family in Bologna...talk about a small world.  So, when mom and I decided to go to San Francisco, it was a "given" in our minds we had to go to Flour + Water for dinner one night...and you guessed it, we are very glad we did!

To get to Flour + Water using Muni we took the F line streetcar up Market Street to Powell and changed to the #27 bus.  Once on the bus it took about 15 minutes to get to Bryant & 20th where we got off and walked 3 blocks to Flour + Water.  Did we have a reservation?  Yes.  Were we very early for this reservation?  Yes.  You see, Flour + Water only takes reservations for about half the tables in the restaurant, everything else is a first come first seated basis.  We had a 10pm reservation and were there about 8pm.  We asked the hostess if it was possible to be seated earlier and she said she would put our name on the waiting list, but it would be about an hour wait.  We asked if there was a wine bar in the neighborhood and she directed us up the street to a place called Schmidt's.

When we walked into Schmidt's there were maybe 3 tables full of diners and no one at the bar.  We took 2 stools at the bar and ordered a couple glasses of wine.  The bartender was friendly and let us taste a couple wines before ordering.  Wines by the glass were reasonably priced at about $7.  The chalkboard menu was full of a huge variety of bratwurst.  Within an hour the entire restaurant was full and food coming out of the kitchen looked pretty tasty.  This is definitely a place to keep on our radar for another time.

At about 9pm we walked back down to Flour + Water and the hostess seated us at the bar within 5 minutes.  The bar here is used for restaurant seating, so if it's crowded sitting at the bar waiting for table is not an option.  Our bartender was Eric,and he was a hoot, super friendly and terrific with wine recommendations.  When we told him we liked dry white Italian wines, he said we had just described their whole wine list!  :-)

We decided to start with a pizza and had the fennel and sausage pizza the crust was thin and crispy, just the way we like it.  Since this restaurant is known for it's pasta we both decided to go with pasta dishes and not venture into the secondi menu (which had just 2 or 3 choices).  I had the garganella with pork meatballs and Italian chard.  Mom had the strozzapreti with capers and horseradish (unusual sounding, but delicious).  Both pastas were excellent, perfectly cooked and extremely flavorful.  As if the pizza and pasta weren't perfect enough, we had the basil pannacotta garnished with strawberries for dessert. This dessert was perfectly creamy, we loved it.  We let Eric, the bartender, recommend a dessert wine for us and he didn't disappoint.  Our 2 espressos made a perfect ending to this great meal.  The approximate cost of the meal was $120.

We were going to take the bus back towards the hotel, but as luck would have it, as we exited the restaurant a taxi was right in front of us and we jumped in.  This was quite possibly the best taxi driver I've ever encountered.  He was funny, and had us laughing for the 15 minutes it took us to get back to the hotel.  Once back in our room it didn't take us long to fall asleep!

Sunday, July 3rd

I have to admit, for me, this day had it's ups and downs.  I had booked the Sonoma Experience Wine Tour with Wine Country Tour Shuttle, but on Friday I got a call from them saying we were the only 2 people booked on the Sonoma tour and they were "upgrading" us to their Napa wine tour. 

I really was not pleased with this for several reasons.  Reason #1 was that while looking for a wine tour to do, this company said the Sonoma tour was no more than 12 people, while the Napa tour would be 40 people.  Reason #2 the Sonoma tour had a later start time, 10am as opposed to the 8am Napa tour start time.  Reason #3 the Sonoma tour would visit 2 wineries and would give us 2.5 hours free time in the town of Sonoma to do as we liked, so it seemed like it would be a bit more laid back tour.  But when I ran the change of plans by mom, she said, "Why not?  Let's do the Napa tour" so we did.

I also have to mention here that when I woke up on Sunday morning I was not feeling my best, I thought maybe the raw oysters from Thursday were catching up with me.  I truly don't know why I wasn't feeling well, let's just say, whatever it was that I had it lasted all Sunday, all Monday (yes, flying home was not a treat!) and I missed 3 days of work when I returned home.  Tests run by my doctor's office at home showed negative results for 4 different types of typical food poisoning, so it's still a mystery what hit me, but let me tell you it hit me hard for 7 days.

I say all this, because my description of this Napa wine tour may be slightly skewed because of how I was feeling.

We arrive in front of the Ferry Building just before the 8am start time.  I knew things were going to be bumpy when the girl checking everyone in didn't have our name on her list and she told us to stand to the side.  There was a call made to their main office and we were finally placed on the last of 3 buses that were doing the Napa tour.

The bus sat 40 people and every seat was full.  The bus was not what I would call the "big-strato-cruiser" type of bus, but more like an extended small bus/van.  The guide was knowledgeable, but from our point of view he had very little personality, very different from the 2 other tour guides we had over the last couple days on the Gourmet Tour & Mr. Toad's Tour.

The drive into the Napa Valley from San Francisco was about 1.5 hours.  The first stop on the tour was at the Domaine Chandon winery.  We tasted 4 different types of their sparkling wine for a $10 tasting fee (above the price of the tour).  I'm a huge lover of the bubbly stuff, and of the 4 we tasted there was one that I liked and would have again.  The winery itself is lovely and the winery guide we had really knew his stuff.  If I was back in the area, I wouldn't hesitate to stop here again.

The second winery stop we made was a the V. Sattui Winery.  We had never heard of this winery before and for good reason, they only sell their wines at the winery or online.  This was a very nice setting with lots of picnic tables outside.  We had about 1.5 hours here and we did the $10 tasting and got to have 6 different wines.  We did buy a case of wine, half the Sattui chardonnay and half the Sattui Gamay Rouge, it was a good deal at 20% off if you bought a case. We had it shipped home and it arrived about a week later.  After tasting the wine here we perused their terrific deli shop. The prepared foods here looked terrific and tasted great.  Our eyes were definitely bigger than our stomachs when we ordered a chicken pesto sandwich on foccacia bread and a huge stuffed portabella mushroom.  At that time I didn't realize how this might contribute to my discomfort, but it sure did taste good as we ate it!

After lunch we had 2 more wineries to visit and I was fading fast.  The 3rd stop was at the Rutherford Grove Winery, they mostly sell red wines and I'm not a huge red wine fan and by now nothing was tasting very good to me.  Mom liked the sauvignon blanc here, the only white they make, and bought 2 bottles of it.  The last winery stop was at the Rutherford Ranch Winery and it was a lovely tasting room, but I couldn't even muster the stomach to having anything here and didn't even pay the $10 tasting fee.

By the time we left Rutherford Ranch it was sweltering hot and the airconditioning in the bus was not the best we'd ever experienced.  We had about a 50 minute bus ride to the ferry in Vallejo that we would take back to the Ferry Building in San Francisco.  The ferry ride was about 1.5 hours and thankfully it was smooth sailing with pretty scenery.  We arrived back in San Francisco just before 5pm and we headed back to the hotel to start packing our bags for our return home. 

We left the hotel just before 7pm and walked to The Slanted Door restaurant at the Ferry Building to meet my friends RM and J for dinner at 7:15.  RM and J live in the Bay Area and I had traveled to South East Asia in March this year with them.  Prior to getting to San Francisco we had made plans to have dinner and I thought what better place than The Slanted Door so we could re-live some of our Vietnamese food experiences.  Mom had met RM once before but this was the first time meeting J and I knew we would all get on well (I was right!).

RM and J were waiting for us when we arrived right at 7:15pm for our reservation and we were seated immediately.  The Slanted Door has terrific views, and just like the last time we were there, it was packed to the gills and buzzing with lots of activity. 

We decided to share all the food family style and started with the Slanted Door spring rolls and the green papaya salad.  Both dishes were great.  Mom never had green papaya salad, the rest of us had lots of it while traveling in Vietnam and this version was fantastic.  RM ordered a bottle of sauvignon blanc and our server "warned" us it's a "rustic" wine, which meant, it was unfiltered and bottled in a metal recyclable bottle, similar to a metal water bottle.  I'd never seen wine bottled that way before and the date it was bottle was written right on the bottle.  We really enjoyed this wine and I wish I could remember the name of it!  It was crisp and refreshing.

For main dishes we ordered the scallops, the dungeness crab cellophane noodles and the shaking beef. All were delicious.  The shaking beef here was outstanding compared to the version we had at E&O earlier in the trip!  The scallops were great, but I really liked the cellophane noodles the best.  We passed on dessert, but mom and I had our espressos.

By 9:30pm we were saying our good-byes as RM and J got on BART to head home and we walked back to the hotel.  So, for a day that had a rocky start, it ended on a very happy note, sharing a great dinner with good friends.

Monday, July 4th

It was a very early morning, and we left the hotel at 5am via taxi, since BART was not yet running.  At that time of the morning, on a holiday it took 25 minutes to the airport and it was $40 plus tip.  When we walked into the terminal I was glad we arrived early for our 7:30am flight, the lines were massive.  Fortunately I had checked-in online and we only had to wait a few minutes to check our bags.  The line for security was snaking down the hallway, and luckily we didn't have to wait in that line since we were able to use the Delta sky priority security line which was much shorter.  This line used the full body x-ray machine, which was a first for us.

We found our gate and waited to board.  The boarding process was smooth and we were happy to have been able to get 2 exit row seats.  We arrived in Atlanta on time and had a 3 hour lay-over, which felt like an eternity (not feeling well while traveling is not my favorite experience!).  Our flight to Savannah was delayed by about 30 minutes but we did get upgraded on that flight and from the moment I sat down in my seat I was asleep.  When we arrived in Savannah I turned my phone on to find a message from Delta saying our bags had arrived in Savannah on an earlier flight (that was a first!), so we had no wait what-so-ever at baggage claim.  We grabbed our bags that were sitting in front of the baggage office, hopped in the car and headed home.

Italy? Seattle? Italy? Seattle? Oh...and let's toss in NYC too!

About 2 months ago I started thinking about going back to Seattle when the sun would not be setting at 3:30pm.  Mom liked that idea too and I began looking at airfare, it was hovering just below $400 and one day it went down as low as $360, but I was reluctant and though I'd wait for a better deal. That's when it shot up to $430. So I continued to wait.

Last week I was "jonsing" for an Italy fix, I haven't been since last November, I know, I know, you're saying, "Marcy, that's only 7 months ago",  BUT you all know I have a love affair going on with Italy and I just can't seem to keep away, or stop thinking about another trip there. 

