Ok, instead of recounting the final chapter of my nightmare at the driving center, I instead give you the first chapter of last week's vacation in Thailand. Frankly, I don't want to think about the driving thing any more... this is much more fun. Here are the first two days... I'll post more later. Also, I'm excited to say that I've managed to upload all my thai pictures courtesy of Yahoo (to which I'm in the process of switching...Hotmail is garbage!!!). Here's the link (click on the "thailand" album)... sorry there are no descriptions but with 135 pictures, that would take a darn long time.

Thailand Day #1
Flew Thai Air from Narita to Phuket to Bangkok. Grabbed a taxi from the airport and took a wild guess as to which Marriott was ours. We were right with our first guess and they rolled out the red carpet for us. We were upgraded to a lovely suite with wood floor, marble bathroom, living room, tropical fruit basket, and loads of fuchsia orchids scattered around. Also were invited to partake in a free breakfast buffet, free cocktail hour, & free daily laundry service. I’m still not used to dating a business traveler!

We took showers and walked to the adjacent shopping mall for dinner. Had Thai food: pad thai, green curry (with a vicious red chili pepper), bean/tofu soup, and a spicy seafood salad w/two big Singha beers (the national brew). Spicy and delicious. Finished w/some DQ before wandering back to the hotel grounds. It is beautiful w/lush gardens, floating plumeria and the orchids in every corner- toches, white Christmas lights wrapped around palm trees, all along the river front. It is quiet in a huge city and the perfect, most comfortable temperature. I don’t remember turning off the lights.

Day #2
Woke around 8am and headed to free breakfast downstairs on the riverside terrace. Fresh juice’ guava, orange, pineapple, watermelon, papaya. Banana crepes, pancakes, cereal, eggs, fruit, bread, and on and on. Felt like a spoiled little rich white girl, but enjoyed it thoroughly.

We caught a taxi to Hualomphong train station intending to rush off on the first train to Ayutthaya- but the next train was a full 2 hours away. With much bitter grumbling we wandered around the train station, toyed with venturing out to do city sightseeing, but then decided to stick closer to the trains. Settled on a 45 minute foot massage for Tom while I perused our guide book on Ayutthaya.

Finally boarded the 3rd class train- fans with no AC, open windows but very sticky hot. The bench seat we were sitting on acting like a teeter-totter, switching positions was very tricky. There were plenty of other non-Asian tourists, but the train was 95% locals. Lots of food venders were hawking unfamiliar snacks and cold drinks up and down the aisles. Watched Bangkok SLOWLY turn into fields and into Ayutthaya over a 2 hour ride. Was very hot and ready to be off the train when we arrived.

Got swept away by an overly aggressive though seemingly nice tuk-tuk driver (a mini-truck with an electric engine?? You ride in the back bed of the truck clinging to the sides or the roof) and turned down his offer of a tour for a ride to lunch. Didn’t realize we’d be turning them down literally all day long. Had more spicy noodles and fried rice (plus lime and pineapple juice) in a crowded mall-like alley way with everyone openly staring at us. Got the tuk-tuk driver to leave us be at the entrance of the first temple.

We visited:
• Wat Phra Mahathat (Buddha face in tree roots)
• Wat Ratburana (tall, ancient stupa w/stairs)
• Wat Mongkhon Bophit (line of Stupas & flowering trees)
• Wat Phra Si Sanphet (big, gold Buddha, no pictures though!)
• Wat Yai Chai (reclining, gold Buddha)
• Wat Phanan Choeng (Chinese temple, huge, gold Buddha)

Finally decided we’d seen enough temples and were melted so caught the AC bus back to Bangkok. Showered and went to eat at a great Pizza Hut knock off (why can Japan not figure out American pizza?) then ventured out for two hour full-body Thai massages. Relaxed watching the “Panic Room” with Thai subtitles as two strong Thai ladies pushed, pulled, poked, and generally untied the two of us from our stressed out knot-ted states. It was wonderful.