Holiday Time In Chiang Mai,Mae Hong Son And Chiang Rai 2012.

[billyboy]

A nice little place i used to go and have some Khao Soi Chicken was just on the Loh Kro road, i had company this morning with yet another blue faced lizard climbing up a tree. This place was realy nice and great food at a good price, i noted also some of the many little statues dotted about in the lovely gardens, they even had the three monkeys...see no evil...hear no evil...speak no evil.

Billy.

[billyboy]

Well, the time i have had on this trip now seemed more like days than the actual four weeks that i had, i find that the first week or so of a holiday seems to be fine, i mean not going to fast but it soon seems to accelerate and before you know it you are back at Immigration and on your way back home! Well my days in Thailand on this trip where now nearly all done but i still had time for a last few visits to places during my remaining couple of days. One of these was to Baiyoke Tower 2 for a night time view of Bangkok. Wow! It was amazing, how i have never been here i do not know, okay touristy, long waits for the lift back down but the views where spectacular. I stopped of at two levels, one was the observasion deck on floor 77 and then i ended up on the 84th floor on the skywalk platform which is a revolving outside walkway, after that it was a walk down the stairs for a beer that was included in the price when you pay to get the lift up, it was here that i marvelled at the views.It was hard to imagine the actual height it was, massive tower blocks and hotels looked miniscule as you looked far down onto the tops of them.

Baiyoke Tower is Thailands tallest building at present. It was hard taking pictures what with screens and glass windows of which where smeared with handmarks, but i managed a couple. I realy could have sat here for an age and marvelled at these views, i think it was probably about an hour or so that i stayed and viewed Bangkok in all it's beautifull neon glory.I could not take my eyes of it. Now next trip i need to find a place that i can take some pictures in the open air with no screens, the Lebua would be a great place but far to expensive for me to visit!

Billy.

[billyboy]

A couple more photographs from the lower floor level at Baiyoke, i think on floor 77. It realy is a spectacle.

Billy.

[billyboy]

Last Night in Bangkok,

What a night! Mikeheart telephoned me upon his arival into Bangkok and invited me to join him that evening at a place called Check inn 99 which is situated between Soi five and seven on the Sukhumvit Road. This is a realy nice friendly bar with great music and dance...' if you so wish' it is a small place and is family run with sisters who dance and sing the night away. It is easily missed as you walk down through the night stalls, situated opposite the Landmark Hotel on the opposite side of the road you walk down through a small entrance down into Check Inn .It was my first ever time there and i loved it, the food they served was lovely, i can't wait to return. Everyone who enters is given a warm greeting, in fact one of the sisters seemed to know the name of customers who had visited a year or so ago as they came into the place! Remarkable memory. It was great to meet up with Mike again and the evening was most memorable.

Mike is a regular here and managed to get the owner to allow me do a small video of the sisters singing and dancing, they are all a family from the Philiphines. Great fun and a great evening with great company.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3H1R3HgrFpU

Billy.

[billyboy]

Well sadly this is about all i have got from this trip, nearly time to end it. As you know i love to take pictures for fun and i live to travel, every photograph i take is firmly etched in my mind as are the memories behind each picture like Guava aptly explains in his posts. Betti once said in the chat one time quote ' photographs are more than just pictures to me, they are my life' what more could you say, well said Betti.

Only four more pictures to go now,first one is of children at Klong Toy market in Bangkok, they where sorting and picking out the best chillies. I loved Klong Toy market, it is a labrynth of narrow isles between the market stalls and yes i did get lost, but it was great fun and i can't wait to go again.

Second photo was from Mae Hong Son, i stopped to get a bite to eat and looked over my shoulder and there where these two puppets, they looked cute and happy.

The third photo is of a couple of hilltribe ladies during the Songkran festival in Chiang Mai.

Last picture, last drink in Bangkok, i just think when it seems there is never another picture to take there is always one more, i like the tiger on the label.

There will be one more post after this but with no more photographs sadly.

Thank you,

Billy.

