Shopping Spree

Our last day in Bangkok and we are hitting the malls. We have allocated all day as there are an insane amount of malls here, each are several floors and I'm talking 6, 7, 8 floors each! We didn't visit them all (as we only allocated 1 day!) but we did go to Terminal 21, Siam Paragon/Discovery and MBK. Each was completely different to the other - even Daniel liked the shopping and that speaks volumes!

Lets start with MBK - 8 floors of fake goods! No joke. Each floor had different items on it so there was the souvenir floor, clothes, phones and other tech, bags, I could go on. We walked around pretty much every floor and got some bargain souvenirs. The phone/tech floor was a little concerning when you see several booths selling phone numbers - what if you saw your own phone number there! Luckily we didn't but I wouldn't be surprised if some of those numbers were already in use! We were here so long we had to stop for a coffee to refuel before moving on!

Next stop was Siam Paragon, one of the largest malls in Asia apparently. We didn't buy so much here but we did have the most awesome lunch at a Korean Fired Chicken restaurant - BonChon Chicken. Apparently it is coming over to London, I hope it does it was delicious.

Terminal 21 was different again, this was set out like an airport terminal when you walked in and then each floor took you to a different destination. From Rome to Paris, London to Tokyo, Istanbul to the USA with San Francisco and Hollywood. Each floor had over sized iconic landmarks of each location and quirky shops that kind of fit with the destination. It's a great idea, I love it!

Our shopping spree day was tiring but awesome!! 

For our final meal in Thailand we went to Cabbages and Condoms, a restaurant that I have been teaching about for years. The idea behind the restaurant is to promote safe sex to prevent the spread of disease and also try to control the population as it was growing at a fast rate. Each meal they hand out free condoms and the money raised goes into helping different causes. The restaurant is also decorated with condoms in very creative ways. I wanted to go and take photos to show the kids and see if I could pick up some information. It turned out to be great, the food was fab - as it has been everywhere we have eaten whilst being here - I collected lots of information leaflets and photos and they also had a shop and stall with items made from a village initiative so we did our bit and I bought a scarf!

 

On our way home we found an English pub! Since its our last night we stopped in to get back into the British way! The football was on, beers on tap, full of English people and a Sheffield beer trail poster on the wall! Just like home, lol. We've had a great time here, yet there were so many things we didn't have time to do. The people have been great, the food amazing and the sites unbelievable.

I would say Thailand definitely lives up to its name as the Land of Smiles!

Shopping delivered to your door!

The reasons for online shopping when Tesco is just round the corner were two fold:

1. Daniel binned the Tesco vouchers, which i was not best pleased about, but we found that you can still redeem then online
2. He also hates going to Tesco but can happily sit on the computer for hours on end

It actually worked OK, a little tricky at times to find what you are looking for, but that will get easier and it was delivered on time. The only thing that was a little weird was they substitute items if they don't have the one you want and they substituted garlic with chillies! That didn't make sense to me as you would think they would substitute it with another garlic product but hey ho, you don't have to accept it and they refund the cost so it was fine.

Now we have food again post holiday - woohoo!

Hong Kong Phooey!

This morning we woke up in our lovely room to no wake up call or rush to put the bags out...and then the phone rang! Eh? Was Tracey haunting us? Safe, it was just the lady telling us our departure pick up time! The plan for today was to get the free shuttle down to Kowloon Hotel, which is just off of Nathan Road their main shopping district then come back and go up the peak at night time to see the view with lights. This is doable.

The free shuttle is really good - going between the two hotels every 20 minutes, just another perk to this place! We boarded the bus, map in hand, ready to find Nathan Road and found it we did! We wandered up and down the shopping streets, constantly hustled by people selling fake Rolex's, handbags and tailored clothes. We found some bargains in Uniquo and also found a gift shop that sells postcards - a first on the entire holiday! So bargain t-shirt bought, fridge magnet - check and postcard for nan all sorted!

