Laurie's World

we are on our way home…..we got ourselves to Bangkok yesterday and stayed at the Sheraton Grande Sukhumvit. It was AMAZING. next time I use 35,000 points on a hotel room, I’m going to stay for longer than 14 hours 🤣🤣. Quite a fancy place and I would never spend $300/night EVER! We were up by 4:45am and out the door in a taxi by 5:30 am as we had an 8:25am flight. We are currently at gate in Taipei after a 3.5 hour flight waiting for the next leg to Vancouver. Air Canada.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

See y’all on the flip side!

Nothing to report today other than sun, fun, friends, food and drink today! Coffee on balcony, then some shopping, got my toenails painted, then went to a FreeFlow lunch. “Free flow” is what they call it when it is “all you can enjoy” but not a traditional buffet. You order off a menu, but (in theory) they will just keep taking your orders, and keep bringing you food. But as we learned, at some point (of their choosing) they avoid your table and avoid eye contact 🤣  Makes sense at it was only $11.90 ++ (++ is plus tax and plus service charge).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Everything was delicious, I had pumpkin salad with roquefort cheese and my dessert of choice was this mango custard (real gold flake) which I did not eat as that seems weird! The afternoon was spent bobbing in the pool and ordering happy hours drinks with Landon.

 

 

We all gathered again at Pub Street for super! We had Indian food tonight! I’m sooooooo full but it’s delicious, and how can I refuse? Back to the Banana Leaf for drinks after and listening ONLY to a cover band/karaoke??

All around sadness as we say good bye for another year to Vanna, Alice and Ritchie. (Even though Ritchie promises to see us for coffee in the morning).

 

WOW it was hot today! Beautiful clear skies and 90 degrees by 9am!  It was too hot on the balcony to sit for long so I headed down to the pool! Perfect setting. Very quiet. It’s a small pool and if it was filled with kids it would be a different story, but I had it to myself.

 

 

 

 

 

Relaxed there for about 90 minutes until Landon and I decided to get a massage! We went down to the same place I’ve been going for the last couple days. I had a footie and it was excellent! The girl was stronger than either of the people the last couple days. No discount today 🤔. But $6 vs $5 isn’t going to break the bank 😉😉.

Time for lunch! We planned to meet Troy, and Richie at a place called Jungle Burger. It was delicious! Incredibly messy but absolutely the best pulled pork sandwich I’ve ever had. They were having a power outage but were still able to make most things on the menu.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We visited a book store on our way back to the fresh Fruit factory for another one of those ice mountains! Even though she wasn’t with us, They gave us the “Sam price” of $3 vs $5 for the dishes! 🎉👏  worth every  penny even at $5! What a bonus!

I wanted to head back to the night market and the guys wanted to go back to the hotel, so we parted ways and I walked to night market. I bought a couple shirts, they were $3 each and I’m sure I overpaid, but Sam wasn’t with me so it is what it is 😉

We saw a beautiful rainbow from our room as sun was setting tonight. We only have one more full day here in Siem Reap, so are trying to enjoy every moment ❤

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We all went back up to Pub Street for drinks and supper around 6:30pm. Ate at Tell steakhouse. ‘Expensive’ for here, but still so cheap by our standards! 5 of us ate until so stuffed and it still only came to $80. Appys, drinks, meals….laughs = priceless ❤

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Until tomorrow…..

Hi all! Slow start today!! Troy, Richie and Tanner (new American friend) we’re out kinda late last night! So I was able to drink a couple cups of ☕ before anyone was looking to head out! I swear this is a new coffee/balcony pic! 🥰

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

First order of business was to go back to massage place as I wanted to see about the discount😏!! Sure enough Troy and I got head/back/shoulder massages for $5 each!!  Nice massage….nothing too stressful to report about this other than the ‘cryer’ they brought in at some point. Nothing interrupts the chi quite like a sobbing Cambodian girl on the other side of the curtain. It (and the constant prattle of her consoling friend) only went on for about 20 minutes before they moved on 😑. It $5 I guess…..you never know what to expect!