So, after "cooling my jets" about Seattle, I started thinking about going to Italy, anywhere in Italy for a week in early September, of course I'd be incorporating our Labor Day holiday in the mix to "maximize" my vacation day allotment!

I began scouring the Delta website to airfare to Rome, Bologna, Naples, Milan and Venice...I was leaving no region of Italy out of the mix!  :-)

I really wanted to fly out on a Saturday and home on a Saturday and prices for those dates were well out of my comfort zone for a one week trip, technically it wouldn't even be a full week, just 6 nights.

Then I had the bright idea to tick the "flexible dates" box and Wowza!  I got airfares that where just about $500 less!  BUT it would mean flying out on a Sunday and returning on a Sunday.  Could it be coincidence the returning Sunday was September 11th?  Hmmmm...not sure, and not being too superscitious I was willing to fly on September 11th if it meant almost a week in Italy.

Mom was up for this little excursion and we decided that of all the flight options a trip to Rome looked like the best.  After checking with work that taking a week in September wouldn't be a problem (even with taking 2 weeks in December!) I started checking out accommodation options.  I knew hotels or apartments in Rome in September wouldn't be cheap and after a couple hours looking I narrowed options down to a couple hotels.

Just as I was about to hit the "buy" button on the Delta website I started to seriously do the cost calculations in my head versus the number of days we'd actually be "on the ground".  I started having doubts, especially since we still have the trip to France in December and final payments for the 2 apartments we're renting there would be due in the autumn.  That damn money tree in my backyard still hasn't sprouted and I thought, this is crazy, Italy will be there next year when we have built up more vacation time and funds and can spend more than 6 days in the beloved Italy!

That's when I walked away from hitting the "buy"' button and cruised back over to the "book a flight' page...yes, it's a disease with me...however, I'm sure Delta Airlines loves me.  Being 11pm on a Tuesday night I thought I'd try my luck and see if the airfares to Seattle had come down....can you see the smile spreading across my face????

BINGO...flights in early September from Savannah to Seattle were an astonishing $300 + taxes round trip, that made the ticket just under $350....guess what?  Mom and I hare going to Seattle for 4 days in early September...big surprise there!  :-)

We're very happy to be going to Seattle for several reasons, yes, it's for fewer days than we were going to be Italy so accommodations won't be as much (we hope!), the food scene in Seattle is terrific, not to mention the great Washington wines...but what we're most happy about is to be in Seattle another month other than January when the sun rises at 8:30am and sets at 4pm...maybe this time we will actually get to enjoy the sunlit days and evenings in Seattle!

And while we were at booking flights to Seattle I couldn't help but check out airfares to NYC for the Veteran's Day weekend in November and yup, got those tickets for just over $300 for a long weekend in the Big Apple, just before Thanksgiving.

Now I have lots of hotel hunting to do!

A Long Weekend is Never Long Enough For a Trip to NYC...

Memorial Day weekend...you know what I'm going to say next...let's go to NYC!  And that is exactly what mom and I did!

Shortly after I returned from Asia (like 2 days later!) in March Mom high-tailed-it to the Delta website to check airfare to NYC for Memorial Day weekend.  Yes, we are travel junkies!

I must have still been in a jet-lagged induced haze when I said, sure, let's do it.  OK, I know I had all my wits about me, how could I say no to a "quickie" trip to NYC?

I was able to take advantage of a one day sale, on Kimpton Hotels NYC properties listed on Facebook, and was able to book a double room for $219 a night at the Eventi Hotel on 6th Avenue and 30th Street.  For NYC I thought that was a pretty good rate.  In the past I've paid more and less, so it was pretty much a middle of the road room rate.

The Delta flight we booked was scheduled to depart at 7:10am on Saturday and would arrive in NYC at around 9:30am.  That all changed when at 5am on that Saturday morning I turned on my cell phone to find a voicemail and email from Delta.  Our 7:10am departure time was rescheduled to 10:57am...Ugh!  This meant we would most likely not make it to the matinee of The People in the Picture which we had tickets to.

After debating if we really wanted to go on the later flight or just "scrap" the weekend since we would be there barely 2 days we decided to go for it and went to the airport for the 10:57am flight.  It turns out our flight crew came in the night before, but instead of arriving at 10pm they were delayed and didn't arrive until after 2am and they would not be "legal" to fly a 7am flight so the departure time was pushed back.

Once airborne the flight was uneventful and we landed at LaGuardia just after 1pm.  I had called Carmel Cars from home to let them know our arrival time had changed and once we were at baggage claim I called the car service and within 10 minutes our ride into the city arrived to pick us up.

We got to the hotel minutes before 2pm, which was also the time the matinee show started.  Not really wanting to race for the theater we made a change in plans.  The hotel room wasn't yet ready, so we stowed our bags with the bellman and walked a few blocks to Eataly to peruse the store.  We had been to Eataly last year only days after they opened and it was packed to the gills with shoppers.  This time it was crowded, but we could move about and breath much easier, no squeezing between the prosciutto and mozzarella for us this time!  After browsing and making a couple purchases we walked back to the hotel and checked into our room.

The double room at the Eventi was terrific.  We were on the 19th floor and although the view was not a breathtaking sweeping view of the city, it was nice, especially since it wasn't of a building millimeters away from us or an air shaft.  The room was compact but enough space for 2 of us.  It had 2 queen size beds, a closet with a safe, a desk/computer area and the bathroom was a very good size with a great shower.  The shower was a walk-in type with a rainfall shower head and a second more traditional wall mounted shower head, and the toiletries were not those little tiny bottles, but decent 3 ounce sized versions.  Oh yes, and a huge, by my standards, flat screen LG HD-TV (if that interests anyone)

We had an 8pm dinner reservation so we had plenty of time to kill and we decided to start with a visit to Macy's in Herald Square, which was just  a few blocks away.  Both mom and I love handbags and shoes, so our first stop was to check out the handbags, nothing really caught our attention.  We did saunter by the watch department since mom had been on a quest for a new watch.  Nothing was jumping out at her until one particular watch caught her attention, however after noticing the $2000 price tag we moved on to the shoe department.  Now, yes, the store was crowded, there were sales going on in every department, but the shoe department looked like a hurricane had just swept through it.  This however did not deter me and I did manage to find a pair of comfy sandals on sale for $25! 

Once the retail therapy session was over we decided it was time for a cocktail break.  Over to the Marriott Marquis in Times Square we went.  Yes the cocktails there are expensive, but it's a bit of a ritual for us to have a drink there because "back in the day" my parents used to stop there frequently on their jaunts into the city for shows, so in homage to my dad, we usually try to always stop and have a cool refreshing glass of wine.  And this time was were able to catapult ourselves over the masses and get a pretty decent table at the window overlooking Times Square.

Just around 7:30pm we left the Marriott and started walking to Basso 56 located on West 56th street, however I was not up for crawling through the throngs of people on Broadway so we scooted up 8th Avenue.  This worked out perfectly because when we got to 54th Street the theater where the show The People in the Picture was playing (it was at Studio 54, which is now a theater) was just a few doors down the street. 

Mom said lets see if we can trade-in the tickets from today's matinee for tomorrow's matinee.  I was doubtful because printed on the tickets was..."non-refundable/no exchanges".  So I did what any good daughter would do, I had mom go to the theater box office to beg and plead.!  This worked to our advantage and my shock when mom reappeared with a piece of paper containing a telephone number and directions for how to call the day of the performance and request general sitting tickets.  Now there was a glimmer of hope we would actually see this show.  We'd have to wait until 10am tomorrow to call, but we were feeling optimistic and off we went to Basso 56 for our 8pm dinner reservation.

I have to give a shout-out here to Fodorite BobTheNavigator.  I read his NYC trip report and saw he and some of the Fodors editors had dinner here when he was in town for the Fodors 75th anniversary party.  After reading his comments I googled the place and liked what I saw on their website and decided to book a reservation.  I am so glad I did...and Thanks Bob!

Even though we had a glass of wine at the Marriott, the aperol spritz on the drink menu looked good and our server (an adorable girl from Belarus) gave us the thumbs up saying it was lovely...boy was she right.  It was delicious and it went down a little too easily!  It's very refreshing with aperol, white wine, club soda, and ice and in this case a mint garnish...perfect way to start our Italian meal!

For a starter mom and I choose the scamorza cheese and it did not disappoint, we love the smokey flavor.  For our main dishes I had the potato encrusted bacala, it was delicious, but what I had envisioned was not what had come out of the kitchen.  The "potato encrusted" were homemade potato chips as the bottom layer the fish rested on and a chip on top of the fish.  Mom had the pasta with shrimp and asparagus and it was great.  We shared a bottle of Orvieto Classico wine and to finish the meal we each had an espresso and limoncello...our perfect Italian meal.  The price before tip and including the spritzes was about $120, pretty reasonable I think since we also had a bottle of wine.

We decided to walk back down to the hotel at a leisurely pace which took about 40 minutes.  We had been awake since 4am, so I think even before my head hit the pillow I was asleep!

On Sunday at the appointed 10am time we called the box office number we were given the day before at the theater to call about getting general admission tickets to the show.  We were told that we needed to show up at the box office at 12noon and would turn in our "old" tickets and get a number for the general admission line. 

We decided to go for a quick brunch at Bar Breton which is at 254 Fifth Avenue, just a few long (east/west) blocks from the hotel.  We were there by 10:30ama and had a really nice meal. I liked the interior of this place, long and narrow, with a bit of a funky vibe.  The food was good too I had the croquet madam and mom had a buckwheat gallette, how very French of us...we briefly stepped outside our Italian food bubble!  I have to say though, the cappuccino I had here was terrific too!  We didn't waste any time at the restaurant because we wanted to make sure we'd get to the theater by 12noon so we were finished our meal in about 45 minutes and off to the subway to head uptown.

We arrived at the Studio 54 box office at 11:45 and we were handed the first two numbers for the general admission line.  Our directions were to come back to the theater after 1:30pm and we would be allowed to enter, but we would have to stand at the back of the theater until 1:50pm when the ushers would begin seating the general admission tickets in the best available seats.  When this is done, you also have to be aware that if the ticket holders to the seats you've been given show up at some point during the performance the ushers will have to re-seat you.

