Sorry it has taken me this long to post a trip report.(we returned on Nov. 25)
Coming back to the USA just as the holidays begin is always a challenge, but it is our favorite time to go, just after the monsoon season ends, and the weather is most like our own.

Anyway, strangely it was the best trip in years. I am sure that not jumping from country to country each week helped, and also that we had done all major sightseeing on past trips. So that allowed us to just super-relax for four weeks, days to ourselves and weeknights and weekends with our sweet friends.

On the weekdays, we’d get up at 7:30 and languish at the big buffet(included daily), then maybe by 9:30 we decided where we were going for the day. LOTS of malls and shopping were right outside of our hotel so some days it was what direction to go shopping in. We bought mostly for the family, since last year I bought mostly for me LOL!
Well, I did buy cute clothes for me, and how could I resist cute sandals for $3 each pair-—same as the ones you see at American malls for $25 and up.

Ed Hardy designer tees…okay that is where we went absolutely nutso. The real deal that you see in mall stores for $80 to $200, hubby bought the same tees for $15 to $18 each. Also, he bought the plainer Ed Hardy tees for $4 a tee, so we bought for the entire family. And of course for us LOL.
Then, I went craaaazzzy at Naraya, a store that had purses, totes, wallets, and about 50 other items that women love...all made from silky fabrics and other fabrics. The prices were very low, the quality very good and so they made up by selling volume;
my husband got dizzy from watching all the other ladies zip around the aisles.
I am sure some ladies needed a whole new suitcase for their Naraya purchases alone, if not two LOL! They were such a hit when I got home, that it looks like I will need to reserve two empty suitcases just for that LOL!!

Restaurants: I think we ate 6 times a day LOL! Food was so cheap and hubby could not resist, and I would scold him for being full before meeting our friends for dinners and going out afterward. Amazing that we didn’t gain an ounce. Nor lose hehehe. We usually ate internationally...Bangkok has amazing Italian and Japanese restaurants.

BUT, I have to tell you about my new favorite fruit: custard apple, also known as sugar apple. It does not look or taste like the apples we know. It has a lumpy green exterior with black dots. Fully ripe, you break the fruit apart easily and just eat the juicy white meat, very sweet and sort of reminds you of custard.
I’m told that the only place we can get it in Hawaii is in Chinatown , but that it is not the same.
Like, they pick them too early, therefore it is hard and awful. Too bad it is illegal to bring back seeds from other countries!

WEEKends, we spent the entire weekends with our friends. They took us out of the city, into the provinces to temples and sites that were off the beaten track, that the usual visitor to Thailand does not see. Stayed overnight at resorts.
Once place we went to was a village with recent archeological digs…the pits had skeletons etc, dating a few thousand years old. Very interesting!

Then we went to a village known for its fancy pottery and teak furnishings. Now I know I saw those things in the fancy American home furnishing catalogs!
The items themselves were cheap at the village, but shipping to USA is a whole other story. That is what you pay for mostly. Good thing I really don’t need anything else for my condo, but we helped our friends pick items for their homes and gardens.

As I mentioned in an interim post, we also went to the Kanchanaburi area, where over 15,000 British and American and Aussie Prisoners of War died, in slave-labor while building the “railroad” for the Japanese Army in World War II. (over 100,000 other slavelaborers also died at that time, same reason).

It made us all reflect, but we talked about everything that happened, sure let our tears out, and in the end we were so happy that we went to remember and respect.
At the Bridge on the River Kwai, at the Hellfire Pass, at the tracks still standing.
And we also went to the cemetaries.

Til today, I still think about that beautiful area and its River Kwai and River Kwai Noi rivers—how could all that have happened? Then I saw some Japanese families paying respects.

Anyway, before we knew it our month of fun and frolic were over…sniff, sniff…. Hubby said we have to go back next November. Our friends are making plans for us to stay in their homes, but I’d rather stay in our own one-bedroom suite, like we have been.
Or two-bedroom if others from Hawaii come with us.

Before I forget, THE MASSAGES! Yup, we had massages each night! After the day and night with friends, we went to the massage center of our hotel as they opened until 2:00 in the morn. 2-hour massages each time, and I fell asleep sometimes LOL. The cost was not much since we were repeat hotel guests.

We did so much more on our relaxing trip, but I’ll save that for another post.
Now, can someone tell me how to put pictures in posts…I forgot how.
Heck, I forgot how to do everything in Hawaii LOL!

Hugs,

Cindy, what a trip! Your exuberance is just bubbling over! I could melt at the thought of two hour massages every night. OMG..I want to go there!

When you go to the photo thread, just remember that you have to write something in the comment or it won't post…then just upload from your computer up to 4 or 5 photos. Can't wait to seeeeee!

Cindy, what a trip and you describe things so well! I want to be in your luggage next November. Sigh. I'm with EW...a two-hour massage; now that would be heaven. And it's so funny but I just got the movie, Bridge on the River Kwai, this weekend from the library. It is one of my all time favorites. I'll think of you all when I watch it.

So glad you're home safe and sound, the trip sound heavenly!

Cindy, ya'll had such a wonderful trip! Its great that one can enjoy another country in peace and revisit the not so peaceful past -- and honor those who suffered. I admit, I'm a bit jealous about the shopping -- the prices over there are great!

Oh ladies, I must make room for all of you in my suitcases next year LOL LOL!!
If anyone knows of others going, let me know, I HAVE mucho, mucho information on what to do and where to shop and where to eat, and on and on. LOL. I have been there so many times!

JJ, awesome that you are watching the movie. I need to rent it soon. It was so touching to actually be there and touch the rails and ground with my own hands. The area is so peaceful and quiet. I will try to find other movies about that area.

Wow Diamond what an accounting of your journey. Next time that extra truck with your name on it will contain, thats right, ME!!! Please handle with care. Oh and the big suitcase with JJ in it as well.

LOL Chatty!!

diamond, first of all, I want to know why someone who lives in Hawaii needs to go on vacation!

What a lovely month. It sounds over the top. Have you always taken such long vacations? Shopping, eating, massaging, touring -all sounds heavenly to me.

Yes, Dotsie, with Asia being so far away (around 14 hours actual flight time, we want to make it worth the money and time spent to get there; so 4 weeks is perfect for us.
Usually it is November because that is when it cools down to around 80 degrees and the heavy, rainy monsoon season ended in most places in October.
I thought I might go back to Europe for 2009, but hubby wants to go back to Asia, and 2010 we can take the Europe trip.

I would love to even live in Thailand a few months out of the year, but I would miss my kids and grandkids too much I think. In the big city of Bangkok though, where everything I want is at hand.
I miss the massage ladies LOL!!