I have been wanting Amok for two days now! I I got it for lunch today 🎉🎉yay!!!!! Very tasty with my Carmel Frappuccino. (Starbucks might want to think about adding sprinkles…. it’s a nice touch 🤣

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We has made plans to go see Richie, Vanna and Alice at their hotel. They live here but bcz of Richard’s job, they get free nights at swanky hotels all the time! So they are at the Hyatt Plaza for the weekend. I forgot to take pics, but it was very nice and their room has its own poolside lounge area, so we spent the afternoon there with them! Amazing opportunity. Our hotel has a pool but it’s about the size of a bathtub, so much nicer at the Hyatt🤣🤣!

Troy was wanting a treat from the Fruit Factory!  So we stopped there on the way to the night market!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Home and in bed by decent hour!

When the day can start off at 8:30am with a coffee on the balcony, with a beautiful view and it’s not too hot (only 80), I think I’ve nothing to complain about.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Troy was up and out at the coffee shop with Landon by 7:30 AM.  He assures me that he had, and I quote, the worst tea he’s ever had in his life. That’s so incredibly disappointing. But as a group we weren’t ready to do much until closer to 10 AM. Troy and Landon went to the bookstore and Sam and I went to the market in search of goodies.  I learned a valuable thing today, that I have suspected but never really had solid proof until today. We were having a hard time getting good prices at the market, and Sam said it was because I was there. So she set me off and she returned and was able to get pants for $2.50 I had paid six dollars for. And some other stuff for five dollars that I had a best price of eight dollars for. Crazy. Anyways glad to get those good prices! Realistically even the six dollars was a good price for me. So it all works out. Feel free to look away if the graphic nature of the market is just too much. Sometimes you just don’t wanna know what happens to your food before it makes it to your plate.🤣

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Despite being there herself, Rachael had asked for me for mango in Thailand and I had forgotten but the good news is that there’s plenty of mango in Cambodia so I was able to get some of that for her and Anna back home.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So at lunchtime Richie was able to get away between meetings and everyone decided to meet at this Mexican place. I thought the sign was amazing, enough said.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I wasn’t hungry despite the great marketing, So I went in search of a massage which I was able to secure! $6 one hour foot massage, I was assured if I came back the next day I would get a discount, so I can’t complain about that. As I was wandering around, I saw a street sweeper, Literally a lady sweeping in the street. We see this all over the place here in Siem Reap for sure, it seems like not the most efficient way to clean the streets but I guess it provides employment. I have to say in these temperatures it would NOT be my preferred job.

I also saw a pop up movie theatre! 🤣🤣

Or maybe some kind of group tv watching? In the street, With Lawn chairs…..

 

 

 

 

 

 

It is really pretty here along the River. I was here in 2011 with Brooklyn and Russill, but we mostly just did the Angkor Wat thing for three days! I don’t feel like we explored the city at all! So it’s a bit like my first time in Siem Reap really!

The gang got  back together for supper at a pizza place down on Pub Street. It was really good pizza, six dollars for a margarita pizza seven for a pepperoni pizza. You just can’t beat the prices. Pub Street itself was very chaotic and interesting. I do like their lights and their bling and their music in Cambodia. As you walk down the street, bars are packed together like sardines and every single one has different music very loud and competing with each other. Pretty vibrant place!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After pizza, we want to a bar next door. It was a narrow tube like tunnel design. I suspect it was converted from an alley between two buildings to a bar???  Anyway, cool design but very smoky. No airflow! So I lasted only a short while….

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

UNTIL TOMORROW…..

What an AWESOME welcome we got to SiemReap. It’s always more fun to be places with friends and this just proves it once again!