With our numbers 1 & 2 in our hands, we head out and walk over to Columbus Circle to wander through the Whole Foods store there.  Mom is in search of pomegranate molasses, we couldn't find it there, so if anyone reading this knows where we can find some, let me know!  We also poked around some of the other shops in this shopping center and then realized we were getting thirsty, the temperatures were pretty warm in NYC that weekend!  So we made our way to one of the zillion Starbucks and had an iced tea.

At 1:30 we slurped our last bit of tea and walked back over to Studio 54 and went in to wait on the general admission line. True to their word they began seating us at 1:50pm and to my absolutely amazement we were seated in 3rd row orchestra, center.  In all my life going to Broadway shows I have never sat in the orchestra and center stage too boot!

I know this show, The People in the Picture, hasn't received stellar reviews, but both mom and I liked it. Donna Murphy was fantastic the way she cold morph between young Raisel and Bubbie, now that takes some skill.

The show ran about 2.5 hours and by 4:30pm we were filing out of the theater.  We had a 7:30pm reservation at Otto down in Greenwich Village at 1 Fifth Avenue, so we hopped on the subway and went down to the 4th Street stop.  We checked out a Barnes & Noble and they had the 2 books I was looking for that my home store didnt' have, so picked them up. Then I was on a mission to check out the 8th Street Wine Cellar, a wine bar I had read about.  Well, just my luck, on the Sunday before Memorial they were closed for the holiday.  This didn't deter me and I looked across the street and saw a place called Alma.

We walked across the street and took a peek in, there were only a few people inside but it looked inviting so we went in.  We liked the by the glass wine prices...$7 for a glass of sauvignon blanc.  The bartender was a young Japanese man in the USA to learn English.  Who would have thought I would be having a glass of wine in NYC chatting about sushi with the Japanese bartender in a Spanish restaurant before going down the street to have dinner at an Italian place?  No, wait, that is what NYC is all about, isn't it?

At 7pm we said goodbye to our Japanese bartender friend and walked the one block to Otto.  This is a Mario Battali/Joe Bastianich restaurant.  It's billed as an enoteca/pizzeria and I loved the place as soon as I walked in.  Maybe it was the European train station arrival/departure board behind the host stand that notified you when your table was ready or the openness of the bar area with the slab tables where you could stand and have a drink and some cheese and meat plates, or maybe it was the buzz that was emanating from the dinning room, it just seemed to be a happy place.

Since our reservation was for 7:30pm we were a little early so that lent itself to us checking out the bar area and lucky for us there were 2 empty seats.  I ordered a blood orange bellini that I would order again in a heartbeat!  Mom had a glass of wine and as we sipped and settled the bill our "city" appeared on the arrivals board which meant our table was ready.  It was time to eat!

Mom and I started with a meat and cheese plate.  We had 3 cheeses, a triple cream goat, a pecorino, and a fontina...otherwise known as a goat, a sheep and a cow!  We included a plate of fennel salumi with that to create a delicious way to start our meal.  All this was great but the crowning touch were the 3 "accompaniments" to the cheese, a plate of a few brandied cherries, a plate of apricots and the stunner and complete winner a plate of honey with shaved black truffles...Oh My God...I wanted to lift that plate and scoop the honey directly into my mouth, BUT I have to admit it was much better bathed over the cheeses.

Mom and I both had pasta dishes here.  I had the pasta alla norma with ricotta salata, it was a heaping plate of rich, deliciousness.  Mom had the "winner" plate, the house-made fresh pasta stuffed with goat cheese, it was so creamy...another plate licking dish.  We had a bottle of sauvignon blanc with the meal and to end things we each had an espresso and a limoncello.  I've got to say the limoncello here was excellent, it had almost a creamy quality to it.  And on another note, although we did not try any of the pizzas on the menu here, the tables around us that were served the pizzas, they looked great.

After dinner we hopped back on the subway and arrived near our hotel within a few minutes.  It was another blissful night of sleep in the terrific beds at the Eventi, Kimpton Hotel!

Monday morning rolled around all too soon.  Our flight was scheduled to depart just after 2:30pm, so I had arranged a car pick up for about 12noon.  We decided to head over to the East side for breakfast at Les Halles, yes the Les Halles of Tony Bourdain fame.  At 10am on Memorial Day Monday the place had very few customers. 

Mom and I decided to both have the gruyere omelet which is served with home fries.  Now, to know my mom you need to know that she is not a fan of home fries in any way, shape, form.  So, when they placed the plate in front of us, I thought, there is no way she will eat all those home fries....well, one taste and we were both digging in voraciously!  These home fries were sauteed in...guess...guess...guess...DUCK FAT!  Oh Wow!  I can only cringe at the thought of the number of calories ingested with that serving of home fries!

By 11am we had our fill of the outrageously delicious home fries and were walking (Thank God!) back to the hotel, with just enough time to toss our stuff in our bags, check out and get the car to the airport.

As usual, the trip to LaGuardia is always shorter than I think it will be and we arrived about 2 hours before our flight departed.  The Delta gate agents boarded our flight in plenty of time for the scheduled departure time and then we sat on the plane for an hour.  There was some mechanical problem that caused the delay, better safe than sorry I always say...I'll sit there if I know the problem is being fixed and it was and we arrived back home only about 45 minutes after the scheduled arrival time.

Another great weekend adventure for me and mom!

Marcy’s Asia Adventure

A trip of a lifetime begins... 3 weeks of travel spanning Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand.

The adventure starts in late February 2011 and ends in mid-March. It's a whirlwind trip beginning with dipping my toes into Hanoi and takes me to the far-off places of Hoi An, Hue and Saigon, in Vietnam. There is a too short stop in Siem Reap, Cambodia to ogle the grandeur of the temples at Angkor Wat. The finale takes me to Thailand, venturing into Chiang Mai and the metropolis that is Bangkok.

The people were welcoming, the food was fantastic, and the memories are priceless!

For a few years, Vietnam had been lingering on my mental “want to visit” list. It wasn’t at the very top, but it wasn’t at the very bottom either. A friend had mentioned interest in going there a few years ago, but we kept saying how expensive it would be, mind you, we never really took any big steps to find out what the actual cost would be, we just thought the airfare from the eastern USA would be exurbanite. Then a Fodorite friend went to Vietnam a couple years ago and I literally salivated over her photos and then when I read her blog about the trip, I knew I wanted to see Vietnam sooner rather than later.

I’m pretty well traveled throughout Europe, yet my only ventures into Asia up until now was a week long tour to Hong Kong 7 years ago and a 2 week trip to Turkey 4 years ago. Even with my self professed anal retentive travel planning attitude I will admit I was fairly intimidated to plan an “on-my-own” trip to Vietnam, so when a friend (RM) who coordinates small group trips for women sent an email about a 3 week trip to Vietnam, Cambodia & Thailand she was putting together, my interest was piqued and CL, my friend and travel buddy was also interested. We decided to go ahead and book the trip with RM. I will admit there are some positives and negatives about group travel, but the one thing I learned about myself, loud and clear, was that I could have easily planned this trip on my own. However, a plus was, all the “heavy lifting” planning was done for me, and to RM’s credit, we did stay at some fantastic hotels/resorts, probably much more high-end than I would have booked myself. A negative was there were some things I would have changed if I had done this on my own, but in the end, it was a great trip and it did to me, what all trips do to me…left me wanting more. More time to explore the culture, the food, the nature, and the people. Would I return to any of these counties? Yes, in a hot minute!

Here’s a little background on my friend RM: I met her several years ago during my Central Europe travels and found out she coordinates several trips a year with friends. It started out as a small circle of her friends going on the trips and over the years as these friends invited other friends and family members on the trips things started to grow and before she knew it, “Maiden Voyagers” was born. There are usually 2 domestic and 2 international trips planned each year, decided upon by the women who are in this group. And generally the trips average about 10-12 women.

Once the deposit was made it was time to start looking at airfare. I have become, what some may call obsessed, with accruing miles in my Delta Sky Miles account (I’m all about the miles baby!). I know I’ve heard from lots of people how terrible they think Delta Airlines is. However several years ago my airline options from Savannah, GA were slim, they are just now becoming slightly more varied, but back then Delta was the major player and I signed up for their Sky Miles program. Having now acquired gold elite status on Delta (which may not really mean a whole lot) I try to accrue miles with them or their partners as often as I possibly can, and I have been very fortunate to be reaping some upgrade benefits lately.

So the search for airfare to South East Asia begins. Since I know Korean Air is a Sky Team partner and I’ve heard a lot of good things about Korean Air and that is where I begin my focus. First I check out the online travel agencies. I find what I think are really good fares with the Delta/Korean Air combo.

Then I start researching the question, “if I book on an online travel agency will I be able to accrue the miles?” Because, lets face it, if I’m going to fly to the other side of the world to the tune of about 20,000 miles round trip, I better damn well accrue those miles! Well, I’m sure glad I did the research; turns out the really good fare I was looking at did not qualify for miles. That brought me very quickly back to the Delta website. I was able to find flights I wanted, I did have to compromise a bit on flight times but in the end, although I paid more than the “really good fares” at the online travel agency websites, I got not only the miles flown on the Korean Air outbound flight, but I got a 50% bonus mileage credit and yes, they counted towards my Medallion Qualifying Miles.

In the end I flew from Savannah, Georgia to Atlanta on Delta, from Atlanta to Seoul, South Korea and then Seoul to Hanoi, Vietnam on Korean Air. On the return I flew Delta (aircraft & crew) from Bangkok to Tokyo, Tokyo to Atlanta and Atlanta to Savannah. Let me tell you, getting the Tokyo to Atlanta flight was not easy, nor cheap, I could have flown for less if I flew from Tokyo to Seattle then to Atlanta and finally into Savannah, but I know how I am when flying home from a trip and the fewer connections I have the happier I am!

In preparation for this trip I did some research, but not early as much as I usually do. I did get the Lonely Planet Vietnam and Bangkok guidebooks, the Nancy Chandler maps for Chiang Mai and Bangkok (which I loved and was very happy I had with me), and of course I had consulted my Fodors family for their favorite restaurant picks in the places I would be traveling too, and they did not steer me wrong!

