THE GRAND PALACE AND PEARL

One of Pearl's very favorite spots on Earth is the Grand Palace in Bangkok.  All the kings of Thailand lived here, except for the current one and Chulalongkorn.  Just to get your history correct, King Chulalongkorn is the son of King Mongkut, to the left, who was the depicted king in the King and I.  Does he look like Yul Brynner?  It was never explained why Mongkut got ill at the age of 63 and died, but, apparently, he became sick after viewing the solar eclipse of 1867.

I've never been much of a tourist, and it showed.  I thought I would catch the Sky Train from the Sheraton Grande to the stop at the Chao Phraya River next to the Shangri-La Hotel.  From there, I would then take the Orange Line Express Boat to the Grand Palace.  

So when I got to the river I boarded something that looked right, and waited a long time before it started, but only crossed the river.  Clearly I was in the wrong boat, so I had to pay double, about 20 cents, to go back.  I then went to the correct spot, but the line was so long that I for my stupidity qualified me to cut in line.  It takes some skill to do this.  I hear you could pay at the end of the trip, but, it turns out you need to  give about 75 cents to the lady with the noisy coin box.

Now, this water boat goes very fast and sprays water all around.  At one point a slug of water hit my face.  The Ala Wai Canal is pristine compared to the Chaya Phraya, so I suddenly got worried about contracting some terrible disease.  

No one seemed to be collecting the boat fee at arrival, so I saved some money.  I then walked to the entrance of the Grand Palace, and stood in a slow moving line for 15 minutes before I noticed that everyone in line were in shorts and slippers or the equivalent, and they were told to rent something to cover them.  Mistake #2.  

The entrance fee is about $11.  I mostly spent time looking for the ideal ash scattering site.  This was it:

The highlight of all this 100 building opulence is the Emerald Buddha.  Here is the photo I took a little more than a year ago.

It is disappointing, but the Emerald Buddha is not made of emerald, but green jade.

I took the same boat back and "forgot" to pay again.  Then on to Chatuchak Weekend Market:

 where I bought 8 pairs of socks and a device for $1.25 that apparently sews.  I previously bought a jogging pants, but need to shorten it.

For tonight, I haven't decided to have a McDonald's hamburger and beer, or try the fancy Kisso in the Westin Grande across the street.

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BANGKOK TODAY

The Kingdom of Thailand, once known as Siam, is headed by King Bhumidol Adulyadej (Rama IX), now leader for more than 60 years, the longest serving current head of state.  Everything seems back to normal, which is not to say that all is well, for the National Assembly is finalizing plans to censure the government headed by Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva.  No problem with the King, as he also is commander in chief of the Armed Forces.  Well, let me rephrase this.  He has been in the hospital for a year and a half now and is 83 years old.

Bangkok today is like what it was before those riots.  The only relatively new thing I can remember is that there is now an actual electronics market called Pantip Plaza which is best accessed by taxi, for it is in a dead spot away from the mass transit systems.  Picture Akihabara squashed into one large five story building and you have this mostly computer arcade.  All sorts of counterfeit DVDs ($2.50 for Avatar) and software sold here.  Across the street is Pratunam shopping area where you can buy mostly clothing.  Then there is the Chatuchak Weekend Market on 35 acres with unimaginable variety.  The Suan Lum Night Market opposite Lumpini Park is now officially closed.  Of course, there is Patpong Night Market, where, in addition to street vendors selling a variety of fake stuff, there is sex for sale.

Just when you thought you know how their mass transit system works, there is a surprise.  First of all, there are three separate mass transit systems, and they don't recognize each other.  You need separate tickets or passes for each.  They don't even share any stations.  Anyway, the Skytrain is the best of the lot, although the MRT subway is okay.  The third is the Suvarnabhumi Airport Rail Link.  

Taxis are relatively cheap, and busses are even more economical, but there is a wide range of fares depending on distance, air-conditioning and a bunch of other factors.  Then there are the tuk-tuks (which you don't see much of anymore) and motorcycles.

From the airport to town and town to airport, the cheapest way is FREE using the airport shuttle bus.  The S. Airport Rail Link is around $5, same for the Airport Express Bus, taxi in the range of  $13 and airport limousine closer to $35.  The Sheraton Grande Sukhamvit limousine costs around $70.

Speaking of air travel, Thai Air has given an ultimatum to their overweight people, as women flight attendants need to stay below a Body Mass Index of 25, with 27.5 for men.  See if your job is in trouble:

Of course, Air India tried this and ended up hiring them back.

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SINATRA, KEY CLUB, 1959...at the Sheraton Sukhumvit

It was more than half a century ago that Frank Sinatra sang at the Key Club in Los Angeles, accompanied by Nelson Riddle on the piano, Buddy Rich on the drums and others.   They all earlier were with Tommy Dorsey.  Peter Lawford was there...or was this all a fantasy?  