The day got off to an earlier than necessary start because I got a little confused about the flight time. I set alarm and made plans for an 8:25 AM flight, but as it turns out our plane was actually at 9:45 AM. So we were plenty early. In fact the way I laid it out we would’ve been plenty early for the 8:25 AM flight also. Oh well, as I say, it’s better to be early than late. We sat beside a guy on the plane on the second flight from Bangkok to siem reap that was from The states, Florida. So it was nice to chat with him.  Everything went seamless at the immigration counter, other than it was painfully slow.  I hope visa process in some countries over here is such a money grab.  Thailand is the exception they don’t charge to come into their country if it’s under 30 days. Every other country is somewhere between 30 and $45 just to come in.

The hotel picked us up at the airport in a tuk  Tuk and we got here quickly. It’s been eight years since I was in Siem Reap, I don’t really remember that much of it from before because we were here for four days and we spent all four days touring Angkor Wat, so I am interested to see what the city holds. I love the vibe here it’s a smaller town but they seem to have all the services we like.

When we got to our hotel, the Blanc Smith Residence, Landon and Sam were already here.

It has been a while since we had our towels made into safari animals! It used to happen all the time, maybe its a lost art???

 

So that was  really nice to sit around and chat for a while before Richie came by around 5 PM to meet up. We made one quick stop at the minimart for some cool beverages. Then we all piled into the tuk tuk and headed over to Richie’s new place where Vanna and her friends had been cooking. As it turns out it was quite a large gathering and as is the custom we just sat around, ate family style and enjoyed everyone’s company! My little Alice is growing up ❤

It was simply amazing (even though I got eaten alive by lord knows what!) I don’t think the thai mosquitoes were that interested in me this year, but the Cambodian mosquitoes on the other hand. Very different story! Boo. I’ll be getting the bug spray back out 🤣🤣

When it was time to head back to hotel we were setting to call a tuk tuk when a couple of the other guests said they had a car and would drive us back. We come out and voila! Look at the car. 🤔🤔

 

 

 

 

 

 

how crazy is this??? No idea why someone would ship a Prius over here, but they did apparently. Plates expired in oct 2018. But that doesn’t seem to bother anyone here…..

We have had such good weather this year! So imagine my surprise today when it started raining this morning and it never stopped! It poured and poured. Like a LOT.

We were able to sneak through the drizzle around 5pm to go get supper, but otherwise we were existing on tea, the pastries from Baan Bakery I got yesterday and some roasted peanuts I bought at the market a couple days ago. Today we truly did NOTHING!  I was hoping you get one last massage, but couldn’t even get out for that! That’s how serious the rain was 🤣

Plus i was disappointed in my supper. I ordered Massaman curry at a Thai restaurant I picked just up the street and it was incredibly spicy. Unexpectedly so. Troy had ordered pad Thai so he offered to trade meals with me! Thank goodness. But it still not what I was hoping for! So we went over to the Chiangmai gate food market and got ourselves a fruit shake and some dessert (mango with sticky rice and a milk rotee). Milk rotee is a simple version of the world famous banana pancake we like (ok. Love). She doesn’t put any banana in it and after she fries the dough and drizzles sweetened condensed milk on it, she rolls it up and wraps it in paper and you eat it like that. Really tasty and only 10baht. (30 cents)

The lady that runs/owns? the restaurant we ate at had a bunch of traffic horror stories for us tonight! If I was new around here I’d be terrified to step out on the street. Good thing I know better!

It is our last night in ChiangMai. 😭

I’m mostly sad, but know it’s time to move on. Four weeks in Thailand goes SO FAST! I can’t believe it’s time to leave. We are heading to Siem Reap, Cambodia in the morning to spend 5 days with  friends. I know THAT time will fly by too fast also……

Here’s to the next adventure 🥂

virtually nothing to report as new and exciting today. I managed to get myself to the Baan Bakery in time for pastries today. So that’s an accomplishment 😂😂 I even got enough for two days AND exhibited enough self control to only eat 1/2.