Although there were many meals included in the price of the trip, there were several days when meals were not included and then, as always, I wanted to make sure I had just the perfect place to recommend to the friends I was traveling with because after all, of the 9 of us traveling together about half really wanted to make our meals “count” if you know what I mean! It also helped that RM enjoys food and wine too and I was tickled when prior to the trip she had asked me to collaborate with her on some of the restaurant suggestions for group meals…yes my friends, we ate very well on this trip!

The last bit of pre-trip preparation was booking a hotel for 2 nights prior to meeting the group in Hanoi. Four of us going on this trip, me, my friend CL and our friends B & V decided we wanted to arrive in Hanoi a couple days before the tour started. This was one of the best decisions because in the end even with just having an extra day and a half in Hanoi it provided us the opportunity to see a little more of this incredibly interesting city, because once the group tour started, we were moving fast.

I could have easily made reservations at the hotel the group was booked into, but it was not within walking distance of the Old Quarter and after reading on Fodors about the Elegance Boutique hotels in Hanoi I knew exactly where I wanted to stay for the first 2 nights of this trip. I was able to book a deluxe twin, including breakfast for $75 per night and a pick-up at the airport for an additional $16. All the hotels we stayed at on this trip were good, but the Hotel Elegance Diamond was by far our favorite. The service was excellence, the room clean, spacious (roomier than I had expected), the breakfast was very good with a nice selection of eastern and western items and did I mention the staff, it’s worth repeating…the service was excellent. I was in the hotel business for 7 years and I have not experienced such terrific service for such a reasonable price.

And here’s where it all begins…

Saturday, February 26, 2011

When the alarm clock goes off at 3am I think to myself, “why did I book a 6:30am departure?” Then I remember how “antsy” I get at airports if I even feel the slightest bit of anxiety because of missing a plane. It’s my own paranoia and I’ve learned to live with it, and whoever I happen to be traveling with has to live with it too. Long layovers (at least 2 hours in my “book”) keep me calm and I’m sticking with it. Plus I know from previous experience once you buy that airplane ticket you are now at the scheduling mercy of the airline and more times than not when I thought I had plenty of time for a connection, times where adjusted and I was like the old Hertz TV commercials with OJ Simpson running through the airport…that is not going to make me happy and travel for me is about being happy.

CL and I are at the Savannah airport by 5am, car parked and bags checked. I was thrilled to have been able to check in on line the day before, because believe, me, when flying Delta and connecting on a code share partner that is not always the case. When I checked in on line I was delighted to find I had been approved for an upgrade on the Savannah to Atlanta leg, now a 30 minute flight in business class is not a big deal, but I do like having my bag tagged as priority.

The flight to Atlanta is uneventful and on time. We de-plane and by 7:30am we are having breakfast in the terminal. At 9am we proceed to the Korean Air gate and we are required to check in again with Korean Air to get Korean Air boarding passes and have our Vietnam visa checked.

The gate area begins to fill-up and I notice a rather large number of people traveling with children, who are now running around the gate area and I’m thinking, I sure do hope this exercise tires these kids out and it’s a peaceful 15 hour flight…my prayers were answered! I was pleasantly surprised to find that once on-board it seemed like there were no children at all on the plane.

I was happy to have done my research prior to selecting seats for the Atlanta to Seoul flight. The seats are in the 3-3-3 configuration, except for the last 2 rows, which were the 2-3-2 configuration. I was able to get the first row of 2 seats, so CL and I did not have to crawl over strangers to get out of our seats. We were able to board with the business class passengers thanks to the upgrade on the earlier Savannah-Atlanta leg and we settled in nicely. The seats felt slightly roomier than what I am used too. The entertainment system was great, so many movies to choose from! The flight attendants were extremely attentive, but what I noticed the most were the uniforms, a beautiful light blue and cream and white. It impressed me that they looked as fresh & crisp when we de-planed as when we boarded 15 hours earlier! The bathrooms were kept immaculately clean.

The food was good. We were served a meal about 2 hours into the flight, then a snack (a pork bun…yum!), and then 4 hours before landing we were served a second meal. For a 15 hour flight it was very comfortable. I would not hesitate to fly Korean Air again.

Sunday, February 27, 2011

At some point we crossed the International Date Line and it becomes Sunday. We land in Seoul at 5:30pm local time. To my surprise it takes only 15 minutes to de-plane. We go through transit security, which was a breeze, found our way into the main terminal and found the gate for the connecting flight to Hanoi.

Before long our friends B&V arrive at the gate for the Hanoi flight and within about an hour we begin boarding the plane. One word of caution for anyone planning to use ambien or another sleep aid for assistance sleeping on flight. V had ambient, CL was exhausted and said she really wanted to sleep on the 5 hour flight to Hanoi. V offered her one ambient and CL took it. I am not exaggerating when I say within minutes CL was slumped over in the chair at the boarding gate; it was quite a feat getting her up and onto the plane. Later, she said she felt drunk and she did not remember getting onto the plane. Please if anyone wants to use ambient, or any sleep aid during a flight I suggest using it while at home to see how it will affect you. CL was lucky nothing more serious happened; it would not have been a good start to the trip!

The flight lands in Hanoi a few minutes before 10pm. We went through passport control with no trouble and onto baggage claim. Wonder of wonders, my bag is the first on the baggage carousel. We wait a few more minutes and we all have our bags. We walk into the arrivals hall and the driver the hotel sent is there waiting for us. It takes about 45 minutes to get form the airport to the Hotel Elegance Diamond.

The Hotel Elegance Diamond greeting was terrific; we are greeted and presented with a cool refreshing juice drink and towel. It feels great to finally be at our destination. The lobby check-in is an easy process and we are shown to our room in no time at all. We got upgraded from a deluxe twin to a family room! There are fresh flowers in the room and bathroom. The room is spacious, and clean and most importantly the beds are extremely comfortable. Within minutes we are asleep!

Monday, February 28, 2011

It’s incredible how 8 straight hours of sleeping flat in a comfortable bed can make you feel so much better! I opened my eyes at 7am to gray skies and it stayed that way all day, fortunately there was no rain!

By 9am CL and I ambled up to the 12th floor restaurant to the breakfast buffet. The dinning room had nice views of the city in spite of the gray skies. There was a nice breakfast selection, not too overwhelming as we would find at future hotels. There were both western and eastern choices. My first taste of pho was here and I was not disappointed, but you do have to order the pho from the menu, it’s not on the buffet and if you prefer a half order that it not any trouble. I’m not sure if it was because it was the first “real” cup of coffee I had in a couple days, but the coffee here at breakfast was some of the best I’ve had (the best would come later in Hanoi). It had almost a chocolaty flavor and it was smooth. It was so good; I seem to recall having not 1, not 2 but 3 cups!

We had a very leisurely breakfast and after about 45 minutes B & V arrived in the dinning room. We sat for a bit longer chatting with them and then decided to meet in the lobby at 10:45 for our first Hanoi adventure.

During my pre-trip research I came across a company called Hidden Hanoi, I believe I found them through trip advisor. This company does cooking classes in Hanoi, but they also have a variety of market tours. I thought the Street Food walking tour sounded interesting and after consulting with CL, B & V we decided to go ahead and book the tour. At $20 per person for a 3 hour tour, I thought it was a pretty good deal, especially since the portions for tasting the food was very plentiful.

After a quick ATM stop the 4 of us piled into a taxi and went to the tour meeting spot. It was about a 10 minute taxi ride and the fare was $3.

The tour guide arrived on time and in addition to the 4 of us, there was a very friendly couple from Amsterdam, a total of 6 tour participants. The guide was very good; she is a former journalist and certainly knew her way around the neighborhood and market.

The tour started at a bun cha place, which I neglected to get the name of, however it was similar in atmosphere to another bun cha place (Dac Kim) we went to another day. The guide began the tour with some history of the street food culture of Hanoi and Vietnam in general and then talked more about specific dishes. The bun cha here was really good, I never imagined a soup could taste like a barbecue in a bowl, but this really did.

Once we were full of bun cha, we moved on to another street food vendor a few blocks away. I was so absorbed with watching all the activity going on around me, I failed to note the streets or general area we were walking through and if asked, I’d be very hard-pressed to give the location of the next stop on the tour, but the dish here was one of the more interesting. For lack of a better description it was a “dessert” soup, it was slightly sweet with black sesame and 2 little sweet buns floating on top, it was very good, yes there was slurping involved!

We then began a walk through a local covered market tasting all kinds of fruit along the way. Wow! There was some fascinating looking fruit that I had never seen before, some good, some not, but all very colorful. The final stop inside the market was for a delicious pork and green papaya dish, which was little more spicy than what I like, but the papaya was terrific. We finished off with a yogurt and fermented rice drink which was very tasty.

At 1:30pm the tour ended and we were not far from the Ipa-Nima store. This was the one and only must do on my list for Hanoi. Putting it mildly, I’m a handbag fanatic. During pre-trip research on trip advisor I stumble across a post about Ipa-Nima handbags and I became completely enamored. There are 2 stores in Hanoi which sell these handbags, one in the Old Quarter and the other is the flagship store at 34 Han Thuyen. Lucky for me the food tour ended near this street! It took about 10 minutes to find the street the shop was on and about 15 seconds to spot the lavender exterior of the shop with a rather large staircase leading up to the entrance. The interior of the shop matched the exterior, lots of plush purples. I took my time browsing since we were the only customers, in the end I purchased a couple new handbags and a couple cute change purses for my nieces (I couldn’t resist!). I had to refrain from purchasing the exquisite green python handbag; at the equivalent of $1000 it was a bit steep for my wallet!

After this bout of retail therapy we made a quick stop at the hotel and then CL and I went out to explore a bit of the Old Quarter and walking around Hoan Kiem Lake. Later in the afternoon CL and I met B& V on the hotel’s roof terrace for cocktails. B & V had arrived before we did and were chatting with another hotel guest who was in Hanoi on business, a very interesting man who had lived in the city for several years. The terrace is small but the views are pleasant.

