10 days on vacation...

My plan of documenting everyday of the vacation has not worked out so well.

Our days either involve traveling, recovering, exploring or relaxing. The times I have free I do not feel like blogging. 

Here is a quick breakdown of our vacation so far

Bangkok - Days 2 and 3

Day 2 in Bangkok was spent doing some sightseeing. We visited Wat Pho and Wat Arun. 2 of 3 big tourists attractions in Bangkok. We saw the reclining buddha in Wat Pho and climbed up steep stairs of temples in Wat Arun. We took a river boat up and down the river and experienced a huge rain down pour.

Day 3 our last full day in Bangkok was spent eating and relaxing. Lauren had an hour head, arm, legs and foot massage. While I got our Bangkok and Australia photo's printed.  We spent the afternoon in the hotel pool of 25 degree water.

We decided to have dinner recommended in the Lonely Planet guide. But did not want to eat there as it was traditional western food. We found a local Thai place that didn't look to shabby and had a great meal. The food and drinks were terrific.

The highlight in Bangkok for me, were the wonderful smoothies and fresh juices we had at the Siam Paragon and MBK malls.

Helsinki

We have been in Helsinki, Finland for 6 nights, 5 days and today is our last day here. Helsinki has been an uneven part of trip so far. Sleep has not been constant and we have been tired on some days.  On our first day we took it easy and went exploring the city and took a boat ride around the waterways of Helsinki. During the boat ride it was very windy and cold, so we went below to stay warm. Both Lauren and myself struggled to stay awake. We took a slow and easy morning the next day and went out for a late lunch on Friday afternoon. 

Saturday we went into the city and visited the Contemporary art museum. By early afternoon I was tired and headed back to our friends' place to rest. Lauren followed an hour later.

Tallinn, Estonia

On Sunday we spent the day in Tallin, which is a 120 minute boat ride. We explored the old city of Tallinn for most of the day, which had wonderful old colorful buildings, with pebble walk ways. We spent the rest of the day exploring new Tallinn.

Toronto on Wednesday June 17th

Last day in Helsinki, Lauren has gone off to the city to do some shopping while I am relaxing.

Tomorrow we have a long day ahead of us, as we depart Helsinki for Toronto. Our day starts at 5:45am when we leave for the airport for a 7:45am departure to London Heathrow airport. We then have a 6 hour layover and depart London at 3:15pm for a 5:50pm arrival in Toronto Canada. No that's not a 2+ hour flight, it's a  7hrs, 35 mins flight and a 5 hour time difference.

See you in Toronto!

Day 1: Bangkok

We started our first day in Bangkok pretty early considering we arrived at the hotel just before 1am. We were down at the hotel lobby at 9am and decided to have breakfast at the hotel restaurant. It was a traditional western breakfast. After breakfast we went exploring and took the famous BTS – Bangkok Transit System, Sky Train. We are very close to 2 stations, Nana and Phloen Chit. We walked to Pholen Chit as we didn’t know our bearings.

We took the train to the Chatuchak weekend market. This is a massive outdoor market. We must have spent between an hour at least just wandering the various stalls. I bought a new Thai t-shirt. The ones you see of the 2 red bulls. But that was all we bought. We then decided to head back into the main area of Bangkok and get some lunch.

We got of at Siam station and went into Siam Paragon, a new shopping center complex. It looks very modern and upscale; very posh, as the British would say. Here you can find Hugo Boss, Chanel, Armani and so forth. We wondered into the Food court section and found a massive area for food. They have a circular area where there must be at least 20-30 vendors selling Thai, Japanese and some westernized food. To buy from these shops, you first need to buy money on a card. The vendor then swipes your card and it takes off the amount of the food. When you are finished you return it and get any money back that is on the card. I had Pad Thai and Lauren had Pad Thai with Prawns. It was very fresh and tasty. Also within this mall are separate restaurants that are also located near the food court. As well as a Gourmet Traveler grocery store, an upscale food store. As well as well known fast food shops – McDonald’s, KFC and Burger King.