We took a walk along the avenue of the stars - the Hong Kong version of the Walk of Fame - found Bruce Lee and a statue of him but recognised very few other people! Even with their English names! We did find another Expo haibo - he's everywhere! The view across to Hong Kong island is amazing it hardly seems real and this is daylight without the lights on - whats it going to be like at night? Anyho bus boarded back to the hotel where I sat on he balcony in the 34 degree heat writing my postcards - does it get any better than this?

A few hours later the sun was going down over the sky scrapers and we boarded the very rocky star ferry to Hong Kong island - at 20p, bargain, the ride was an experience, bouncing our way over to the other pier. We hadn't anticipated how busy it would be but as easy as it is to find how to get up the peak it means everyone else is too! We got the bus no problem but then queued forever to get the tram up to the peak. After winding our way through the queue we were at last aboard the tram ascending at a 45 degree angle up to the peak, in what was now complete darkness. The tram was going up in between very posh flats and houses til at last the buildings cleared and appeared was the most amazing view of a cityscape a blaze with different coloured lights. People were ooing and ahhing like they were watching fireworks! But who could blame them it was incredible. Moments later we were exiting the tram into a posh tower, floor upon floor of souvenir shops - and we couldn't find any at the start of our holiday! After going up a multitude of escalators all overlooking the view we ended up at Bubba Gumps at the top of the tower. Here we were eating shrimp (well I was) overlooking the most perfect view of a cityscape. It's ironic really, you need the buildings to have the lights to make it look so good however comes with that are millions or billions of people and all the negative associations like pollution, traffic etc. It's a difficult one!

After taking some pics - though they couldn't do justice of the view and managing to get out of the peak tower - which was far more difficult than it should be we were on the bus back down to catch the ferry and boy the driver should race for formula one! We bounced our way back over on the star ferry and having missed the last shuttle got a taxi back to the hotel. It's a shame we don't have longer here as its an incredible city - will definitely have to return - Daniel would love it!

Hooray for Hollywood...What's your dream?

So last day of our tour and we spent it seeing LA - good job too as it's a bitch to get around on your own as we found out on the first day! The weather was a little chilly to start but soon brightened up though it was extremely foggy. We stopped at Santa Barbara first, which you could hardly see due to the fog! But I'm sure it was lovely!! We went for a walk on the pier but couldn't exactly see the view! Though i did step in dog poo - booooo, why can't people pick up after their dog!















We then made out way through Santa Maria and Malibu before entering Santa Monica for lunch. We did go past some lovely houses - massive mansions when you can only really see the entry gates, but we get the impression they would have been nice - including Cher's house though my pictures doesn't do it justice as it looks like I've taken it of her shed! Ron was driving too fast for my camera!! We also went past the actual Baywatch beach where it was filmed but our first stop at Venice beach better suited Baywatch than this one.

Since we'd been to Santa Monica on our first day trying to get somewhere we didn't go on the pier with the others but hit the shops. We found an awesome shop, Forever 21, which we have since found out is coming to Europe in 2010 - fab. We got so caught up in the shopping area, which i might like to add was no smoking ever though it was a street, that we thought we were going to be late so grabbed a McD's on the run!

We then saw how the other half live - and boy how do they live in Beverley Hills. The posh shops, fancy houses, we also went passed the Beverley Wiltshire where Richard Gere stayed in Pretty Woman, what's your dream? Mine would be to have enough money to live here! We made our way to Hollywood where we saw the Viper Room - Johnny Depp's club that River Phoenix died outside of. Yet another morbid sight on our travels!















We started to take a trot down the Walk of Fame until we came to a stop as they had shut the street due to a premiere! Typical! We didn't see anyone famous - except Superman, but the red carpet was out ready! Hollywood is not what you'd expect. Beverley Hills definitely is as it is very glam but Hollywood is not glam at all. If anything its a bit of a let down considering how much Hollywood and the movie industry is worth.















We got back to the hotel and everyone was a little glum - except the two going back to Vegas, wish that was us! You always feel rubbish when you know you have to go home - wherever you have been. We went for our last meal back to Islands, where ironically the waitress remembered us! Must have made an impression - just like our trip had made on us! Oh well back to reality and ready to plan the next holiday!!!

