Travels September 18 through September 28, 2008

Thursday, September 18, 2008 went to Coyote mexican cantina for ladies night with Tana, Alison, Ailly and Patra.

Friday, September 19, 2008 went to Brown Sugar for dinner at to listen to a jazz band.

Friday, September 26, 2008 ate lunch at MK with procurement team and then had dinner at Contrazi's (italian) with Patra.

There are some pictures of Rasa Tower where the office is located.

Saturday, September 27, 2008: Bangkok Environmental Work Day trip to Staghorn Corals Cultivation: planted coral in assemblies made the previous weeks, snorkeled, swam and ate some lunch.

Trip Sunday, September 28, 2008 to Kanchanaburi; Don, Gai, Bonnie and I went for a day trip to where we visited the following places:

Sai Yok Noi Waterfall
Sai Yok Elephant Village
Prasat Muang Sing Historical Park
Bridge on the River Kwae
Kanchanaburi War Cemetery

My Photos:

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=4eljvdex.9r8hu2v5&x=0&y=gctrlx&localeid=en_US

Don and Bonnie's Photos:

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=4eljvdex.3u0srqwx&x=0&y=-kdb33x&localeid=en_US

Travels September 8 through September 16, 2008

Link to Photos:

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=4eljvdex.1q7etnj5&x=0&y=-abyi57&localeid=en_US

September 10 dinner at Cabbage and Condoms with Jamie, Kathy, Ailly, Alison and myself: We ate beef in oyster sauce, seafood hot plate, steamed fish, chicken patte, minced onion and chicken in a purple gel, steamed vegetables, cucumbers in vinegar, chicken wings, sesame pork, and tofu curry.

September 11 dinner at Suan Bua with Tana, Tom, Ailly, Kathy and myself: We ate pineapple chicken, pork rinds and flowers, fried pork, steamed vegetables, mango, prawn spring rolls, fried rice, shrimp, seafood pot, and my placemat was clean after my meal.

Before dinner Kathy and I went to Tana's place for some appetizers and to visit. I took pictures of Rasa Tower (work building) as their place is parallel. The Supalai view's are of work and the busy street we cross everyday to come to work.

September 13 Environmental Work Day and Chatuchak Market and dinner at Toh-Plue Restaurant: The environmental work day consisted of constructing PVC tubes to create an assembly for coral. The office will make 40 PVC assemblies to replant coral the weekend of September 27. This was a dirty job but we had fun as you can tell by the pics. In the afternoon, Ailly, Pikoon and myself went for some shopping at Chatuchak Market- where we avoided the rain. If you take a close look at a couple of the pics you will see when it rains the market gets flooded. Then we ate dinner at Toh-Plue Restaurant; we ate chili crab, steamed vegetables, spring rolls and seafood curry in a coconut.

September 14 Bungsamaran: A group of us left Sunday morning to go fishing at a catfish pond/lake. We rented a large bungalow for the day. It was a rather plush bungalow as well with a couch, 2 air conditioned bedrooms, private toilet, fridge, etc.. We hired a fishing guide who helped with the bait and casting. I was the first one who caught a fish but I believe Dan caught the largest one. We shopped at the bait shop and even managed a game of pool. By the end of the day we were all exhausted and sore the next few days.

Septemebr 16 dinner at MK Restaurant: Ailly and I went to eat to avoid the rain after work. We went to MK which has a hot pot on the table where you cook your food. We ate fish tofu, marinated beef, fish, shrimp, green noodles, cabbage, and baby corn. You cooked everything in a broth and then had some dipping sauce you could mix on the side. I also took some pictures at the BTS to show the heavy rain which is unusual to continue so long.

There are a couple of misc pictures of the guard outside of my hotel who grabs a taxi for me in the morning.

More Photos:

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=4eljvdex.978250tt&x=0&y=-1ju89q&localeid=en_US

Travels August 25 through September 7, 2008

Monday, August 25 for lunch, we celebrated birthdays for the month of August at a cafe across the street from work:

Pongthep
Worawit
Gail (Anakorn)
Patra
Ailly
Emily
Kathy

Pongthep's birthday was actually on the 25th. Patra's was on July 31st (close), Gail's was on the 3rd and Kathy's was on the 16th.