At 7pm we walked to Restaurant Highway 4, we got a bit turned around on the way there, but within 10 minutes we righted our way and we were about 10 minutes late for our reservation. Earlier in the day I had asked the hotel reception to make a reservation there based on a recommendation I had for this place. What had appealed to me about this particular restaurant was the cuisine was said to be from the northern area of Vietnam, the area where Highway 4 leads. So, I thought it might be nice to try it since we wouldn’t be going to that part of the country. Another reason I wanted to try this place was because they offered a rice wine sampler. I’m not sure if I’ll be jumping at the next offer of rice wine, it wasn’t my favorite, but it was fun to give it a try and at least there were 4 different flavors!

We had 3 appetizers to share, the fried catfish spring rolls was the best part of the entire meal. The other 2 appetizers were grilled pigeon and a pork dish served with what we thought may have been fried crickets. The main dish we ordered was a steamboat, which is what this place is known for. The one we chose was the snakehead fish steamboat. When a propane burner was placed on the table we knew we were going to be in for an experience! After the burner arrived at the table a heaping dish with fresh herbs, a plate of noodles, a huge platter with a whole fresh fish and a pot of broth with vegetables were placed on the table. Now it was time to cook! The fish was good, very mild; the noodles had a slight “bite” to them. It wasn’t a bad dish, but it wasn’t fantastic, maybe we weren’t the best chefs, with that rice wine we were drinking! It was a fun experience and for $43 dollars for 4 of us, the price was reasonable.

After dinner we walked to the lake and found our way to the famous Fanny’s for ice cream and ended the night on a sweet happy note.

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Today was Hanoi Elegance Diamond Hotel departure day, sad to leave this great hotel, but excited to meet up with the rest of our group.

CL & I met B & V at 8:30am for breakfast and decided we would check out at 10am and move to the tour hotel, The Movenpick. We settled our hotel bill and took a taxi to the Movenpick. Our room wasn’t ready but we were able to store our bags and walked back to the Old Quarter for a nice wander around.

We poke around lots of little streets popping into shops that caught our interest and found St. Joseph’s Cathedral. The weather was nice and there was lots of activity in the streets which made for some great photo opportunities.



We passed a coffee shop with signs for weasel coffee and after a minute or 2 of convincing the girls we should try it, and some encouragement from the nice proprietress, we stopped for a cup. WOW! This weasel coffee was some really good stuff, very smooth, I loved it! The proprietress was very friendly and I thought I would ask if she knew where the Dac Kim Bun Cha place was. I had been keeping my eyes open all morning for this place and thought we were on the right street, but the street name I had in my notes and the street name posted were spelled differently, so I pulled out the address I had and showed it to our coffee lady. A big smile came across her face and she pointed us just down the street! How lucky were we that we had stumbled upon the right street.

We walked about 10 paces to Dac Kim and made our way through the crowded first floor to the back and up the stairs, past the 1st floor, past the 2nd floor, and finally at the 3rd floor we were told to sit. As we sat down, noodles were placed in front of us, then herbs, then broth, and then bowls with meat, there was so much food. And it wouldn’t have been a complete meal without some local beer, so we ordered 4 of those too. The food was delicious and the atmosphere was buzzing. We sat at a table next to a party of 6 adults and 2 small children. There was a French couple, a Vietnamese/French couple & their small children (the son of the French couple), and a couple from Hong Kong. What an interesting conversation we had. The French father was surprised to see 4 women traveling without spouses, and in his limited English he let us know how much he liked President Obama, the Vietnamese/French Couple lived in Hanoi and the French couple were here visiting them. They wanted to know about us and how long we would be in Vietnam, what we thought of the country and how long it took us to travel there among other things. It was one of the nicest lunches we had. And to be presented with a bill fro $15 total, for 4 of us, the price couldn’t be beat!

After lunch we walked to the Hang Be Market area and explored the market. By 2:30pm we were all getting a bit tired, it was starting to get warm out so we walked back to the Movenpick Hotel and checked in. The hotel is a typical business hotel, nice lobby, clean and spacious but it didn’t have the ambiance of the Elegance Diamond.

At 5pm we met RM in the lobby for a drink and got caught up with each others lives and the rest of the group trickled in. We left the hotel just after 6pm and walked to dinner at Wild Lotus restaurant. I really enjoyed this meal. The menu was set up with a variety of set menu options. CL and I chose to share set menu #4, the “Spice Journey”. We started with spicy shrimp soup, then a spring roll and a seafood/pineapple salad. The imperial steamed rice was fantastic with fresh peas and the best dish was eggplant (for those who know me, that will not come as a surprise, I love eggplant prepared just about any way!) with shrimp and meat. There was also a deviled soft shell crab tossed in there somewhere too! Dessert was a banana fritter with coconut ice cream. On a whole the meal was good, some dishes were hits, others misses, but he portions (even being enough for 2) were enormous. RM took care of ordering enough wine for the table and when we were finished, 9 happy travelers walked back to the hotel.

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

The breakfast buffet at the Movenpick has a very large variety of items to choose from. Everything from an eggs to order station to a pho to order station, bread, fruit, cheeses, we definitely didn’t lack for choices to start our day!

It was another gray day, but the temperature was much cooler. Today our group met our Hanoi guide, Nam. He would be our guide for the rest of the time in Hanoi and for our day visit to Halong Bay.

We left the hotel at 8:30am and went directly to Ho Chi Minh’s mausoleum. No cameras or bags are allowed inside, and make sure you don’t put your hands in your pockets either! We filed through to get a peak at the body of “Uncle Ho”. The mausoleum visit took about 15 minutes and then we were on our way to Ho Chi Minh’s stilt house and the one pillar pagoda by way of the Presidential Palace. The leafy area surrounding the house and palace was teeming with school children very eager to practice their English. We heard a lot of “Hello” and “Where are you from”, and not only were the children eager to talk but their teachers too.

At 10:30am we were whisked to the Ethnology museum. I really enjoyed the time spent here, and could have easily spent twice as much as the allotted one hour. Here’s where a drawback to group tours comes in, I found myself very interested in this museum and wanting to stay longer to explore more only to be faced with the ticking second hand of my watch telling me it’s time to meet back up with the tour group. My favorite parts of this museum were the replicas of homes of the various ethnic minorities.

After leaving the museum and before stopping for lunch we made a brief stop at a lacquer ware shop, and although interesting to see how this work is done, I would have much preferred to have spent the additional 30 minutes in the museum.

Lunch was a group event included in the tour and it was at Indochine Vietnamese Restaurant at 16 Nam Ngu Street in the Hoan Kiem District. Lunch here was very good, it was a 7 course meal and I neglected to write down the menu items, but I recall all seemed to be good, but nothing that stands our in my memory. I did decide to try a Hanoi Beer, which wasn’t a favorite of mine, but I’m not a beer enthusiast.

Once finished with lunch we took a stroll around Turtle Island at Hoan Kiem Lake and then to a Water Puppet Theater performance. The Water Puppets were fun to watch, well, what I could see of it, since the couple seated in front of me leaned forward for the whole performance (Grrrr!). However, I got the gist of the stories being told and it was entertaining to see. I was actually more curious about how the mechanics of it all works, so was keeping an eye more on the comings and goings of the puppeteers I could see rather than the puppets!

After the water puppets we did a cyclo tour of the Old Quarter, yes it was touristy, but it was a fun way to see the “action” of the city. It was quite a feeling being in the midst of all the traffic! My cyclo driver was at the front of our group in the beginning but about half way through he stopped to get a bun from a sidewalk vendor. I made a mental note to try and remember where the vendor was, since I figured if the driver was stopping to eat here it might be pretty good, alas, my time in Hanoi was too short, I never got back to that area and frankly, I’m not so sure I’d be able to find that vendor again!

The cyclo tour ended right back at the Movenpick hotel and we had plenty of time to relax before dinner. What eventually became an evening ritual throughout the trip CL & I met B & V at the lobby lounge for pre-dinner drinks and we met the rest of our group at 6:30pm for dinner.

Tonight’s dinner was arranged through Nam our guide at Ha Hoi Restaurant at 4 Ha Hoi Street. This was even better than lunch. The meal started with an excellent cream of pumpkin soup and according to my notes from that evening “too many courses to remember, but definitely a solid meal”. One of the things I do clearly remember was that we had an first-rate Chilean sauvignon blanc wine for dinner…of course I can’t remember the name of that either, darn, I knew I should have taken a picture of the label!

Thursday, March 3, 2011

Today was a long day with an 8am start and a 4 hour drive to (and from) Halong Bay on a highway that went through what seemed to be every town between Hanoi and Halong Bay. It was interesting to see the country-side with the farmers working in the rice paddies. The weather was gray and very cloudy and by the time we reached the dock in Halong Bay at 12:30pm the rain had started.

We boarded a private junk for the trip around the bay and a visit to a cave. Even though I was disappointed with the gloomy weather in retrospect it worked out really well, I was able to take some ethereal pictures, with boats moving through the foggy, cloudy, rainy surroundings.

On the junk we had a huge seafood lunch including fresh fish, shrimp, and calamari. All was good, but nothing outstanding or remarkable. The boat ride lasted just under four hours and by 4pm we were back at the dock and on the bus for the four hour ride back to Hanoi. On the ride to Hanoi we saw an awful head-on collision between a truck and a public bus. Road conditions seem a bit harrowing.

Just before 8pm we were back at the Movenpick Hotel in Hanoi and had dinner at the hotel. They provided a huge selection on a pre-fix menu of Vietnamese dishes, all were good, but the green papaya and beef salad “sang” to me on this night. It was delicious.

It had to be an early night because it would be a very early departure the next morning. We would be leaving Hanoi and flying to Danang and we were booked on a flight departing at 8am. This meant we had to leave the hotel at 6am.

As much as I really enjoyed seeing Halong Bay I wouldn’t do it as a day trip from Hanoi again. It just felt like a much too rushed day.

I noted a few impressions and observations about Hanoi in my journal and they were:

1.) Motorbikes are everywhere

2.) The cars I did see were larger than I thought they would be, much larger than typical cars I see when traveling in Europe.

