Better late than never.....

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY TO THE GREATEST DADDY IN THE WORLD!

I LOVE YOU SO MUCH DAD! 

HAVE A WONDERFUL FATHER'S DAY! 

WE WILL SEE YOU IN PARIS IN A FEW DAYS...MAYBE IN ZUG EVEN EARLIER!!!!

Bye Bye Bangkok

Andreas and I cut our time in other destinations in Southeast Asia in order to return to Bangkok for a few extra days of fun and sightseeing before heading to Israel. We only had two extra days....which was not enough time to fit in EVERYTHING we wanted to do there....but our time was fantastic! We plan to return some day....hopefully soon!

First Class Movies
Our first night back in Bangkok, we took the advice of Sandra and Manu, and checked out the Siam Paragon First Class Movie Theater to see nothing other than...The Hangover 2. The movie was set in Bangkok, which made it fun because Andreas and I could pick out locations in the movie that we also had visited in the past month. However, that was the only good thing about the film...it made us laugh...but it was an exact repeat of the first Hangover movie. Oh, and I must mention that before the movie began, we had to stand and pay respect to the king by watching a video (with background music tied in) of the king making various appearances around the country. I was trying to imagine how that would play out in the USA...please stand to pay respect to Obama before the start of Bridesmaids.....I don't think so!!!
Anyways, check out the real reason we went.....for the 'first class experience!' 

Getting comfortable in my reclining chair...with a blankie! I had ordered some dinner...it was on its way. There were only about 15 cubicles in this theater....pretty nice!

Andreas cuddling up with his blanket....waiting for his popcorn and coke to arrive!

The Le Meridien
This hotel was one of the main reasons we wanted to return to Bangkok for a few more nights. Not only was the staff super welcoming, but the hotel was top-notch! The buffet breakfast was nothing short of delicious...we looked forward to it every morning!!! (I also have to mention our favorite restaurant, Mango Tree. The hotel recommended it to us early into our stay in Thailand and we fell in love with this place....the food was great and inexpensive...just had to give it a little shout-out! ;-)

So many choices...what to choose, what to choose!

Nothing says breakfast like complimentary champagne

The area for Platinum Guests....how does the other half live?

The fruit station...every fruit you could imagine was here!

The bread station....our favorite was the almond croissant with apples inside...yum!

Room 2424 was our room. It was by far, our favorite accommodation while on this trip! We loved it!

The Grand Palace 
On our final day in Bangkok, we got our acts together and made it out of the hotel before the palace closed for the day. It was a luxurious site....definitely worth the visit.  So, even though Andreas took most, if not all, of the above photos...these are a few of my favorites through his eyes.

 

A small-scale copy of Angkor Wat. Why did we go to Cambodia?

I was growing a little bored...and extremely hot....so I needed him to entertain me a little.

I made him take this silly photo...but then I had to endure an explanation from him on how to be respectful at the palace...NO MORE FUN....THE PALACE IS A ZERO FUN ZONE!!!! (at least I got the photo I wanted ;-)

Well that concludes our time in Thailand, and Southeast Asia in general. We absolutely loved our time in this part of the world. We are already discussing when we can return.

We hope you enjoyed this post. Heading to Israel now...expect a post very soon from The Holy Land!

ICE CREAM - 'Probably' the best in Samui

Andreas and I met our friends, Sandra and Manu, in Koh Samui for a few days of fun before saying goodbye to Thailand....for now....


Nothing says Thailand like an ELEPHANT RIDE!
So, let's start this post out with our elephant ride on Dumbo...really, that was her name.

I did no hesitate at all...I was ready to show some love to this little elephant!

And now for far too many pictures of us on the elephant...couldn't pick just one....

VIDEO:
Takin' An Elephant Ride
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qc1j-d2TY9M

I was allowed to climb forward and sit on her head! We rode like this for about 15 min before I traded seats with Andreas.

She is smiling for the camera!

Nothing ever scares him...but he was reluctant to climb on her head for a ride.

While he hung on for dear life...I had not a care in the world.

Finally...he let go for a photo...it was like asking him to take his hands off the wheel of a motorcycle...he was nervous...so cute!