Well, opening night of "Frankly...I was a Fool for Love," with Richard Shelton, who almost looked like Sinatra, and almost sang like him, was a wonderful success at the Sheraton Sukhamvit.  Shelton has played Sinatra on various gigs, mostly in Las Vegas and the UK.  The evening started for me with free drinks at Bar Su and The Library.

Dinner followed at Rossini's, a three course Italian, starting with a warm burrata cheese salad with tomato sauce, black olives and carasan bread, then on to a grilled beef tenderloin with roasted potatoes and truffles sauce.  I couldn't quite figure out what the taste/smell was, sort of like sweat, until I realized this was truffles.  Amazing what an expensive ingredient can do to your attitude.  A 2007 Terrazas Reserva Cabernet Sauvignon ( California,14%, $26) was served.  

Then came an incredible hot chocolate foam over rum crushed ice:

I was shown to my table, at the very end of the room, because I made my reservations only hours before.  So, more as a joke, I asked if there was anything closer.  My waitress proceeded to wheel my table to the front, and I became the front row.   I was so astounded I did not have the reaction time to help her.  I noticed a bottle of Jack Daniels on the set, so I asked for the same over ice.  The show, in the Living Room, was almost filled, and the experience was electric.  Shelton sang 15 Sinatra songs, laced with the mystic appearance of Ava:

The group behind Sinatra was composed of Nelson Riddle on the piano, Bobby Brown on bass and Buddy Rich playing drums.  Lawford moderated.

An hour and a half later, the program concluded, and as Shelton walked off the stage, he asked me if I wanted anything else, so I asked for "My Way."  As an encore, he complied.  Great show!

COUNTRY #168: Namibia

Welcome, country #168:

NAMIBIA POPULATION: 2,108,665

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Background

South Africa occupied the German colony of South-West Africa during World War I and administered it as a mandate until after World War II, when it annexed the territory. In 1966 the Marxist South-West Africa People's Organization (SWAPO) guerrilla group launched a war of independence for the area that became Namibia, but it was not until 1988 that South Africa agreed to end its administration in accordance with a UN peace plan for the entire region. Namibia has been governed by SWAPO since the country won independence in 1990. Hifikepunye POHAMBA was elected president in November 2004 in a landslide victory replacing Sam NUJOMA who led the country during its first 14 years of self rule. POHAMBA was reelected in November 2009.

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ANOTHER ATMOSPHERIC FEAST

It took nearly 20 hours, from leaving home in Honolulu to arriving at the Sheraton Grande Sukhamvit Hotel in Bangkok.  However, getting there can be half the fun.  My philosophy when flying is, "if free, every drink not drunk is money wasted."  I'm not sure my body, and liver in particular, would agree, but it makes for an enjoyable flight.

The day begun in the Red Carpet Club with a Bloody Mary (1).  The Noon flight boarded at 11:10AM, and started with a Delapierre Champagne (2, 11.5%).  The plane took off at 12:15, and we were served a 1998 Henriot Brut Millesime Champagne (3, 12%), which, according to the write-up, was supposed to taste of cooked pears and toasted nuts.  Did not quite sense those  essences.  But note the year, 1998, for this bottle can be purchased for $75.

Then came a 2009 Groom Vineyards Sauvignon Blanc (4, 12.8%) from Australia (pear, melon, citrus), which I had with a Kahlua corn vanilla bisque, a truly terrific soup.  The next course was a Malayan beef skewer with  curry sauce.  At this point the flight had traveled 500 miles, about an hour.

A 2007 Buena Vista Chardonnay (5, 13.5%), having a mango and pineapple aroma in a creamy toasty background, was poured with the salad, which was very fresh and artistic:

with seasonal greens, strawberries, daikon, mandarin oranges and a balsamic vinaigrette.  I had to show this dish because here we are, seven miles in the air and traveling at the muzzle velocity speed (500 miles/hour) of a pistol bullet, and the salad looked impossibly fresh.

I had a Kirin beer (6) and Geikkeikan daijingo sake (7, 13.5%) with the Waishoku Zen:  apppetizers of layered egg, salmon temari, burdock wrapped in glazed beef, shrimp with eggs, seared tuna with wasabi dressing and somen nooodles in simmered shiitake mushrooms.

The main course was a seared monkfish with nannan, simmered daikon, oyster mushrooms and sauteed vegetable.  Of course, steamed rice, Japanese pickled vegetables and green team.

This is what a monkfish really looks like:

We were now 1000 miles from Hawaii at 36,000 feet.  With the dessert, old fashioned hot fudge sundae and Maple blue artisan cheese, I had a 2008 Domaine des Senechaux Chateneauneuf Pape (8, 14.5%, only $28).  This French wine is generally overpriced, and is in the range of 65% Grenache, 20% Syrah and 15% Mourvedre.  In tandem I had a 2005 Graham's late bottled Vintage Port (9, 19.5%, $20), a rich, opulent and max body wine that made the CP taste like water.  (The 9 means my ninth drink, 19.5% indicates that this is an alcohol enhanced wine and $20 is the cost per bottle.)