3.) Life really does take place out on the streets

4.) Prices are VERY reasonable by my Western standards

5.) The food was excellent

6.) The people were extremely friendly

Friday, March 4, 2011

There was a 4:30am wake-up call and our whole group was in the hotel lobby by 6am, a pretty amazing achievement for 9 women! Our guide Nam was there and ready with boxed breakfasts for the ride to the airport. Let me say that after 3 guides in Vietnam, 1 in Siem Reap and 2 in Thailand, Nam was the best we had. He was funny, knowledgeable and was able to keep all of us fascinated and engaged. His “story” was interesting too. He is educated as a lawyer and taught English to other Vietnamese, but he soon realized practicing law was not as profitable as being a tour guide, so he went to school for 2 more years to become a licensed guide. Its stories about people’s lives that I love to hear while traveling and Nam was a terrific ambassador for us.

We arrived at the airport around 7am and check-in for the Vietnam Airlines flight to Danang was easy. The flight left on time at 8:10am and I was impressed with Vietnam Airlines. The planes seemed new, the flight attendants were friendly and we had smooth (and short) flights with them.

At 9am we arrived in Danang and all our bags arrived with us. After collecting our luggage we walked to the arrivals area and met our guide for Hoi An and Hue, her name was Tien. She took us to the Cham Museum in Danang and maybe because I had been up since the crack of dawn, I found this museum just mildly interesting and honestly I can’t remember much about it. After the museum we stopped at Marble Mountain and about half of the group, including me, “hiked” up the 100 steps to the temple, cave and pagoda at the top of the mountain.

By noon we were driving to Hoi An with a quick stop at China Beach and lunch at Goda Restaurant in Hoi An. The food at Goda was very good and there was a lot of variety and I got to try a new beer here. This time is was La Rue beer; I liked it more than Hanoi beer.

When we were finished with lunch it was time to check in at the Palm Garden Resort. This was a lush ocean-side resort with lovely facilities. The only drawback in my mind was that it was 4km from the center of Hoi An. There was a resort shuttle but the times were inconvenient for us, but taxis were not too expensive.

The pool here was the perfect answer to our hot, sweaty bodies, so after getting to our room and changing into swimsuits it was time for a little relaxation. I could tell the temperature was higher than in Hanoi and the cool water was refreshing after a day of travel.

At 6pm CL and I met some of our travel companions at the hotel lounge for cocktails and then dinner at the resort’s seafood barbeque buffet. The selection was enormous and all the seafood looked very fresh and the local specialty, Cao Lau was being made to order. I gave the Cao Lau a try and put the hot sauce on this noodle and pork dish. I should have known better since I’m really not a spicy food lover, but I really wanted to try it and one of my promises to myself was to make sure I tried new things all the time on this trip. One bite and YAWOW! Its was SPICY! But it was good! Part way through our cocktail hour I started to develop a headache and after trying the Cao Lau and trying to be good company, I could barely hold my head up anymore, so I excused myself, and slid out back to the room. Boy did I sleep well, I think I was asleep before 9pm, but it had been a long day.

Saturday, March 5, 2011

After some much needed sleep, I awoke refreshed and ready to go. The breakfast buffet was another huge affair with similar items to the breakfast buffets in Hanoi. Part of the dining room was outside on a covered porch and being early enough in the morning it was pleasant to have breakfast outside. By late morning the sun came out and the day was a near perfect weather day, except if you don’t like heat. I didn’t find it to be too terribly hot, but I live in coastal South Carolina where humidity in the summer can top 99%, some of the others traveling on this trip who were from other parts of the US were having trouble coping with the heat here in Hoi An.

The day began with a walking tour of Hoi An, where we saw the Chinese Temple, an ancient house, and the Japanese Bridge. We also walked through the market, which I thought was the most interesting part of the tour; it was very crowded and bustling. We had several hour of free time where we could wander about town checking things out ourselves. During this time I found Morning Glory Restaurant and stopped in to make a reservation for dinner later tonight.

By 1pm we met up with the rest of our group for lunch and as usual it was a pre-fix menu with lots of different foods to try. I neglected to write down the lunch menu and can’t recall any of the specifics, but I don’t remember anything that was inedible!

After lunch we boarded a boat to cruise the Thun Bo River and went to a local village to see wood carvers, and some other local artisans. We also got to see a lot of local fishermen. Being on the river was a great way to keep cool and see some of the life that goes on in and around the river.

By 4:30pm we were back at the hotel for a short rest. Dinner was on our own tonight and when I made the reservation earlier in the day I made it for 4. CL and I met B & V in the cocktail lounge at the resort for pre-dinner drinks and then took a taxi into Hoi An, the taxi fare was about the equivalent of $5.

I have to take a moment to thank Fodorites Kristina, EKscrunchy and Marilyn for the recommendation for Morning Glory…you were all spot on! We loved this meal. When I made the reservation I specially asked to be seated upstairs on the little balcony and I’m so glad I did, it was slightly cooler there than inside the restaurant.

We had a bottle of house chardonnay and started with the white rose dumplings and the pork & shrimp pancakes. Both dishes were excellent. We also ordered the stir-fry morning glory with garlic, eggplant cooked in a clay pot, the local pork noodle dish and braised beef and peas. All the food was absolutely delicious. We ordered the Hoi An waffle with Hoi An ice cream for dessert. The waffle was great, lots of cinnamon flavor. I had the coffee with milk and it was served with the tin filter and dripped through at the table. It was delicious, but I paid for it by not being able to sleep well that night! For all this food the bill was about the equivalent of $50. A taxi back to the hotel and we called it a good night.

Sunday, March 6, 2011

We had an early-ish departure from Hoi An today and left the hotel at 8:30am to drive to Hue. The drive took about 4 hours and we drove over the Hai Van Pass. It was a beautiful clear day and the views from the pass were fantastic.

By 12:30 we arrived in Hue and had lunch at the Tropical Restaurant, it was another multi-course meal and I had my first glass of Vietnamese iced tea with lemon and sugar, it was delicious, not too sweet.

After lunch we toured the Citadel. Tien, our guide, is from Hue and along with guiding tours of central Vietnam she is also a guide at the Citadel, and she was very informative. While touring the Citadel complex we visited the theater there and got to see a traditional dance show, yes, a bit touristy, but it was cooler inside the theater.

When we were finished at the Citadel we went to the Thien Mu Pagoda and were able to see many of the monks and novices studying at the pagoda. Then we took a much anticipated to dragon boat ride on the Perfume River, finally a cool breeze! It had been stifling hot.

By 6pm we were ready to check into the Pilgrimage Village, a resort about 7 kilometers from the center of Hue. This was a beautiful property with great amenities, the swimming pool was gigantic and well maintained, and the spa was very relaxing. The room was huge with a luxurious bathroom, sleeping and sitting areas and a balcony. And the free wi-fi was another plus!

This evening was my least favorite meal of the whole trip. The tour guide had arranged our meal to be a kitschy “Royal Dinner” including wanting us to dress in empress costumes. I am so not a “joiner” and this was not anything I would have planned myself, but I went along with it and after entering the private dining room the “costume” (a coat/dress “get-up”) came off. There were local musicians playing throughout the meal, and they were pretty good. The food was also the weakest of the trip, except for the fried calamari which was very good.

After this “entertaining” meal, I was ready to call it a night and we were back at the hotel by 10pm.

Monday, March 7, 2011

It was a leisurely morning and the best way to start the day was with a spa treatment, well, after breakfast of course!

Breakfast was in the beautiful resort restaurant with large windows so the resort surroundings could be seen from every table. The breakfast buffet was similar to the others we’ve had so far, a big variety of both eastern and western choices.

At 9am I was ready for my spa treatment. I arrived at the spa about 30 minutes before the treatment and used the hot and cold tubs, the steam room and sauna. The tubs were outside under a thatched roof structure, the whole spa area was outdoor luxurious. Before I knew it the therapist came to get me and took me for a coffee rejuvenation exfoliation massage. Wow! It was the first time I’d had such a treatment and at first the coffee exfoliant felt odd, but after a few minutes the coarseness felt good against my skin. After showering off the coffee exfoliant my skin felt incredibly soft, ok and I smelled like my favorite coffee drink too!

By noon we were packed up and ready to move onto our next destination, but first we’d make a stop for lunch and to see the Imperial Tomb of Minh Mang, a complex of courtyards, pavilions and temples. By the time we arrived at the tomb a light rain started and had to see the tomb complex through some rain drops, but it was a lovely natural setting with lots of trees and lakes.

3pm came quickly and we were back on the bus for the ride to the Hue airport. We had a 5pm flight to Saigon on Vietnam Airlines and just as we entered the airport the skies opened and the rain started pouring sideways. We say our good-byes to Tien, our guide and go through security to the waiting area. Due to the weather there was a 30 minute delay.

We land in Saigon at 6:30pm make our way to baggage claim and find our Saigon guide, Kai within 30 minutes and then we are off to the Renaissance Riverside Hotel. The hotel is lovely, similar to the Movenpick in Hanoi, it has a business/corporate feel to it, but the staff is very friendly and quick to assist with any request.

Dinner was on our own tonight, but RM had the name of a restaurant I really wanted to try, nha hang ngon, and she had the guide make a reservation for us there. Six of us went and really enjoyed the meal. The restaurant was not very far from the hotel, about a 10 minute taxi ride. The restaurant is an indoor/outdoor set-up with food stalls around a center courtyard. In hindsight we should have walked around and looked at everything available. The menu, although in English, is gigantic and it was little difficult to decipher everything on it. We did end up with some pretty tasty food, fried squid, chicken skewers, stir fried spinach and fried spring rolls. 3 in our group had the local beer. I really wanted to try the Dalat wine so the other 3 in our group had a bottle. It wasn’t too bad.

After dinner we all piled into a tax and went back to the hotel, the taxi fare, was just over $1. CL and I decided to stop for an after dinner drink at the 5th floor atrium lounge before calling it a night.

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Breakfast at the Renaissance Riverside Hotel is another huge buffet. So much to choose from, and the service is excellent, including complimentary offerings of a mango smoothie, yum!

There was a group dinner planned for tonight, but CL and I decided since we didn’t have much time in Saigon we would “bail out” of the group dinner and try a restaurant that was recommended to me. I can’t swear, but I may have found this restaurant recommendation through the Fodors message boards, but since I looked at so much stuff pre-trip my memory is starting to fade on the specifics. Before heading out with the group this morning I stopped at the concierge desk and ask them to make a reservation for me and CL at Tuan’s.