Viva Las Vegas!!!

Well since there is so much to do in Vegas and time is not to be wasted i am now reflecting back on what happened over the last two days. But...as they say...what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas, so I'm obviously limited as to what i can say!

Prior to entering Vegas we stopped at Zion National Park, another stunning area of natural beauty. Massive mountains with lovely colours and amazing rock patterns like the checkerboard - I won't bore you with the geography of how it got like that!! We stopped for a lovely lunch in the park before moving onto Vegas. No word of a lie we honestly thought we saw a bear!! This big brown looking bear was on the side of the road looking at getting to a dead rabbit! It ended up being a huge dog but seriously it looked like a bear!











We reached Vegas mid afternoon where we checked into Circus Circus and then hit the strip!!! We thought we'd take a poodle along the strip but it was more like a sweaty limper!!! We looked like we were going to pass out! We had a grand plan for the two days in Vegas which consisted of:
- visiting Krispy Kreme
- Easting at the Bahama Breeze
- Abercrombie and Fitch
- Seeing a show on the strip
- Have a little flutter
- Have cheesecake at the Cheesecake Factory
- Enjoy some frozen alcoholic beverages
- Seeing hot Josh from Las Vegas the programme
At this point when we actually returned to Circus Circus all we achieved was getting a Krispy Kreme!! But they are very nice doughnuts!! Sooo we then thought we'd get ready and go out for dinner. We had a very nice valet, who would fit in well in the programme Las Vegas, working with Mike, who got us our taxi to Bahama Breeze - food was lovely. We then bought our gift shop crap and our frozen alcoholic beverages so things in the grand plan were looking up! Time now for a flutter - well our style which means 1c slot machines - but still we were gambling in Vegas!!! I bet $1, didn't have a clue what i was doing other than pulling the lever and somehow managed to win 25+ free turns and ended up winning $4!!!! Needless to say i was very excited, before we knew it it was 1am! I decided to save collecting my winnings for the next day!!

























Vegas day 2 we were up and about early (well not as early as our normal wake up calls) to get to the half price theatre ticket booth. So we were there armed with our Krispy Kreme dying of heat at 9.30am under a giant yellow umbrella. About an hour later we were successfully holding our tickets to Jersey Boys. Yay - another item to tick off the grand plan list!! We were very excited as the people in the queue were raving about it - one lady had seen it 4 times! Now the shops were calling! Fashion Show Mall is bigger than you think but i did get some awesome clothes in Abercrombie and Fitch - that shop is definitely the best smelling shop i've been in! By the time we came out of there and then went down to NY NY for lunch it was time to make our way back to Circus Circus to get ready for the night. Things take longer than you think because it is so hot!











Glad rags on we were off to the theatre to see Jersey Boys. The show was at the Palazzo so it wasn't right at the other end of the strip, which was lucky as the deuce bus was sooo busy! We took our seats and had an amazing view - second row on the balcony and could see everything. The show was about Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons - how they got together through to the end and it was brilliant. We didn't realise they sang so many songs that we knew. The actors were amazing as was their singing, they proper draw you in and makes you forget where you are. The character of Tommy DeVito was very arrogant but extremely likeable - as was the actor playing him who was hot and sang brilliantly, especially one of the filler songs Earth Angel. I lone that song! Even in Back to the Future it was great! The guy who played Frankie Valli had an amazing voice - to get up that high - fantastic singing. You end up loving all the characters even though they had bad boy days and then you remember it's actually a true story! Can see why that lady saw it 4 times.

We left the Palazzo all giddy, singing and headed down the strip to Caesars Palace for cheesecake from the Cheesecake Factory - best cheesecake ever, seriously. This evening was brilliant and topped off our two days in Vegas nicely. Will have to download the soundtrack when we get home - relive the magic. To quote the Four Seasons, Oh What a Night or Ces Soirees-La. I love Vegas and will be definitely coming back again!!!