Back home at last. It has taken me a couple of days to get through a large volume of mail and to take care of financial matters especially my monthly bank statement. That was more difficult this time because of all the ATM slips from Thailand in Baht. I survived that ordeal however and am now caught up on everything except laundry and that can wait a couple of more days.

What can I say about my journey? Well, right now it all seems like a dream. Was that really me over there for the fourth time. Do I know those people? Do I know anything about that country?

This time I did get to see some things that were new to me. For instance, I was able to visit the Khao Yai National Park. The waterfalls there were running on low however as this is the dry season but the drive there was very nice and there were a number of Gibbons (monkeys) along the highway in one area. No other wild animals were in evidence at the time.

The drive up to Doi Angkang was pleasant and ended at an Army outpost on the border with Myanmar where we had coffee while peering across the border at a Burmese Army camp on the next hill. Along the way we stopped at one village to take a look at how the hill people live. As we were about to leave a "dust devil" came up the hill behind us, startling me and fascinating the children of the village.

The drive to Doi Inthanon provided some of the most scenic territory of all with several waterfalls that were not running on almost empty as well as taking us up to the highest point in the country. I took a picture of the sign there but its elevation in meters does not convert well to feet, either because I am reading the sign incorrectly, it is incorrect, or the on-line conversion website I use, does not work properly. It gives me a strange number which ends with the letter "e + 8 feet". Huh? This one needs more work. Or, maybe I don't know what 'e' are.

When I was in Bangkok in May 2004, the new subway had not opened yet due to various delays but this time it was open so on my first day there I rode a short distance from the Silom Station to the Hua Lumphong Station and back just to check it out. Later I rode the entire system. It has one characteristic of the Singapore subway system. That is, there is a wall on the platform edge with doors that open along with the train doors. This operation is like the automated skytrain people mover at SFO. I was astonished to see how large the station concourses are although I believe some of that is in anticipation of expansion of the system which the Royal Family seems to be encouraging. Certainly the huge concourse at Bang Sue station make no sense otherwise.

Bangkok and Chiang Mai seem to have changed little since my previous visits and nightlife is still abundant and as wild as ever. Now that I am back in sedate ol' San Francisco, what will I do with myself?

8:54 AM Sunday
23-Jan-2005
Chiang Mai, Thailand


Here I am down to my final two days in Chiang Mai. On Tuesday I will head back to Bangkok for one night only prior to my return to San Francisco. This has been a wonderful journey as usual and I have enjoyed visiting with my friends from previous visits plus meeting new ones. Ben has been especially helpful as my personal tour guide this time in Chiang Mai. In fact, I have scheduled a third tour for tomorrow which will take us up north to the Chiang Dao caves and other sites in the vicinity. Today will be a day of rest as I have nothing planned for today or tonight.

I do not know if I will ever return this way again. This is my fourth visit here and I think it is time to move on even though I will will miss my friends here. I know people at home will ask about my next vacation once I return home so let me say this. I have nothing planned now however I am leaning towards Melbourne, Australia as my next destination. I want to meet my correspondents Neil and Paul and as a transit enthusiast, I will be in paradise in Melbourne with its extensive tram system. From what I have seen in photos and videos, it is a beautiful city which has managed to combine the old with the new very well so I know I would be kept very busy photographing its many assets.

Anyway, enough for now.

6:03 PM Friday

21-Jan-2005

Chiang Mai, Thailand

This is my third full day in this city in northern Thailand and it has been a busy time for me with two tours which have taken me all the way up to the Myanmar border at an Army camp (Thai Army) and today's tour took me up to the highest peak in the country at Doi Inthanon. It was also the first time I felt cold. It was 16C with a partly cloudy sky and the thing that bothered me was the same thing as at home - wind. We did not stay outdoors too long however. The waterfalls in the park and other areas were beautiful as were the temples at the top of the mountain. I have shot several hundred photos and still have three full days remaining on this journey so I will have a big job sorting everything out once I return home next week.

