Asian Adventure 2020: Day 3

We had a very fun day of being tourists in a new city! We took a hop-on/hop-off river tour and spent our time getting off at different stops and wandering about!

One thing thing that I am really loving about Bangkok is the blending of old and new. There are traditional buildings steeped in history and modern buildings that look like they're from the future, and somehow it all works!

In terms of public transportation, the only thing I can speak to is the sky train, but I was pretty impressed. We bought day passes and were able to navigate the system very easily to get around to places we wanted to see. I especially loved the orderly fashion in which people get on and off of the train - no pushing or shoving, just people getting on doing so from either side of the car doors, while people getting off disembarked through the center of the doors. There were even directions provided on the ground! SO smart! One of my pet peeves is when you're trying to get off an elevator and rude people are already pushing their way on as the doors open. That would not happen if these common procedures were put into place! Walking on the streets here is another story, however; there seems to be no rhyme or reason for which side of the sidewalk people use. It's very willy nilly and we found ourselves constantly having to cross from left to right and back again to avoid running into people. It really makes no sense at all!

We went over to a place called IconSiam for a few hours to see the nighttime water and light show, and while the World of Color show at Disney California Adventure has set an unattainable standard, it was a fun thing to watch and it was not crowded, which was great.

We'll be checking out of this hotel in the morning and heading to the airport for the next leg of our adventure, so stay tuned!

Happy Tails to you!

Asian Adventure 2020: Day 2

Remember when I said we'd be exploring on Day 2? What on earth was I thinking?!? We were both so tired that I don't have much to report and very few pictures to share!

We got up around noon to check out of the Novotel Hotel near the airport around 1:00 pm. We did not ask for a late check out…when we checked in, the hotel employee asked what time we'd be leaving, so we asked what time check out was, and he told us we could decide when to leave because we had the room for 24 hours! That's the first time we've ever heard that policy, but as people who prefer to stay up late and then sleep in, we are one hundred percent on board with this policy! Are you listening, Disney Resort Hotels?!?

We took a cab from there to downtown Bangkok, where we are staying for two nights, and our room was ready, so we were able to get settled in before going out for the afternoon. We went to a large shopping/dining area called Terminal 21 that is filled with shops and places to eat. We wandered around there for a few hours, but we were really feeling the effects of jetlag, so we decided to go back to the hotel to rest for a little while. That "little while" turned into the whole evening; C slept for a few hours, then I feel asleep for several hours, and so on.

Hopefully we can turn this sleeping this around in the next few days, because it is after 5:00 am here and I am just starting to feel tired! That does not bode well for the day of sightseeing we have planned!

The good thing is that even if I'll be operating on only a few hours of sleep, I should have a bunch of pictures to share tomorrow!

possibly my favorite
hotel employee
of all time

Happy Tails to you!

Asian Adventure 2020: Day 1

Just as I did when we went to Tokyo in 2017, I'm going to write short blog post each day because it will be more manageable than trying to write about the whole trip when we get home, which I usually what I do!

This is an adventure we'd been planning for a year! C found a sale on airline tickets last winter and since we'd never been to Thailand or Singapore, we decided to book a trip! I wasn't working at the time – I was home with my mom – so my schedule wasn't an issue, and we figured if we were going to travel so far, we'd go for two weeks.

Fast forward to June, when the Reading Specialist job became available. Although I really, really, really wanted the job, before I applied, I emailed my principal and told her I had a trip planned for the first two weeks of February that could not be changed or cancelled. I knew it might be a deal breaker, but I was more than willing to take the time unpaid, and since that position does not require a substitute in the case of absences, my principal graciously agreed and the rest is history! I'm so fortunate that things worked out as they did!

On Friday morning, January 31, went left our house at 8:00 am and my mom kindly drove us to the airport. Our flight left at 11:00 am and landed 13 hours and 40 minutes later in Tokyo. We had a 3 hour layover, and then a 7 hour flight from Tokyo to Bangkok. Fortunately, the first flight was a 2-4-3 plane, so we had a pair of seats to ourselves, and then we lucked out with an empty middle seat between us on the second flight, which was awesome. We flew on ANA, which is the airline we flew on when we went to Tokyo, and I really can't say a bad word about them. Their flight attendants are wonderful and the customer service is top notch. The only thing I wasn't thrilled about was that on our first flight, the temperature in the cabin was ridiculous stifling, and yet people wore coats and hats and slept under blankets, so maybe it was just us? We do both like it to be cold and I guess we are in the minority because clearly no one was complaining about how hot the plane was!

The flights were otherwise fantastic, the layover in Tokyo was relaxing (there was a 7-Eleven in the airport and the 7-Elevens in Tokyo have amazing sandwiches and snacks, so we were super excited!), and even passport control in Bangkok, while busy, was perfectly fine. We are staying at a hotel near the airport for one night, just because it was convenient after such a long day of travel and arriving so late at night (after 1:00 am).

We are very tired, and the change in time zones has already messed us up a bit, but these are small prices to pay for the privilege of traveling!

My beloved work wife sent me the most adorable crocheted rainbow Dachshund for Christmas, and I brought it along on this trip since we can't bring our actual dogs when we travel! I decided I'm going to take pictures of it throughout the trip in different places we visit because I like to do weird, adorable things like that!

we were on flight #1

we flew over my hometown!

Japan's coastline

exhausted but happy!

I need to get some rest because the exploring begins tomorrow!

Happy Tails to you!