Friday, September 29 and Saturday, September 30, 2017 – Bangkok and Nagoya

Oh wondrous treat!  We can go to breakfast whenever we want to! The rest of our group left at three a.m. to catch their flight home and we are on our own today.  We enjoy our leisurely breakfast and eat a little extra to hold us until dinner, since our “free” food is over now!  We go back upstairs to finish packing and do a little research on what we’d like to see on our last day.  We come across a temple that’s listed on Trip Advisor under the category “strange and mysterious places”.  Of course that’s what we want to do!

Decorations on an overpass

Downstairs we ask the two concierges for the best way to get there and they want to know why in the world we want to go!  They explain the legend of the pregnant mother whose husband was drafted and died in the war.  She didn’t deliver the baby and eventually they both died.  Some pregnant women go to her shrine to pray for an easy delivery.  Others avoid the place like the plague.

They call us a taxi and we drive clear across town to the Shrine of Mae Nik at the temple, Wat Maha But.  It is a most bizarre temple.  Along with the usual golden, glitzy buildings, there is a flea market quality to the stalls that are scattered all around it.  There are a number of stands selling fish and eels and turtles that can be released into the river as an offering.  Others sell plastic toys and clothing;  and some are food stands.  

And here he is!

The statues are unique, too, along side the standard Buddhas and, of course, Mae Nik’s shrine.  We are particularly interested in finding the animated skeleton we’ve read about.  He’s pretty illusive and we finally search out a young person, since there are no other Caucasians in the entire temple area, and someone fresh out of school just might have a little English.  We find a pair of Malaysian kids who are visiting the temple to pray. “Animated skeleton’ isn’t part of the ordinary English lesson, so we finally locate his photo on line and the young woman asks directions, several times, from the various stall operators.  The couple comes with us until we finally locate this oddity and he is truly pretty odd!!  He was the final goal for this adventure and we’re ready to find a taxi back to our hotel.

A cab pulls right up to us and we hand him our Sheraton card with the map on the back and think we’re home free.  Wellll.  He’s never heard of the Sheraton and stops several times to ask for directions and asks if we want to take the highway (actually, “highway” was the only word we got!) .  That should mean he knows how to get on the expressway, except he doesn’t!  There’s another stop for directions, a u-turn, and finally the toll booth, where we pay the toll and he immediately pulls over to use the restroom!

The meerkat buildings!

Shortly we get off the expressway, at the wrong exit, and are stuck in a traffic jam on the exit ramp.  Now we’re starting to worry about missing our two o’clock check-out time.  We left the temple at noon and thought we’d have no problem.  Finally, after another stop, and some “ok ok ok”s and a big grin, we make it home.  When Ginger pays him he asks for “tip tip tip tip tip”!!!  Really??!!

This is in our hotel lobby.  It is similar to the Emerald Buddha but MUCH less ornate.  You can't take pictures of the real thing.  He is only 66 cm tall;  but the entire structure is huge.  He is really jade, and when he was found, he was covered in white.

We have enough time to go upstairs, gather our luggage and bring it all down to the concierge.  They tag everything and put it in a back storage room and we go off adventuring once again!  Now we’re in search of the flower market and they tell us that we can take the shadow boat from Pier 3, behind the hotel, to Pier 6.  We follow their directions and can add another means of transportation to our repertoire! There’s a little detour through a kind of day market with nothing we need, and then we find the flower market.  There are at least a hundred flower sellers, most of whom seem to have mostly golden marigolds and chrysanthemums.  Perhaps because it is almost autumn or perhaps it has something to do with the king’s funeral, since many of the shrines are decorated with them. 

These are outside our hotel.

Check this off our list and we figure out how to work the boats backwards to the hotel.  We relax a while in the lounge area and then are ready to venture forth once more.  Now we’re looking for a pharmacy, a foot massage and dinner.  And we’re not taking another cab!! 

Just to the left of the hotel is an upscale looking area and we’re directed to a pharmacy where Ginger is able to get some ibuprofen.  They turn out to be horse pills (no – not for horses, just huge) but she gets one down and we’re off.  We walk just a block or two from the hotel and there are lots of massage parlors to choose from.  We walk into one that currently has no customers, rather than the crowded one next door.  It’s a great choice.  The young woman settles us in reclining chairs, washes our feet and then goes next door to get her friend.  Let the pampering begin!  For the next hour we are given the royal treatment, even including a shoulder and head massage at the end.  Magic fingers!  As we return to reality we are offered a cup of tea that seems the perfect ending.  I tried to overpay and she wouldn’t take the money.  Two hundred and fifty bahts is about eight or nine dollars.  I’d do this every day if I lived here!

in our lobby

There are lots of food carts and tiny restaurants to choose from and we walk up and down the street trying to make a selection.  Everything smells so enticing but it sounds like it might rain so we decide to find a place under cover instead of nibbling while we walk.  The one we opt for has Leo beer, which we haven’t tried yet.  It, too comes in the giant bottles and luckily the waitress shows us the bottle when we order two!  One will do nicely, thank you!  We share a most magnificent pad thai with shrimp and a chicken dish that comes with rice and cucumbers.

Back at the hotel we reclaim our luggage from the concierge and wait for our driver.  We have enough time to rearrange things a bit.  Our plan had been to change to traveling clothes;  but we’re so hot and sweaty that we can’t bear to put on clean clothes!  While we’re trying to decide which door to wait by, a nice-looking and efficient appearing man walks up and asks, “Sinorama?” Yep, that’ us! 