We walked over to the temple that Riam hangs out at as she was going to bring us mangoes from her garden. As it turns out, the pouring rain this morning prohibited her from being able to do that! We did however have a nice visit.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We wandered across the street to a smaller temple where Riam recommended the massage. It was 140 baht so quite inexpensive. I’ve been conditioned to pay 200 baht here in Chiang mai (unless it’s a street massage at Saturday or Sunday night market). I got a footie and Troy got a Thai massage. It was simple and quite relaxing.  Then we went for pizza at La Fontana.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Poor Troy thought we were going for the avocado/salmon appetizer, but now that we make this at George’s (and even better I think) why would I order it here?? 🤔. I think they call that ‘bait and switch’ 😅

So margerita pizza it was! Yum! Then we went across the street to the Corner Bar for a drink. Margaritas all around! Certainly taking a chance on ordering a mixed drink here in my opinion, but the tasty margarita at Le Meridian renewed my faith in such things, so I figured I’d give it a try. Mine was good, but tbh I was a little jealous of Troy’s mango margarita!

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was actually nice to sit and people watch! So that’s what we did, we sat and people watched for a bit, then we walked back past Riam one more time to say goodnight before hitting the 7-11 for a magnum 😂

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

the day was complete….

Troy has a mid day visit planned with a guy named Guage that he has been helping work on a ‘food map of ChiangMai’ website. It just shows what a small world it is when it turns out this guy is American, he is from Washington AND he went to Western Washington University (WWU) in Bellingham. (Rachael’s university!)  so how could Troy NOT help him. Besides you may have noticed, we are slightly passionate about our food here 🤣🤣. I however am happy to let them have their food/guy/techtalk time, and I pass on lunch with them in favour of a walk around Wararot market. All the usual amazing things there and I pride myself in not falling prey to mango sticky rice OR the little sticky rice/coconut pancakes I love so much. The stuffmart and people watching need to be enough for me today!

I was going to head back towards the night bazaar area where I left Troy, but then I  remembered that there is a temple I have been wanting to visit over in this part of town somewhere.

The background: There are 12 years in the Chinese zodiac calendar and each year is represented by a different animal. There are also 12 temples/wats in Asia that represent each one of those years/animals. As it happens, my birthyear, 1970, is the year of the dog and MY temple is right here in ChiangMai. Wat Ket Karam. How could I not have already gone to see it you ask?? I’m not sure, but today is the day.

Now, it was lovely. A Truly lovely little oasis right in the middle of the hustle and bustle of the city. Often I don’t know why or how this occurs, and maybe it’s just my imagination, or the POWER of the mind, but I find the second I step over the threshold onto temple grounds, the sounds and chaos of the city fall magically away and it becomes so quiet and serene. This time was no exception! I do need to note that this is my 11th visit to Thailand and I’m sure I’ve visited well over 100 temples and while there are a lot of restrictions/expectations around dress (for women especially), I’ve never EVER seen a sign expressly prohibiting women. So while I was allowed to go anywhere on the grounds, and in the temple once I’d completely covered myself (which is always pleasant in 100 degree heat😅) , I was NOT allowed up to the Chedi. At all. Hmmmm! Do they not know this is MY temple?????? You can see the sign on the steps and there was one on all four sides 🤔. No excuse for not knowing…..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I was born on a Friday and Troy on a Wednesday, so I took a moment to make a small donation to the correct Buddha that represents the day of our birth. Plus I had to give some coins to the Buddha inside my temple. Why tempt fate????

