Almost thailand

April 11th

Back at the hotel, we were greeted and asked if we would like some juice or coffee. We declined and told them we would just like to go up to our room. Silence. Once again they did not have a room for us as they had lost our reservation. Not to worry, their sister hotel was only 5 minutes away and 3 stars. We would like it. Not to worry :) believe it or not, the new hotel was truly the nicest one we had stayed at thus far. Clean, large room with a shower that actually had shower doors. We were delighted! After cleaning up from our cruise and long bus ride, we grabbed a taxi and headed to the lake nearby for dinner and the water puppet show. Our cab driver's meter was "broken" conveniently, and we for sure got ripped off, but gave up arguing with him after five minutes and paid him the five bucks. We had a delicious dinner of pork chops with lemon grass, beef and pineapple, and pan-fried noodles with lots of different vegetables at Ding Lano restaurant. The restaurant sat right on the lake, two stories high and the night view of the city, sublime. They had a live band perform on instruments we had never seen or heard of before. They sang to us and brought roses and hats to our table. After dinner we headed across the street to the theatre to see the show. Unlike the US, they don't ask you to turn the flash off your camera, silence your cellphone etc. It amazed us the rudeness of the audience throughout the entire show. A woman sitting behind us managed to take thousands of flash photos throughout the 45 minute show, which left us blinded more often than not. What we saw of the show was interesting, anyhow. The puppets all float above the water and are controlled by people standing behind a screen with sticks. If there was a storyline, I missed it. Good thing the tickets were only 3 dollars. After the show we roamed the streets checking out the night venders. Char picked up some really pretty silk scarves and Amanda and Aubrey each got 8 dollar knock off Chanel wallets. Dad approved of those prices ;)- we haven't found a real Chanel store here in Asia...yet. After shopping a bit we caught a taxi back to the hotel to call it a night.

April  12th
We get to go to Thailand today! YES!! We woke early as the taxi was picking us up at 6:30 and begged some loaves of bread from the hotel guy on our way out.  After standing in line for a looooong time behind some yappy tourists the woman at the ticket counter told us our bags were all too heavy for carry-on which ensued a long, drawn-out time of running back and forth between various counters to pay for luggage and then finally check it, all the while cutting in front of many displeased travelers...but hey, it happens to the best of us.  After taking care of that headache including getting through customs where Amanda flirted her way through, we sat down to eat an American breakfast which included an Asian-made club sandwich (they put fried eggs in them!) and a pizza with more delicious Asian coffee!! The restaurant took advantage of being in an airport and charged American prices as well.  Probably our most expensive meal to date.
More to come...