Thailand - Returning to Bangkok (Saturday, November 15th, 2015)

Unfortunately our amazing trip to Thailand is quickly coming to an end. This morning we had our usual drill for travel days... morning wake up call at 5:45, bags outside the room at 6:45, meet in the hotel lobby at 7:45. In true Gate-1 fashion, Mike, our Tour Director, met all of us in the hotel lobby, made sure that we were all checked out of our rooms and ready to go. We got on our beautiful coach bus for the last time and headed to the airport. 

The morning sun is a little bright shining in the windows

As we were all seated, Mike made his usual announce for one final time.... "OK, folks; touch your passport".  And of course, a few of us responded with our silly unmentionable reply (Yes Helen, I'm talking about us).  

Every time we moved from one city to another, Mike always made us touch our passport, to make sure that everyone had them. It got to be funny by the end of the trip, but needless to say, we all appreciated it greatly. He has taken such good care of us for these 2+ weeks. 

The bus pulled out of the hotel, and we headed to the Chiang Mai airport. Today's flight is just a domestic flight from Chiang Mai to Bangkok, so there will be no customs to go through. We arrived at the airport and Mike herded all of us through the airport and helped us get to our check-in counter. 

Steve and I did not have our seats for this flight prearranged, but the Bangkok Airways representative had no problem getting us seats together. We even got the emergency exit row with lots of leg room. 

Once we were checked in, we gave Mike our final hugs and headed through security. We were flying Bangkok Airways, so Mike let us know about the lounge they had in the terminal.  Mike likes Bangkok Airways as they generally are on-time and are very professional.  

Thank you Mike for your friendship and all of your surprises these last two weeks. We loved your surprises!!!  Your morning wake up calls were very early, but because of them we didn't miss a thing! You taught us so much about Thailand that we never could have learned on our own!  We hope we can keep in touch and return the favor some day!  We're sure your beautiful new daughter would love to see the U.S.

After getting through security, we all headed to the lounge, where they had free food, drinks and wifi for us to enjoy until our boarding time. We all took advantage of this and took time to talk and relax. 

At 9:20, we all moved from the lounge to our gate for our 10:00 flight and then onto the plane. Steve and I were thrilled with our seats since we had so much extra legroom. We were seated next to a man from Ireland who was doing missionary work in Thailand off and on for the past 20-years. We chatted with him for the whole flight. He was very nice and interesting. 

After our one hour flight we landed back in Bangkok where we had started this amazing adventure. We were on a small plane, so we didn't get a tarmac.  We disembarked and rode buses back to the terminal.

Once we retrieved our bags, we were greeted by Pete, one of Mikes colleagues from Gate-1, who helped us find our bus and traveled back to the hotel with us. As always, our room keys were waiting for us in the lobby, which made getting settled back in very easy. 

We heard Bangkok Air has a good frequent fliers program

We had the remainder of the day on our own to once again enjoy the beautiful city of Bangkok. Steve and I took an afternoon stroll through the park and again stopped at our favorite little massage place. We each had another Thai massage. We asked for mine to be a little more gentle, and of course, my wishes were granted. It was the most amazing massage ever!  Again, they are 200 baht for an hour or ~$5.75 US.  Of course we also like to provide a nice tip also. We both came out of the there feeling so relaxed!!! 

We walked a few feet further up the street and grabbed our usual iced mochas at 7-11 and then headed back toward our hotel. On our way back, we ran into a few of the women from our tour who were interested in the massages, so we showed them how to get there.

As we looked around the beautiful city of Bangkok, we remembered a few more interesting facts that Mike taught us throughout our adventure, so I will share the with you here:

As we walk or drive through the streets of Bangkok, there are shops on the main floor of all the buildings.  Mike explained that these are called; Shop houses.  Many people in Bangkok live in Shop houses. They are small in area, but when you purchase one, you purchase every floor above your shop.  The first floor is always the shop and/or store, with a garage door that can be opened up during the day for business.  The second floor is usually the office to run the shop, the third floor is the living area, the next floor is the sleeping area and the top floor is the kitchen.  Shop houses are all hooked together in one long building, but are all individually maintained by their owners.  As we walk around, we notice that one section of the building will be well maintained, but others will not.  

Notice of the individual units are maintained differently.

A few more interesting facts about Bangkok

• Water pressure is very low in Bangkok, so most  of the houses and business have water tanks on the roof.  The water is slowly filled in these tanks throughout the day, and then when someone needs are shower or something, the gravity fed water has enough pressure to make a good shower.

• The very wealthy of Bangkok live in condominiums, and some live in apartments.  The poorest are called water people and live on the canals in makeshift houses.  Their babies learn to swim before they learn to walk.  

A few more pictures from our hotel window before we leave this wonderful city.  We will truly miss it!

We saw this little guy on our walk through the park after a brief rain storm.  He was a good two inches long.

For dinner, our friends Jess and Gina wanted to try the noodle bowls that we had eaten on our prior visit, so they along with Helen and Chris and us decided to meet at 5:00 in our room and then we all headed out to find our dinner. 

Jess and Gina had not been to the park yet, so we took the long route through the park, and by the massage place, and finally ended up at Center-one Shopping Center. We entered through the basement where the locals eat, and headed up all of the escalators to the 4th floor. We were able to find a table for six, and enjoyed bowl after bowl of mystery noodles (since we never really know what we were ordering). They were all good, so who really cares!

Locals doing a Zumba class in the park

Our fast food dinner in the food court at the mall.

So many bowls!  Each bowl was 12 baht or about $.35!

 As we headed back to the hotel, Jess and Gina called it a night since they had a very early flight in the morning, and Chris and Helen came back to the room for a few more minutes of chatting before we all called it a night. What a great way to end a fantastic trip!

We all enjoyed the view one last time before we called it a night

Thank you Helen and Chris for all of the laughs, we truly enjoyed your adventurous spirits and all of your worldly knowledge. We hope to see you in San Francisco soon!   Good luck with the remodel and the shoulder!

Thank you Gina and Jess for your laughter and keeping us all grounded when we got a little wild. We're so glad we got to share a lantern with you.  I'm not sure we'll see you in Cincinnati since Southwest doesn't fly there, but we'll make plans to meet somewhere else!

Thank you Brian and Humana for your friendship! We missed you so much tonight at dinner but know that you had fun at MK Mall. We hope to see you in Florida sometime!

Thank you to all of our new Gate-1 friends for the memories that we will cherish forever!