Just after 8am we boarded our mini bus and headed for the Cu Chi Tunnels. Kai, our guide gave us a good overview of the tunnels on the drive there and it was interesting to hear the history of these underground tunnels. We were offered the opportunity to shimming down one of the tiny openings in the ground, but we all passed on that, I’m not sure if I would have even fit, let alone my dislike of really confined spaces.


There were some interesting exhibits in the area surrounding the tunnels, a woman making rice paper, a man making sandals from truck tires, we stopped and had a taste of tapioca root, which tasted (oddly, to me) like peanut butter.

By noon we were on our way to lunch, which was a typical uneventful lunch stop with another 7 course menu.

In the afternoon we drove back to Saigon and visited the Reunification Palace. It was interesting to see the rooms furnished as they had been in the 1960’s/1970’s. We also made a stop at the War Remnants Museum, where we were given an hour to look around. Lots of propaganda, which our guide told us in advance we would see and I found to be mildly interesting, but I drew the line at visiting the agent orange room, I couldn’t stomach the pictures in that room, just too heartbreaking for me.

By the late afternoon we were ready for a stop at the local market, and it sure was a sprawling place. With just 30 minutes to peruse the place, I didn’t get to see much, lots of tourist “tat”, but I did buy myself a set of chopsticks since during the trip I’ve been mastering the art the eating with them, and in theory I wanted to practice at home.

At 5pm we were back at the hotel and when we arrived in our room found a note from the concierge saying our reservation at Tuan’s had been made. By 6pm CL and I found our way to the lounge for a pre-dinner cocktail and about an hour later we were off in a taxi to dinner.

One of the things that intrigued me about the description I read of Tuan’s was that it was down an alley, behind a wooden door with only a tiny sign showing the restaurant’s name, just my kind of place!

Even with the correct address, it took the taxi driver 2 passes to determine we were at the right alley. We got out of the taxi and walked down the alley, passing motorbikes and apartment buildings, one with someone playing the piano. It made for quite an atmosphere. Thank goodness I knew to look for a wooden door, because as we walked further and further down the alley my anticipation started to dwindle until I saw a big wooden door.

We opened the door into a small garden courtyard with several occupied tables, and I thought, ok, this is looking promising. We went inside and were seated at a table, there were no other patrons inside, which at first concerned me, but the tables outside were occupied and within 30 minutes the inside tables were occupied too.

We were the only English speaking customers and the menu had vague English translations, which is always fun to interpret the meaning. But, fortunately with the recommendation I had for this place, I also had specific menu items to try. According to my notes, this place is known for their Hanoi style dishes. The first dish we ordered was the spring roll with crab which came with vermicelli noodles and herbs, this was by far the best dish of the night, and in the top 5 of the trip, I would have been happy to stop there, and probably should have. But we also ordered a chicken dish that was delicious, it had almost a perfume flavor and the chicken was so tender it fell right off the bone with barely any help from a fork. The last dish we had was a mussels, tomato & dill soup, which was the weakest of the 3 dishes, it was bland and after the other 2 dishes, it just didn’t hold up in the flavor category. With 2 of the local 333 beers the total bill was about $21.

The proprietress could not have been nicer and walked us out to the main street at the end of the alley and helped us hail a taxi. We were back at the hotel within 10 minutes and took a short walk around the neighborhood the hotel is located in. A very bustle area with lots of shops and galleries. Before calling it a night, we ventured up to the top floor where the outdoor pool and lounge is located and took in the fabulous views of night-time Saigon.

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Today was another good weather day, warm, but not too terribly hot and it was sunny. We left the hotel at 8am for a one and half hour bus ride to the Mekong Delta.

Our first stop along the way was at the Vinh Trang Pagoda which is a beautiful temple and had one of my favorite Buddha’s of the whole trip. It was an enormous happy Buddha, just sitting there, with a big smile on his face holding his prayer beads, every time I think of it, I smile too!

We made our way to the boat we would board to explore the Mekong Delta. We stopped at 2 of the 4 islands in the area to see local villagers making coconut candy, and explore the waterways. The boat ride lasted about two and a half hours and it was refreshing to be out on the water.

All too soon we were back on our way to Saigon, we stopped for lunch at the Mekong Rest Stop, a huge restaurant complex, clearly geared to tour buses, but the local fish dish served “standing up” between sticks, was then served rolled in rice paper was really very good.

By late afternoon we were back at our hotel in Saigon and did a little retail therapy in the area around the hotel. Dinner tonight was a group event at the hotel’s international buffet and happily the food was excellent. As much as I hate to admit it, after 10 days I was ready for some non-Vietnamese food, it was kind of nice to slip in a few Italian items for dinner tonight.

After dinner it was time to pack my bags, this would be the last night in Vietnam, we are moving onto Siem Reap in the morning.

Thursday, March 10, 2011…Goodbye Vietnam, Hello Cambodia

We had a late morning flight (11:40am) from Saigon to Siem Reap, Cambodia. The flight departed on time and lasted a short 45 minutes. We arrived on time and after a lot of stamping of visas and passports at the passport control desk we were through and at baggage claim. We met our guide, Tee, piled into a minivan and went directly to the hotel, The Victoria Angkor Resort and Spa.

After a quick freshen up we stopped for lunch and then onto our first temple experience in the Angkor Wat complex. Our first glimpse of the temple complex was at Preah Khan, also know as the Jungle Temple. All I can say is “Wow”. The carvings in the temples are beautiful and only a warm up to what we will see in the next day. Once we had sufficiently explored the Jungle Temple it was time for us to climb a nearby mountain trail and view a sunset over the Cambodian countryside.

Tonight we had dinner at The Khmer Kitchen and this was one of my favorite meals. It’s a very laid back place and the food was good. I had fried eggplant with pork, RM had the same dish but with shrimp and J had a noodle dish. The three of us shared our entrees with a bottle of Chilean white wine and the total bill was $14, unbelievable!

When we were finished with dinner, 4 of us went to the night market to poke around and see what it was all about. It was fun and we did a little bargaining for some souvenirs. We then had our first Siem Reap Tuk Tuk experience going back to the hotel, it was a quick 10 minute ride.

Friday, March 11, 2011

We had an early start today, 7am, but we didn’t mind because it meant arriving at Angkor Wat before the big crowds and before it got really hot. It was really the perfect time to go. We had the light with us as we entered from the east, perfect for picture taking.

The complex was truly grand and we spent about an hour walking about and climbing to the top. We then visited Angkor Thom and entered the area via the causeway lined with statues of demons and gods. Then next stop was the Bayon Temple with hundreds of carved bas reliefs. We wound our way up to the top for a good look at all the giant stone faces. Our last temple of the day was about a 45 minute drive away, this was the Banteay Srei Temple. By the time we arrived there is was close to noon time and it was becoming brutally hot. It was a lovely pink sandstone temple, smaller than the others we had visited, but seemed to have much more delicate carvings, well; at least to my eye they seemed more delicate. One disadvantage to being there at mid-day was the angle of the sun. I’m sure at sunrise or sunset this temple must project a stunning pink glow.

On the return to the hotel we stopped for lunch and by 2:30pm we were back at the hotel and I was ready for a swim in the pool and a bit of lounging around on the pool deck. It was a great way to beat the heat and I decided to take advantage of the spa at the resort and booked a facial for the next day.

At about 6pm CL and I headed for the resorts outdoor cocktail lounge and thoroughly enjoyed our pre-dinner cocktails while listening to possible the worst Jimmy Buffet impersonator/musician ever!

Just before 7pm we met the rest of the group in the lobby for dinner at Viroth’s. Our group grabbed several Tuk Tuks that were in front of the hotel for the short ride to the restaurant. I really liked this restaurant a lot; it was a fairly upscale place with outdoor dining. There were lots of candles and comfortable tables and chairs.

Our server was fantastic and patient with all us women! We had a couple bottles of Chilean white wine (hmmm…I think there is a pattern with this Chilean white wine!) and between 6 of us we had 2 orders of green papaya salad, which was fantastic, for a starter. I had the sautéed eggplant with pork, which was similar to the dish I had the night before at the Khmer Kitchen, but if I’m being honest, the Khmer Kitchen version was my favorite. CL had a cashew chicken dish that was excellent and I can’t remember what everyone else ordered, but it was all delicious. There were also more diverse desserts here, so we had 3 orders of Bananas Foster, a chocolate mousse cake and a chocolate ice cream sundae…decadent, but terrific!

After dinner our Tuk Tuk driver, who was the sweetest young man ever, found us and took us to Pub Street. My mission was to have a drink at Linga Bar, now you may be asking, why would I want to try this place? It turns out the owner and I worked together years ago in one of the hotels I worked out and even though he was out of town on the night I was “kicking my heels up” in Siem Reap, I still wanted to patronize his place. All of us who had been at dinner were up for the outing and we had a great time sitting outside watching the action pass us by on Pub Street. And the cocktails at Linga Bar were great too!

By now we were fortified and ready to hit the night market again and this time my target was to experience a fish “foot massage”. Maybe it’s corny, but I was dying to try this and for the price of $1 I was willing to give it try. The first minute or so felt really weird, having these fish nibble my toes, but after 2 minutes it felt great.

By 10:30pm we were ready to call it a night and pulled our feet out of the fish tank and made our way to the entrance of the night market area where our Tuk Tuk driver was waiting for us! Within a few minutes we were back at the hotel and ready to get a good night’s sleep.

Saturday, March 12, 2011

Today began with a leisurely morning including an abundant breakfast buffet and then one final spa treatment of the trip. A facial at the resort spa, yes it was $45 and for Siem Reap, that was pricey, but at home I couldn’t come anywhere near a $45 facial.

By noon our group was gathered in the lobby and ready for the ride back to the airport for the flight to Chiang Mai via Bangkok. The line at check-in wasn’t too long, but it seemed to take forever to get to the front. Once I got my Bangkok Air boarding pass the next stop was to pay the $25 exit tax and then a security check. The waiting room at the Siem Reap airport was large, bright and there was free wi-fi (bonus!).

Our 2pm flight to Bangkok took off on time and we arrived at 3pm, in plenty of time for the connecting flight to Chiang Mai. At the Bangkok airport we went through passport control, stopped at an ATM to get Baht and by 5pm we boarded the flight to Chiang Mai.