He and the doorman stash our suitcases in the trunk and we’re off across town to the large and busy international airport.  Our driver drops us off near the JAL counter, which is in row R.  The rows go past T if that gives any idea of how many airlines fly from here!

Both our bags are still under the weight limit and Ginger fesses up that she doesn’t have her departure card.  No problem, the agent gives her a blank one to fill out and we’re off to passport control and customs and Duty Free Land!  There are some adorable little elephant-shaped soaps that Iori and Sakurako might find amusing and a chocolate liqueur that Tae might enjoy.  It has to go in my already shoulder-smashing backpack because that darn duvet is my second carry on!

Even with the moving walkways, or Travelators, it’s quite a hike to gate 5C.  Before we enter, we present our passports and boarding passes and later we learn that we won’t have to do that again.  It certainly speeds up the boarding process to have that out of the way already! After the passport check, we don’t see any “gate” per se, just several long rows of seats next to a descending ramp.  We’re really early since we followed the three-hours rule for international flights.  Almost no one else is here.  Finally we see the flight crew go down the ramp and soon passengers start to follow them.  The official gate is down here and it’s about time to board.  It is very civilized.  The Diamond Group boards, then the next three is rapid succession.  No one pushes or seems to feel the need to get in front of anyone else.

The ticket agent had been very pleased to tell us we were sitting together;  but our seats were 26A and 26C.  It turns out there is no 26B!  Yay!  We are scheduled to take off at midnight thirty and are pretty close to on time.  It’s been a long day and it would be lovely to sleep a while.  Oh well.  After four hours the cabin lights come back up and a varied breakfast is served with cut up fruit, a green salad with ranch dressing, curried potato salad with lettuce and a cherry tomato, yogurt with a bit of mango(?) and an omelet with hash browns and a hot dog (not an unusual Japanese offering in breakfast restaurants).  Somehow, the idea of eating at four a.m. isn’t all that appealing;  but the fruit is welcome and so is the water and tea.

We fill out the customs forms, gather our passports, and prepare to deplane, once again.  We have to tell the agent where we’ll be staying and write Andy’s name and address; but we don’t have it.  His phone number suffices and I have become Andy’s aunt.  It seems easier.

After running the government gauntlet, we finally are reunited with Tae, Sachiko, Iori and Sakurako!  The kids are so much bigger!!  And beautiful!  It is wonderful to see Tae and her mom again!  We pile our luggage into the van and sit back to enjoy!!

It’s around eight in the morning here, and we choose a Japanese-style tea house over a coffee house.  Good choice!  We go down a hall way, turn a corner, go a little further and enter a room which is all ours.  The treats here are all made from chestnuts!  There is a paste-like one, a cookie, and an ice cream served in a chocolate cone.  Tae chooses that one and shares it with the kids, Satchiko and I have the paste and Ginger has the cookie. They are served on silver leaf-shaped plates with a pointed stick with a flat side that you use you cut off a piece.  Then you use the pointed end to transport it to your mouth.  We all have hot green tea, that is made by adding hot water to a powder and whisking it.  (Sorry, no photos!  Camera and phone still buried!)

We go home and stash our bags in the house that Satchiko shares with her father.  She has moved in to take care of him.  We’ll be sleeping here; but spending our days in the house next door, with the kids.  As soon as we’ve unloaded, everyone goes off to the cemetery, including grandfather and Satchiko’s cousin, to visit the grave of Tae’s grandmother.  Many other family members are buried here as well and flowers are placed at all the graves.  The kids help change the water.

modern style

traditional style

Back home we finally get to play with the kids! They love Duplos!  Iori builds a series of robots, some of which fly and shoot fire, and Sakurako builds giraffes. He is very verbal and has some mad English skills for a four-year old!  She is quiet but understands a great deal.

It’s already lunch time!  We go to Andy’s favorite odum noodle place.  Sorry he’s still at work!  You choose the kind of noodles and receive a bowl, then go down the line and choose some tempura yummies, like a nest of onion and other veggies, or lotus or shrimp.  Then you put some toppings on your noodles, like sesame or ginger or little green onions, and add the hot broth from a spigot (Tae does this for us!) and we’re off to find a table and dig in!  No wonder this is Andy’s favorite place!

On the way home we stop at the grocery store.  It’s always fascinating to see all the vegetables that we don’t have at home and the dozens of different varieties of mushrooms. I have a mission to find cans of Coke with coffee!  Stu heard about this and he and his co-workers want to try it!  It is only available in Japan but there isn't any in this grocery story.  Tae looks it up on line and finds that it is only available in vending machines, so we'll be on the watch.  Later Andy says that it is a really hot item, with some people buying up cases and selling them on eBay and Amazon.  The kids buy a can and take a selfie while they're drinking it for their Instagram and Twitter feeds.

Now that we’re stuffed as well as exhausted it’s time to take a nap.  Satchiko has bought new futons for us and we all work at unwrapping them and setting them up in the eight-tatami room next door.  Then they get a mattress cover and pillows with pillow cases covered with a towel and duvets stuffed into new covers.  Oh, it feels so good to close our eyes for a couple of hours.  And when we wake up Andy is home from school!!  What a great reunion between Ginger and Andy!!

Tae has made us a roast beef dinner!  Beautiful slices of beef with mashed potatoes and green salad with homemade dressing!  Quite a treat after two weeks of Asian delicacies!  I never thought I’d get tired of buffets or Thai food;  but this is a welcome change – and so delicious!

More time to play with the kids and start to catch up with Andy until we can’t keep our eyes open!  Great day (or is that two?) and we go next door, quietly creep in so as not to wake Satchiko, and we’re asleep in seconds!