After dinner tonight I will again head over to the bars in the Peak area and visit with War and Jack and others. Tomorrow night I am scheduled to have dinner with Ray. Ben won't be available for a tour on Sunday but maybe we have go somewhere for part of the day on Monday. There are some caves north of the city that I have seen previously but would like to see again. That should be a half day tour.

So things have been going well and come Wednesday I will probably not want to go home. My only disappointment is that Alex had to go to Bangkok on business the day after I arrived here so our visit was very brief.

10:55 AM Monday
17-Jan-2005
Bangkok, Thailand

Here it is my final full day in Bangkok. It has been fun this past ten days or so and I will once again have many memories and a number of photos, some to share, some to not. Once I get those sorted out at home I will post some on my regular photo website.

I took three tours while here in Bangkok which were to Khao Yai National Park, Safari World and to Ancient City/Muang Boran. I will post some of my own photos (not as nice I am sure) from these locations once I get home. Actually, most of them might be of me and my friends.

So here I sit now at Mr. Bean once again, resting from a walk. This time I went through portions of Lumpini Park and discovered that the new subway station (Lumpini) is NOT the best way to get to the park. The station has three exits, two on the south side of Rama IV and one on the north side but unfortunately it is on the east side of what I believe is called Wireless Road which is just as busy and congested at Rama IV and it has no pedestrian overpass. So, unless wants to try to use the cross walk at Silom and Rama IV, I would suggest walking east on Rama IV until you reach the pedestrian overpass to the north side of the road. Or, you can take the Skytrain to Ratchadamri Station and walk back a couple of blocks to the park but be sure to exit the station on the east side of the street which is the same side as the park. I simply cannot fathom why, given the size of the stations and the station concourses, they did not include an exit directly into the park. They had two opportunities to do so, either from the Silom Station or from the Lumpini Station, but they failed to construct either. Given that Siemens was one of the major players in this venture, I am surprised by the lack of foresight in this matter. To add insult to injury, the Bang Sue subway station, seemingly in the middle of nowhere, is very big with a huge concourse level. Surely it can't be more important than Silom or Lumpini Stations?

So this will wrap things up from Bangkok. I have enjoyed my visits with Wit, Eddy, Pin, and Anant, as well as the fine staff at the Tarntawan Place Hotel and the many other business establishments here in downtown Bangkok and I will miss them and this city very much after I leave.

By the way, if any of the links to the three URLs above do not work, please use the comments link on this posting to notify me so I can check and verify the URL in question. Thank you.

12:51 PM Saturday
15-Jan-2005
Bangkok, Thailand


RAIN! Yikes, it doesn't rain here in January. This is part of the "dry" season. Ha! Actually, it can and does sometimes but this is my third time in this city in the month of January and today I need an umbrella for the first time. I always pack it so that is no problem however this cool rainy day is such a change from the sunny and hot days of the past week.

Anyway, since my last entry here I took a very enjoyable tour to Khao Yai National Park. That was a three hour drive each way. Once in the park we had to slow several times because of many Gibbon monkeys along the highway. Also encountered many of them at one campsite parking lot as they raided dumpsters looking for food. At that particular site we took a trek into the jungle. It is very, very dry now and the country needs rain desparately else the forests and range lands of central and northern Thailand are in danger from possible wild fires. (Today's light rain won't stem that possibility.) As we started our trek into the forest, one couple came our hurredly claiming they had encountered an Anaconda or some other big snake. After much discussion with my tour guide and others who had gathered to make the same trek, we all went in en mass, making a lot of noise, and encountered no dangerous animals or reptiles. Visits to various waterfalls proved to be fruitless as many are now dried up. One of the bigger ones did have water but it was a shadow of what it could be during the rainy season.

Earlier in the week Eddy and I took a drive down to the "Ancient City" at Muang Boran which is not to be confused with the ancient capital of Ayutthaya. The "Ancient City" park has many replicas of temples and other structures from Thailand's past, some of which are reduced in scale for the park. Tomorrow, weather permitting, we plan to visit Safari World and one or two other places.