We arrived in Chiang Mai just after 6pm to gray skies and rain. We met our guide, Jum and climbed into a huge 50 seat bus (there were only 9 of us) and drove to the Shangri-La Chiang Mai, our home for the next two nights. The hotel was sleek, clean, comfortable and not too far from the night market.

Just before 8pm we met in the hotel lobby and took a songtaew (red truck) to The Antique House Restaurant. This was a great choice. I had my first taste of Chang beer here and proclaimed it, “not too bad”. We started the meal with a thuong thong appetizer, which was a fried wonton with pork. For my main dish I had pork, green, and yellow peppers, onions and cashews served in a tarrow bowl with rice. I LOVED this dish, it wasn’t too spicy, but had just the right kick for me.

We took a songtaew (red truck) back to the hotel and this was a fun experience. We had a tough time communicating with the driver at first, but after showing him the hotel’s business card and asking some other locals the right direction to go in, we were on our way and back to the hotel in no time at all. I learned a valuable lesson, if the hotel’s business card is not in the local language have one of the hotel staff write the name and and address in the local language.

Sunday, March 13, 2011

We spent the morning at the temple of Doi Suthep in the mountains around Chiang Mai. The temple was a beehive of activity; there were worshipers, tourists and a group of children musicians and dancers performing.


After taking in the temple, with fantastic views, by the way, we visited a Hmong Hill Tribe village and the rustic museum in the village. There was a lot of craft shopping at the village.

The afternoon was dedicated to shopping for those who wanted to go. There were stops at a jade factory, a silk shop, a silver workshop and a parasol factory. Since this was a Sunday we were able to checkout the Sunday market in Chiang Mai. Here, there was a lot of handicrafts and a lot of tourist “tat”, but I did find a terrific mango wood bowl and teak belt that I couldn’t leave.

For dinner we took another songtaew (red truck) to the Gallery Restaurant for another fantastic meal. This restaurant is in a very pretty setting, right on the river and we had a table right on the river. I had the most delicious white snapper with spicy (but I did ask for less spicy and glad I did, for my taste) mango salad, the salad was really flavorful.

After dinner several of us headed over to the night market to see what was on offer there. It was fun to walk through the labyrinth of stalls and see all the bargaining going on.

Once back at the hotel it was time to get suitcases ready for our departure from Chiang Mai tomorrow. I was sorry we didn’t have more time in Chiang Mai, I really liked what I saw there and would like to go back and explore more.

Monday, March 14, 2011

This morning we checked out of the Chiang Mai Shangri-La and went directly to the Mae Sa Elephant Camp. This was the most fun I’ve had in a long time. Feeding the elephants, watching them bathe, perform sports tricks, and even paint was a delight. I can’t help but smile when I look at an elephant and the best part of the time at the elephant camp hadn’t even happened yet.

We were able to do a one hour elephant ride. At first climbing on top of the elephant was a little daunting, but after the 5 minutes I relaxed and enjoyed my time. CL and I rode on the same elephant and our mahout was Dang, a young man with a quick and friendly smile. Our elephant was Ood (pronounced like Ott). Dang the mahout was 20 years old and our elephant was 21. Dang had been working with Ood for about 3 years. We lumbered up a mountain trail and then down into a creek. We even got to see a baby elephant.


After the elephant adventure we stopped for a visit at a village of long neck people and then had lunch at an orchid farm. We ended our time in the Chiang Mai area with a visit to the Tiger Kingdom. A visit here seemed like an interesting idea, but once in the large cage (we visited the “baby” tigers) with the 3 medium sized tigers, I just didn’t feel good about this visit. Yes, the “promo information” says the tigers aren’t drugged, but these animals seemed docile to me, but then again, I’m not a huge animal person. Honestly, I couldn’t wait for our visit here to end.

By 5pm our guide, Jum, took us back to the Chiang Mai airport for our Bangkok Air flight back to Bangkok. The flight departed on time at 7pm and we landed in Bangkok just after 8pm. By the time we retrieved our bags, met our guide and drove into the city we were checking into the Bangkok Shangri-La Hotel at about 10pm. The hotel is beautiful and right on the river. There are several restaurants, lounges, shops, a spa and very inviting pool area.

It had been a long day so we got a quick bite and glass of wine at the hotel bar and I was asleep just before midnight.

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

None of the hotel breakfast buffets so far on this trip prepared me for what I’d experience at the Bangkok Shangri-La Hotel. This breakfast buffet was served in the restaurant that looks out on the river and the selection on offer is vast. There was an absurd amount of choices, eastern, western, made to order items. You could eat here for breakfast and never need another meal that day, not that I did that!

We met our guide at about 8:30am and spent the morning touring the Golden Buddha Temple, the Wat Po complex where the reclining Buddha is, and the Marble Temple. My favorite was seeing the reclining Buddha, it’s absolutely massive!


After a morning of temples we spent some time walking through a flower market and a vegetable market. I really enjoyed the flower market, it was so colorful! We then took a boat across the river for lunch at the Supatra River House. Lunch was excellent. Then we took a long boat and cruised around the klongs which gave us a glimpse of river life.

By 3pm we were done with touring for the day and took a much needed swim in the pool with a “side” of frozen strawberry margarita! I loved the pool here and for the first time in my life experienced a pool “host”. As CL and I walked into the pool area we were greeted by a staff member asked if there would be 2 of us and if we wanted to sit in the sun or shade…Wow…that was a first for me.

After our cool and refreshing time at the pool, I was pretty much a wet noodle and by 6pm a rain storm with lighting had started, which didn’t make the thought of going out to dinner very attractive, so CL and I choose to stay at the hotel and have a light bite at the hotel’s Italian restaurant.

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Today was our last day in Bangkok, and again, I was only barely scratching the surface of this city. It was a perfect weather day, cool, with a little cloud cover so it wasn’t unbearably sunny.


We started again at 8:30am for a visit to the Grand Palace and Temple of the Emerald Buddha. All were magnificent and jaw-dropping beautiful. This was another favorite place for me on this trip. The palace was fairly crowded in the morning, but the throngs coming in when we were leaving in the late morning were even larger.

By noon we were back at the hotel and had the rest of the day on our own until our final group dinner. After a quick pit stop at the hotel 5 of us took the Sky Train (so easy to navigate), from just outside our hotel door to the stop for the Jim Thompson House.


I am really glad I listened to a recommendation from friends who had been to Bangkok before to go here. I really enjoyed my time here. Not only is the house (which is a complex of several houses) lovely, but the garden, although small is very nice. Jim Thompson’s art collection was really interesting to see and the story of his life is even more interesting. Prior to going on this trip I had read a book about his life and that just increased my desire to see this house.

We arrive close to 1pm and the English guided tour was just about to start. The tour is about 35 minutes and covered some of Jim Thompson’s history and showed a small amount of his massive art collection.

After the tour we stopped in the café on site and had a short lunch break. The food was really quite good there and the atmosphere very inviting. We also browsed in the shop at the house and I came home with 2 beautiful silk pillow covers and a gorgeous silk handbag.

It was a short Sky Train ride back to the hotel and I had 2 hours to re-pack and organize my bags. Tomorrow CL and I would be departing very early.

Just before 7pm we met the group in the hotel lobby for our final dinner. RM had been keeping this a surprise and she led us out of the hotel and across the street to a boat dock. But it just wasn’t any old boat dock, it was the boat dock for The Peninsula Hotel. We were about to have dinner at Thiptara, the Thai restaurant at The Peninsula. What a treat, this was an outdoor restaurant right on the river with fantastic views and food! Our server was adorable and we had our own covered table area, it was the perfect night to dine outside.

A couple hours rolled by and soon we were finished with our spectacular meal and took the boat back across the river to the dock at the Shangri-La. We said our good-byes to all of our travel companions, because CL and I would be the first two to depart in the wee hours.

Thursday, March 17, 2011

At 1:45am the alarm goes off…yes, we are on a 5am flight from Bangkok to Narita. By 2:50am CL and I are packed and on our way to the lobby to meet our guide who will take us to the airport. Surri, the guide is there waiting for us, bless her heart, at this ungodly hour! We turn in our room keys and get a boxed breakfast the hotel has prepared for us, it was great by the way!

By 3am we are racing towards the airport with hardly any other cars on the road, 3am is clearly the best time to drive to the Bangkok airport! We have our bags checked and boarding passes in hand by 3:30am. We said goodbye to our guide Surri and then waited in line for passport control to stamp our passports, who knew there would be a mob of Russians there too. I think we waited longer on that line than it took for us to drive to the airport. We finally make our way through security and find the gate for the Delta flight.
We board the flight to Tokyo and blessedly the flight is not full, that hasn’t happened lately! So CL and I are able to spread out and I get 2 seats to myself, perfect to snooze. We are served breakfast (#2 of the day so far) and about 5 hours late we touch down in Tokyo 40 minutes early.

Days before this was the tsunami in Japan and I was wondering what it might be like transiting through Narita, and although crowded, airport operations seemed completely normal.

We go through a security check, and find our way to the connecting gate. Then we decided to see if my Delta Sky Miles Gold status will get me into the Sky Lounge…BINGO…it does! CL is able to come in with me and WOW, is this nice. My first Sky Lounge experience, I’m really digging it! It’s a big spacious lounge and we enjoy some food and drinks and free wi-fi.

Before long it’s time to board the flight from Narita to Atlanta. It’s a full flight with a 3-3-3 seat configuration, I’m already missing the Korean Air flight over, and fortunately I have my coveted aisle seat. The entertainment system isn’t working very well for me, the flight map isn’t working at all, so thank goodness I have my Kindle to read. I manage to get about 2 hours of sleep, although not 2 solid hours, it comes in sleep “snippets”.

We arrive in Atlanta about one hour ahead of schedule, and there is barely a wait at passport control. My bags were in the first wave off the conveyor belt and I was through customs & immigration, rechecked my bags and went through security all within an hour of de-planing.

The flight to Savannah was slightly delayed, but only by a few minutes and I was upgraded to business class on the short 30 minute flight, where I promptly fell asleep. We landed in Savannah at about 7pm and I was back home in no time.

In spite of some of my feelings about group travel I truly did enjoy visiting all the places on this trip. Now I have a taste for Asia and hope to return to some of these places and explore new ones in the future.