Saying hello!

The coconut-size elephant poo!

Sorry, but this family had to make it into my blog. You know those people, everybody does, who think the world revolves around them and ONLY them...to this family (yes, the man with the funny hat with his wife and two kids) the world was theirs...the rest of us just took up space in their world! They had us wait at their hotel for 20 min...while they ate breakfast and got their crap together to come to the elephant park. When they got in the back of the tuk tuk...they didn't even bother to apologize for making us wait so long...for the scheduled pick up they were 20 min late for.....Ok, just had to throw that in there...I FEEL BETTER NOW!

VIDEO:
Pee Pee Ele
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9VQBOsoMZU

RAIN SHOWER!

It's like she is trying to speak to me...I know it!!!

This was our elephant guide...while I was driving...he was trying to hold on to an elephant in front of us...he lost that tug of war fight!

Baby Elephant taking a walk

The ride came with a few battle scars...Mosquitoes had a field day with my left leg.

This was the professional photo we purchased before the ride began....we had no idea that the driver would allow us to ride on the elephants head and that he would take 20+ photos for us along the ride...for a nice fee of course!

Heading home from the elephant ride in the back of a TukTuk....really it was the bed of a truck with a metal roof over it...real safe...hold on tight! I was so happy from riding the elephant...I could have fallen out of that truck bed and still had a smile on my face.

Soccer Golf
This was pretty awesome...until the monsoon rains came in and ruined the game. For the record...we were unable to finish the game, but if memory serves correctly...I was winning before the rain came....so I WON!!!  ;-) (if you object to this claim...please file complaints with the OSGA - Official Soccer Golf Association...please don't contact me.)
Note by editor: I DO OBJECT!!!!

It was like mini golf...with a soccer ball. Does anyone know where we can play this in NYC???

Look at that form!!!! Beautiful!!!

Right through the tree...heading for the green!

This was our rental car...for 4 people! I grew to love her...and appreciate the leg room one receives in a normal car.

Dinner with the Tom Cruise of Samui

VIDEO:
Thai Tom Cruise
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLgYZIbqPZI

Dinner at The Cliff - it was the gals night to choose...we think we chose well....I mean, we had the Thai Tom!!!!!

The Regatta 
We heard there was the 10th annual Samui Regatta happening while we were in town. So, Andreas found a boat that would take us out to watch to racing for one morning. However, we had no idea that the boat was a media boat...with reporters, camera crews and 'celebrities' aboard.

We found a good spot in the sun...

view from the boat

The sun-bathing was more interesting than the boat racing.....

Look....way way way way way the hell out there...u see the regatta boats. (Awesome...going back to our sun bathing chairs)

Poppin' the collar!

a few of the camera crews....

This photo was zoomed in...nothing was this close to our boat.

Oh, they are so cool...they must be the celebrities on board!

This picture SUMS UP the entire Regatta....A Total Snooze-Fest!

After the Regatta, we headed over to the Big Buddha...just to check it out! I found a little excitement in the bells surrounding the Buddha.

VIDEO:
Buddha Bells
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=32uQ27Laxbw

Sunset at Nikki Beach
On our last evening in Samui, we went to Nikki Beach to see the sunset before heading over to the Happy Elephant for some dinner on the beach.

Beautiful Sunset!

Andreas working on his second Mojito! They were pretty delicious!

The Happy Elephant! I will NEVER forget this restaurant...because I ate the spiciest meal I have EVER tasted in my life. There was sweat pouring off of my face and it took a good 30 minutes to regain feeling in my mouth. However, I am my own worst enemy because I ate every bite of my dish...it was killing me, but still tasted too good to stop eating! ;-)

Awww! We already miss you two!

Ran into this gem of Asian advertising after dinner....this place didn't want to make an absolute statement that might be false...so they claim it's Probably the best ice cream in Samui.

We were sad to say goodbye to Sandra & Manu AND to Thailand! We will be back...hopefully soon! This country was easily one of our most favorite places during our travels.

We now head back to Bangkok for a few more days before heading to Israel.

Hope you enjoyed the post...miss you all!

See you both again soon...in Khao Lak! ;-)