Tuesday I leave for Chiang Mai in northern Thailand where I will spend one week prior to returning home.

3:28 PM Wednesday

12-Jan-2005

Bangkok, Thailand

As predicted, what do I do between 9 and 5? Ha! Since this is my fourth visit here, I seem to be running out of things to do thus I have a lot of spare time during the day. Oh well, at least I am not in chilly and rainy San Francisco.

Hopefully I can take the tour up north with Wit & Eddy as we planned to do earlier this week. That got cancelled when I came down with a case of food poisoning. A trip to the excellent Bumrungrad Hospital in the morning took care of that problem although I was quite weak for the next day. I seem to be back to normal now, whatever that is, so hopefully we can try it one more time. It will be an all day adventure requiring a three hour drive in both directions. There will also be a walk into the jungle and the viewing of many waterfalls along the way. I thought that the tour was gone but was delighted to learn that both Wit and Eddy would still be available until Sunday.

The weather is typical for this time of the year, not as hot as April and May and not as humid, however the daytimes still see temperature up into the low nineties. This morning was quite humid however, much more so than what the previous days had been. It seems to be less so now.

So here I sit in the Mr. Bean Coffee & Internet shop on Silom Road drinking a nice tall cool chocolate flavored drink whose name I momentarily forget although I think it might be something like "Choc Shock" but I am not sure.

For Christmas a friend gave me a 512 mb compact flash card for my Canon G3. Wow, I now have more memory in that camera than in my own brain. LOL That card combined with two 256mb cards I already have should last a vacation of several months duration.

Tonight is the director's party (aka: Happy Hour) at the Tarntawan Hotel. Michael Pearson has this each Wednesday so you know I am not about to pass up a free drink.

So that is the latest from this part of the world for now.

8:23 AM Monday
Jan. 10, 2005
Bangkok, Thailand

While I wait for the maid to service my room I decided to go on-line once again. This posting will be shorter, I think. Anyway, the most recent event was my tour down to "The Ancient City" yesterday (Muang Boran) which is not to be confused with the ancient capital of Ayuttaya which is north of here. (Please pardon any spelling errors that I may made there as I am operating from memory on this that ain't good these days.)

I have now visited with my friends on different occasions and had dinner with Anant last Saturday and then with Pin last night. Both are well and working as hard as ever, if not more so.

Tourism is bustling here but this morning's Bangkok Post contains serveral interesting articles about what to do with the beaches on Phuket. They have been cleaned up and are once again back to their beautiful pristine condition. Some want to keep them that way, free of beach chairs, umbrellas, and small businesses which had encroached on them previously, thus ruining their natural beauty. Certain greedy business people may, however, have something to say about that. There are those also, who want to use this as a golden opportunity to curb the "adult" businesses in the region. Good luck on that one!

Anway, today will be a day of rest. May take a tour with Eddy tomorrow to a national park. I should have the details of that later today. In the meantime I will relax a bit. Perhaps I'll go to Wat Pho for a traditional Thai massage. I will probably also visit a bookstore and may just sit in a coffee shop for awhile.

So that will be for this time. Cheers from Bangkok.

10:23 AM Saturday
Feb. 8, 2005
Bangkok, Thailand

Here I am sitting in the Cafe Net in the Emporium Shopping complex in Bangkok. I have nothing planned today until dinner time so I decided to take this opportunity to write a few lines.

My flights on EVA Air from SFO to Taipei and to Bangkok were uneventful and quiet. The flight on a 747-400 to Taipei was very full. I lucked out and got a seat near one of the emergency exists so I had a lot of leg room and only a three foot walk to the rest room. That closeness to the bathrooms was the big drawback to this seating. When lines started getting long they extended into my leg room space. Oh well, win a few lose a few. The flight from Taipei, also on a 747-400 (last year they used a smaller aircraft for this leg) had tons of room. The rough count at the boarding gate in Taipei was 60 passengers. That should have left about 220 empty seats.

