Test Driving Spike's New Ride

on a completely unrelated matter

Ms KoalaT, you got style, where ever you travel to.

Feb. 2007 Vacation

We began our vacation in Hong Kong with the Chinese New Years celebrations starting with dinner with Phil's co-worker HJ. She fed us for hours - a delicious hot pot meal.

We continued the year of the Pig festivities at the Chinese New Years Parade. The parade was pretty good although not as big as San Francisco's.

Unfortunately, the Hong Kong Disney float died right in front of us and eventually got moving again without lights and music.

The next night, we watched the fireworks display with some of Phil's friends from work. They were spectacular but very hard to photograph.

After all the celebrating we were off to Bangkok Thailand. We stayed at the Shang-ri-la Hotel on the river. Excellent location right next to the Air Train and the many river taxis which enabled us to go see the Emerald Buddah and its temples.

The Reclining Buddah

and we took a Tuk Tuk (motorcycle-like taxi) to

the Golden Buddah. All the Buddah's were incredible works of art besides being amazing religious statues.

We went on a tour of the Floating Market (featured in a James Bond movie) and

even took a break and rode an elephant.

We also visited an Elephant park which featured an Elephant Show

and Alligator Wrestling which consisted of two guys dragging alligators by their tails and putting their heads in the alligator's mouth.

I even posed for a photo with a baby elephant.

Also included in the tour were visits to an orchid farm, furniture factory (the carved tables and wall carvings were fantastic) and a sapphire & ruby factory (showroom). It was a long day. We also went to the Weekend Market which is a huge enclosed and open air market place where you can shop for anything.

We went on a dinner cruise along the river courtesy our hotel - The Shangrila (named after that special place in Lost Horizon)

and another night we watched Thai Kick Boxers battle it out. We also found an Irish pub & restaurant where the expats were watching football (soccer).

Then we left Bangkok for Phuket on the southwest coast of Thailand. It is better known as being hit by the Tsunami in 2004.

The area we stayed in, which is part of Karan Beach, showed no signs of the Tsunami and it was very beautiful.

I must say that one of the highlights for me was meeting the baby elephant that visited the Le Meridien Hotel twice a day to pose for photos with the guests, get tomatoes and bananas from friendly hotel workers and guests, and go for a short dip in the ocean.

The private beach was beautiful and far less busy than the beach in Patong.

However, the place to be at night was Patong with its bars, shops and restaurants.

Especially where the dogs lie on the bar.

We even went to Rock City where bands play homage to heavy metal bands like Van Halen and Metallica. I liked the giant gorilla hanging from the wall.

One of the days we went to visit the main part of Karan Beach which was more laid back than Patong Beach but with a beautiful view as well.

Then we made our way a little farther south to Kata Beach which was even more laid-back.

There we managed to track down the small bar owned by a friend of my co-worker. It was called Manana Manana where Phil and I stopped to rest and it was right across the street from the beach which was by far the quietest beach that we came across.

The town of Kata seemed to be undergoing a building boom so more hotels may make it become more popular like its northern neighbors.

Unfortunately, our trip to Phukett was too short to go out on the day trips of some more famous Islands like Phi Phi, Monkey and James Bond (also in one of those movies). And Phil was sad that he could not go scuba diving as it is supposed to be very good diving around the islands. We did gather many brochures and vow to return someday to see the sights we missed.

Also we want to see how the Le Meridien frog is doing and how big the baby elephant gets.

Then it was back to Hong Kong for a few days before leaving for San Francisco.

We did manage to stop by a very cute restaurant very close to Phil's apartment called Chococat which had 5 cats residing in it.

They were very well mannered cats and didn't seem to mind the customers trying to take their photos. I cannot imagine the US Health Department ever allowing such a restaurant here, but it sure would be fun.

Finally I was off for my 12 hour return trip to San Francisco.

My tip for such a long trip. Singapore Airlines is far nicer to travel by than United. However, remember to sit several rows back from the movie screens in each section as they offer parents with infants the front seats near the screens. That's because they also give them detachable cribs that go into the screen walls. Unfortunately, 12 hours in close proximity to unhappy babies is not a good thing. However, I watched many movies out of the over 80 videos offered.

That's it. We hope you enjoyed the attached photos too.

Joanne & Phil

P.S. Bonus photos

These are 1. Hong Kong ad for Hello Kitty wedding on MTR billboard. 2. 6 cherry Shirley Temple. 3. Thai Ronald McDonald. 4. Mickey Mouse Bar at Patong Beach.