Friday, August 29 for dinner, Ailly, Kathy and I went to the Huntsman Pub for dinner and to see the Phillipino Band play. The next morning Kathy and I went to meet Tom and Tana to have an English Breakfast and then go to the Jim Thompson outlet. The English Breakfast consisted of scrambled eggs, potato, stewed tomato, ham, sausage, toast, beans and tea. Then we road to the end of the BTS line On Nut and caught a taxi for about 20 blocks to the Jim Thompson Outlet. Jim Thompson is an American who came to Thailand and helped revitalize the thai silk industry.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Thompson_(designer)

After shopping there Kathy and I went to meet with Ailly to shop at MBK (huge mall). We were looking for a few specific items but were not very successful in our search. We then went to Ailly's place to get ready for Don Sullivan and Somluck's (Kai) wedding reception. After the wedding reception a group of us went out to a German Pub.

The next morning Kathy and I got up to go to Chatuchak Market for our second time. Kathy will be leaving this week so she wanted to get more souvenirs. We shopped four hours and were hot an exhausted. I actually ran out of money and had to borrow a couple hundred baht from Kathy. We got a cab back to the hotel and I crashed for the night.

Monday, September 1 for dinner, Ailly, Kathy and I ate dinner at a Thai restaurant: thai fried sweet noodles, spring rolls, green curry, and chicken in tamarin sauce.

Tuesday, September 2 for dinner Kathy and I ate across the street from work at Freestyle cafe: spring rolls, lime prawn, chicken w/ mixed veggies, and steamed rice in a heart shape.

Mostly everyday this week it stormed in the afternoon, Friday we got out of work late and it was pouring; luckily Khun Worawit drove Vishal, Kathy and I to the metro so we wouldn't get soaked. When it rains there is no luck getting a cab. I did try to be a heroine but ended up getting sprayed with a puddle when the cars drove by.

Saturday, September 6 Alison, Kathy and I left for Koh Samed Island for the weekend. We hired a driver to take us to the port in Rayong which was about a 2.5 hour drive. We then rented a speedboat to take us to Samed Cabana Villa Resort where we had rented a bungalow on the beach for the night. The resort was located at the Ao Wong Duean beach. The beach was white and the water was clear that you could see to the bottom.

http://www.hotels2thailand.com/thailand-hotels-map.asp?id=1814


http://www.samedcabana.com/p6_photo.html

We had to wait to check in to the bungalow so we decided to change and hit the beach. When we settled into the bungalow we went and received massages. I got a foot massage and a pedicure, Alison received a Thai massage and clean foot, and Kathy received a clean foot, pedicure and manicure. Quite the life to be on the beach and be pampered. After we were done we ate at restaurant on the beach and had some noodles, pineapple fritters, and spring rolls.

For the evening we traveled via a truck taxi (benches in the back of the truck) to Hat Sai Kaeo beach to the Ploy Thalay resort where they have a restaurant and a fire show twice nightly. We enjoyed ourselves very much and ended up staying for the second show. The fire performers came to the back during their break close to where we were sitting and were showing off. At the end of the night Alison played a game of darts to win Kathy and I little teddies. Then it was off to the taxi to make our way back to our resort. The same driver No 14 was waiting for us to take us back. Kathy and I had a brief late night swim and then went to bed.

The next day Kathy also figured out that there is 14 years between her and Alison and Kathy and I. So we decided 14 would be out lucky No for the weekend. The next day we woke up and enjoyed breakfast, swimming, and relaxing on the beach. We had dinner at our resort and met the staff. Jim who I believe is the owner was very mischevious. We then went and swam and relaxed some more on the beach. When it was time to leave we had already checked out of our room so they let us hose off behind the resort. The speedboat took us back to the Port where we waited for the driver to come and pick us up. We had arrived a little early so Alison and I went to the main road and bought a t-shirt for us all. The port staff was ready to leave so they were happy when the driver came. We then left Rayong and traveled to Bangkok, it was raining on and off on the way back but not too bad.

Link to photos:

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=4eljvdex.azhwzlgx&x=0&y=btj3xb&localeid=en_US