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In my travels today, and possibly somewhat due to being directionally challenged, I crossed the Mae Ping river a few times. It’s quite low right now due to the severe drought the north of Thailand is experiencing this year. It’s the Worst drought in over 50 years they say. To be honest, it’s nice for me as a tourist to know there won’t be rain in the 10 days I am here, but I know it’s a much bigger problem for the farmers who haven’t had rain and can’t plant their rice fields! I hope it turns around for them soon. (But after I leave). As you can see in the pics, we have a bit more cloud cover today than previous days! It’s dropping the temps a bit, I think it peaked today at 95. Still sporting a nice sweat however🤣🤣

 

 

 

 

 

 

I am starting to fear that I’ve not enjoyed as much Thai food as I should have! We leave for Cambodia on Thursday and I know I won’t be having Thai food there! I see a lot of western food in my near future given our travel companions! I am determined to enjoy some Thai food tonight! When I walked past Mr Kai’s On Sunday night, I noticed the place was packed, so I suggest this as an option. Troy had some kind of Islam/Thai dish for lunch, but is game to try whatever I suggest. Since Ginny Cafe closed, we have struggled with a good solid goto Thai place here. Maybe this will be it??  I ordered Khao Soi Gai, and Troy had chicken with cashew nut. We opened with spring rolls and Troy had a mango/lemon shake and I ordered a banana milkshake. Dang it! I forgot milkshake here isn’t what you think. (It’s not made with ice cream). It’s like a fruit shake with milk in it 🙄. Still good, but always a shock when it’s not what you expect. 😲. Anyway, for me, Khao soi was average. Just NOT Tee’s Khao soi ☹️, we’ve been so spoiled!! Troy said he “wasn’t disappointed” in his meal. So if you know Troy, that’s actually quite an endorsement. He is never particularly emphatic about showing excitement over a meal. Just ask me!  I’ve been cooking for him for almost 30 years. Ok, tbh for those that know ME, I don’t really cook anymore……🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

Once again, I slept until almost 9am! The real world is gonna slap me in the face in a week and a half isn’t it? I am typically a 6-6:30am girl, 7am would be a huge sleep in for me! WHAT IS HAPPENING ? 😂😂

the Baan Bakery is closed on Sundays, (thus my mislaid plan yesterday to get pastries for two days!), so we head right on by when we set out this morning. Troy agreed to walk the moat with me. This is a 4+ mile walk as the moat is a 4 mile square plus the .3 of a mile or so to get to the moat road from our hotel. It is significantly cooler today, maybe 95 tops. I know that doesn’t sound like much of a cool down, but I’ll take it. There was even a little cloud cover 😅. It still didn’t take us long to amend the plan to take a tiny sidetrip to the Central Kad Suan Kaew (the mall) for Swenson’s ice cream. It may seem like we plan a lot of our day around access to food, thinking about food, and accommodating our food needs but honestly we do so more than think about food! I think…..🤔

imagine our disappointment when we discover Swenson’s is gone 😭😭. So now our choices are the weird ice cream shop that replaced Swenson’s or the Dairy Queen. We choose Dairy Queen btw, hands down. So for 85 baht each, we got our favourite blizzards and then we are ready to pursue the moat walk, so back to the moat road we go. We found the location of the place Sweeney told us about yesterday, it is close to where Classic Burgers used to be (they closed down btw) on the NE corner of the old city just inside the wall/moat. We find them and settle in for a delicious meal! They brought us a very delicious starter salad as part of our lunch, then they brought me my pork carnitas grilled cheese sandwich I ordered.

good lord, in a million years I couldn’t eat all this in one sitting! My chapstick for sizing reference. It was a little spicy, but really tasty. They make the sourdough on site apparently. People come in to just buy the bread even! I take second 1/2 ToGo (it’s basically like ordering a George’s meal- it’s two meals!)

The rest of the walk is uneventful and we are back at the hotel by 4:30pm. All 6.2 miles logged on the step counter 😉

I am planning on going back out and hitting the Sunday market, but I see rain clouds rolling in. I’ll wait to see if those clear through. I guess I can finish my sandwich and enjoy this little treat I secured yesterday at the 7-11.❤

 

 

 

 

 

 

It is just shy of 7pm and the temperature had dropped to 78 after the rain clouds rolled through. Feels like market weather!