I then watched the best movie I've yet seen this year with a White Label scotch (10) on the rocks.  Can you imagine a 2010 film directed by Clint Eastwood, produced by Steven Spielberg, starring Matt Damon...and I never even heard of it?  It only received limited distribution.  Entitled The Hereafter, it is about a psychic who abandoned his gift (frankly, as chapter 5 of SIMPLE SOLUTIONS for Humanity  indicates, I don't believe in these types of paranormal phenomena--but for this movie, it works, and, who knows, if 90% of Americans believe in an afterlife, and I don't, maybe I'm wrong), calling it a curse, but finds happiness at the end.  

The very first scene is about the effects of that 26December2004 tsunami at Khao Lack: 

with the special effects scarily effective.  The movie suggests that some traumatic brain trauma can induce this communicative capability.

After the film I had a Bailey's Cream (11, 17%) with coffee, and rested.

The second meal was a pork tonkatsu with curry sauce and udon noodles, which I had with another Kirin beer (12).  It was okay, but nothing close to the Nagasaki version, where it was invented.  I'm looking forward to this meal in a couple of weeks.  

My United First Class experiences the past couple of years have been dismal, at least compared with Lufthansa and Singapore Air.  However, this flight was superb with good service and exceptional food.  I took this photo of Vivian Chisato Tanaka, who told me she roomed with Joyce Harada Patrick during their PanAm days.  Joyce was in the same nursing class with Pearl at St. Francis, and was responsible for organizing the ceremony for "Pearl's Leaf."

The approach to Narita was eerie and beautiful:

I had an hour in the United First Class (one floor above the Red Carpet Club), and had a snack with a Yamazaki Single Malt (13) on rocks with maguro and hamachi sushi, edamame, soba noodles and cream of mushroom soup.

Then off to Bangkok, where they served a Delapierre Champagne (14).   My final meal of the day was an outstanding series beginning with sesame pork, vegetable sushi, Mesclun mix with shiso vinaigrette and an excellent Braised short ribs with BBQ plum sauce, macadamia nut potato pancakes, curry glazed mushrooms and a vegetable medley.  My final drinks to accompany all this was a 2006 Truchard Merlot (15, 14.2%, $20) from California and a third Kirin beer (16).

Kind of a waste, but I did not exactly consume every drop of each drink.  

Twenty hours, but three days--left on March 1 and arrived just after midnight on March 3, I made it from the Suvarnabhumi New Bangkok Airport to the Sheraton Grand Sukhamvit Hotel in twenty minutes.  It is reported that you can catch a cheaper meter taxi outside to take you into town for $10, as it is safe, but I would recommend going with the AOT limousine which you sign up for and pay in the terminal.  While the cost is $30, the service is good and car reasonably luxurious.  There is also a bus for $4.  Ignore the touts.

The Sheraton Grande Sukhumvit has become my favorite hotel in Bangkok.  I've stayed at the Oriental and Shangrila, but now that I'm a Platinum member with Starwood, I got upgraded into a suite (the largest hotel room I've had in all my years of traveling), will have free internet, evening cocktails, laundry and breakfast:

...and this is only part of the Japanese table.  You also have access to Western, Thai and Chinese breakfasts and stations for omelets and fruits.  The hotel is next to both Sky Train (less than $3 for an all day pass) and subway stations, and those street stalls line both sides of the Sukhamvit.  Across the street is the Westin.  

It is overcast today, as the view from my room shows:

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Those Dow Jones Industrial Average and Oil details to the right will suffice on my Orient trip.

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GOODBYE HAWAII, ON TO NARITA, AND HELLO BANGKOK

This is a strange blog day, for I leave Honolulu at Noon on Tuesday, March 2, arrive in Narita at 5PM their time on Wednesday, March 3, and finally land in Bangkok at just after midnight on Thursday, March 4.  Thus, my next posting could be on that date, unless I keep using my Hawaii time.  All in all, pretty confusing.  Here is my greeting just before landing at Narita in Tokyo.

How's this for a fine snack at the United First Class Lounge in Narita:

Maguro and hamachi sushi, edamame, cream of mushroom soup and soba, with some Yamazaki single malt.

Anyway, I'm on to Bangkok, will catch the Eastern Oriental Express to Singapore, then on to Tokyo, Beijing, Seoul, back to Tokyo, then Shinkansen to the Cherry Blossoms throughout Japan.  I will stop by the River Kwai Bridge that Colonel Nicholson, played by Alec Guinness, tried to protect.  The Colonel Bogey March was the theme song, but real Colonel Bogey had nothing to do with the movie or plot.