It was good to get back to the Tarntawan Place Hotel and meet their deightful staff once again. Since I arrived a little after 12 Noon, I used the first few hours of the afternoon for just walking around to see what was new, if anything, and for a few phone calls and for rest. I was very tired from the long flights which was made worse by my sinus condition which had flared up just before leaving home. My ears suffered once again despite following my doctor's order to irrigate the sinus passages regularly with a saline solution and then Neo-Synephrine before landing. As a result I went to the pharmacy and bought a few things to try to ease the situation. They have helped but now it sounds like I have more of a cold than anything. During my first afternoon I rode the new subway line two stops to the Hua Lamphong Railway station and back to the Silom Station.

On the first evening here I met with Wit, my tour guide, and we discussed our plans for one or more tours. This time his friend Eddy will be my primary guide but Wit will join us if he has the time. (His primary job now is with a travel agency here.) Anyway, we discussed our plans in the hotel lobby and then went to the Mango Grove restaurant for dinner. After dinner Wit walked me back to the hotel after which I decided to revisit my favorite restaurant/bar on Silom Soi 4 - The Balcony. Returned to the hotel after that.

On my first full day here I decided to check out more of the new subway and rode it to the north end of the line at Bang Sue Station. This is the first line of a planned 7 line system and is very nice. Some of the stations are very large by anyone's standard so I can only assume that some of those are built that way with expansion of the system in mind.

Also yesterday I returned to The Balcony for a few drinks and dinner where I ran into Rick, a friend who used to live in San Francisco. Later in the evening I took in one of the shows in Twilight Soi.

This morning on the way to this complex I ran into Wes, another friend from San Francisco who is vacationing here.

So now I am sitting in this Internet Cafe in the Emporium Complex, one of the upscale shopping centers of the city. After this I will probably go over to the Big C (another shopping center) for lunch. I had gone there yesterday and still have 60 Baht left on my card which I paid 100 THB for yesterday.

Tonight I will be meeting a friend for dinner although I do not yet know where we will go for dinner.

Tomorrow? Good question! I have more phone calls to make this afternoon and must talk with Wit some more about our tour plans.

Things are pretty much the same in Bangkok as they were last year when I was here. It is very crowded now in the height of the busy season. Many construction projects continue in this bustling city and some new businesses are in evidence here so the economic condition of the city would seem to be very good.

So I guess that will be it from here for now. Will try to write more before I head north to Chiang Mai on the 18th.

I knew I should not have gone out New Year's Eve. Today I feel a bit under the weather with the very faint beginnings of a sore throat and other very minor symptoms of something. This with less than 48 hours until flight time to Bangkok. Grrr...

One thing for sure, I am going to have follow doctor's orders strictly when it comes to irrigating my sinus passages with a saline solution during the flights and then with Neo-Synephrine as the plane starts its descent. In January 2003 I had picked up some sort of bug just prior to leaving but not knowing how to handle the situation with regard to my sinuses, they became very dry during the flight and so I ended up with a big problem with my ears due to a problem with the eustachian tube. This also resulted in squeaky voice and a cough for several days. I don't want to go through that again.

Anyway, I must rest as much as possible today and tomorrow. Most everything is in readiness. I will fold and pack my clothes tomorrow but there is little else that needs to be done now.

If and when time permits, I may post something here while in Bangkok and Chiang Mai. This will be all for now from San Francisco.

After a somewhat subdued New Year's Eve, it is now time to make last minute preparations for my wintering in Thailand. With all the chilly weather and rain here I will be glad to get to a different climate. Here in San Francisco we are now at 163% of normal rainfall (July 1, 2004 to date) with plenty more on the way. January and February are typically two of the wettest months here so no telling how much more we will get. Conversely, January is one of the driest months in Thailand so I will ge experiencing some good weather for the next few weeks.

On the local scene I see where our hapless and hopeless Raiders and 49ers lost again. Does anyone go to these games anymore? Does anyone care?

Democratic Congressman Matsui died this weekend. That is sad news for his family and friends but it also sad for the country as he was important to the committee working on Social Security reform. Hopefully the good people of Sacramento will elect another Democrat in the special election which now must be held to replace him.