After lunch we wondered around the Siam Paragon and found it just a visual fest of shopping. We then headed next door to the famous MBK shopping complex which has 5 huge levels of shopping. On one of the levels Lauren found a place to have a facial. While she was having a facial I wondered around looking at music, watch and electronic shops. After Lauren’s facial we decided to head back to our hotel for some rest. In our hotel they do Thai massages. We booked one for the both of us for 5pm.

At 5 pm we headed down and had our massage. For those of you unfamiliar with Thai massage. It is not a relaxing massage, especially if it is your first massage. It is meant to be a restorative message that involved lots of pressing and pulling. At various times my massage therapist was kneeling on my calves with both of her knees and walking on my back or my legs were pushed back at the same time she was plugging on my arms. At times I found it painful and likened it to involuntary hardcore yoga. I am not sure if I want to try it again. I am told you need to do it at least 3 or 4 times before it stops hurting less.

After our massage we decided to head out and have dinner. We were given a recommendation from a Thai person in Melbourne. The restaurant we ate it was authentic as there were no foreigners there. We decided to have meals we have had before to see what the difference was. The difference was very noticeable, the flavors more subdued and it was very fresh.

After dinner we went and visited the Limpini night market. The same as the Chatuchak market, but maybe a better selection of goods. We walked away with some items and headed back to our hotel on the subway and sky train.

That was our first day in Bangkok, the next day we decided to visit some of the famous sights of Bangkok. More of that in my next blog entry.

The start our around the world vacation: Bangkok

We arrived in Bangkok at 11:30pm on Saturday June 7, 2008.

Our flight was smooth and there we no problems. We sat in the back of the plane, the first set of seats that are 2 seaters because of the curvature of the plane. This meant we had some space beside the window and the third seat in front us of to store items. This gave us more leg room and a place to store the pillows and blankets.

The Qantas planes have been slightly upgraded with new seat material, head rests than can turn outward to the left and right, so you can lean on it. The entertainment system has been upgraded with On-demand movie and television stations and more of it.

About an hour or two into our flight dinner was served. There was supposed to be a choice of lamb and chicken. But by the time the food got back to us in the back all that was left was the lamb. But it was very good, lamb and mash potatoes with veggies. Very tasty and the lamb was very soft. After dinner we were served a popsicle of lime and cream and then later a choice of peppermint tea or hot chocolate. Lauren commented how this was so much better than United Airlines. I can’t wait to see what flying on an Airbus A380 on Singapore or Qantas airlines would be like.

Then it was time to watch a movie. At the start of the flight I started watching Vantage Point but got bored of it, so stopped when the food was served. The second movie I watched was the children’s movie The Spiderwick Chronicles. I found it very entertaining and it made and hour and half go by quickly.

By that time it was time for a bit of a rest. Then we were awoken about 2 hours left in the flight with a refreshment meal of pasta.

Our departure from the plane and immigration process was smooth, very quick. It probably took more time to get from the plane to immigration. We arrived in Bangkok’s new airport. It has a very new and industrial look to it.

We also got our baggage very quickly and proceeded out of the terminal, where we were meet by many people there to pick people up. As we exited the terminal and got outside, we spotted a taxi stand. We showed the woman our destination, she wrote up a slip, I took it and gave it to another woman, who then gave it to the taxi driver. He took our bags and loaded it into the car. It was a beat up Toyota Corolla painted yellow on the top half and green the bottom half. When we left the airport and headed out on an empty highway. About 20mins into the ride the taxi drive said 65 baht, 65 baht – toll. I was a bit skeptical, but I did remember reading on the sign at the taxi stand that the fare would also include a 50baht surcharge plus all toll costs. So we gave him 100baht and did get back 35 baht. In total our trip cost 257 baht, which is under 8 dollars.

Our check in at the hotel was smooth and we officially arrived in Bangkok at about 12:40am on Sunday the 8^th of June.

The next day we explored a bit of Bangkok. More on that on the next blog entry.