[guava]

Now next trip i need to find a place that i can take some pictures in the open air with no screens

I can recommend Vertigo Grill and Moon Bar, situated on the rooftop (61st floor) of the Banyan Tree Hotel. Great, unobstructed views and drinks aren't TOO expensive, with the bar itself being a nice place to sit.

[billyboy]

Again thanks to everyone who follows my travels and posts but the ending to this trip was to be tragic on its first flight, and awful on my second flight.

My first flight took off on time from Bangkok on time as it usually does bound for Doha but things took a turn for the worse for a lady passenger seated nearby me. A call was made for any doctor or doctors on board to make themselves known to the cabin staff. Two doctors came forward who looked very young and immediately took over the situation. Things seemed to escalate rapidly with this ladies health as she was being treated, she was on the floor near the bulkhead of the plane receiving medical aid from these two doctors, (there is more room here). The cabin staff where running up and down the isles with blankets towels and other things but sadly the poor lady died, it was so tragic.

The captain of the plane made an announcement that we where to make a landing in Mumbai due to this medical emergency. The lady had been covered up with a blanket but it seemed like an age before we managed to land. Upon landing officials came onto the plane and where liaising with the captain and the doctors. There were lots of telephone calls and forms seemed to having to be filled in and signed. The young girl doctor took control in what seemed a little bit of confusion between the officials.

At this time she was directing all the people present on what was best to do or how was the best way for the deceased lady to be exited from the plane, also she was consoling the deceased husband or partner who was understandably inconsolable. She like the other doctor and cabin staff where so professional and remarkable during this awful time. I really can’t put into words how upsetting this situation was as it unfolded.

We where close to the airplane wings exit doors but the door that had been opened was the one at the front of the plane. A stretcher was brought on board and the deceased lady placed upon it. The stretcher was like a metal sided non collapsible circular one and this meant the body had to be carried at above head height through the cabin to the exit doors because it was too wide for the isles. The young lady doctor followed with her hands on the deceased partners shoulders and his on hers looking at him all the time and walking backwards towards the airplanes exit, it was heart wrenching to witness.

To lose a loved one in any circumstances is tragic enough, but I still find myself now occasionally drifting back to this tragic event and trying to comprehend just how any person could cope with it, I mean you are returning from a holiday, a different country and suddenly your life or lives are changed forever and you end up in another country far from friends or relatives in your time of need. There where many tears shed on this flight mine included.

I witnessed professionalism from both cabin staff and the young doctors who did there utmost during this tragic flight. This also extended to the ground staff upon arrival at Doha. I do not wish to appear insensitive but this must have been a logistical nightmare for the airline with three to four hundred passengers needing new flights to get them back to there different countries. Let alone the deceased partner/ husband who was in another country alone

We where all greeted by a number of airport staff upon arrival at Doha and issued with new tickets for a later flight to our destinations, it was all done in a orderly manner and conducted swiftly. We all have flights to remember but I wish this was one I could forget. My second flight out some nine hours later was to be a most horrible one but certainly not in any context to this previous one.

Billy.

[Marie]

I remember how you were narrating this story at TCB shortly after your return home. The incident was very fresh then and we could all feel the grief and shock gripping you. Today that sadness is still discernible in your post. I have relished all your tales about your happy adventures but to me this one stands out as the most poignant and most unforgettable travel story you have ever recounted.

Thanks for sharing it.

[billyboy]

The Second Flight Home.

Doha airport was a busy one this particular night after the tragic events that had unfolded from the previous flight. Normaly in the early hours of the morning here you see very few passengers transiting, it is usualy just the ones with long stayovers who are here awaiting there next flight.I was fortunate to have lounge access due to my frequent flyer status with the airline so i managed to grab a shower and get some nice food. My flight plans for the return journey where to get me back home early morning time so i would have time for a day of rest before a very early AM start to work the following day.With the aweful circumstances that occured on the previous flight it was looking like i might manage to get a few hours sleep before work upon my arrival back home.

I went to the desk at the lounge in Doha and asked if it might be possible for an upgrade, all i wanted was to get some sleep and be able to get to my work when i got home. Usualy if i have been granted an upgrade i make the most of it, the food and wines are wonderfull but after the previous flights events all wanted was to sleep and try to forget what had occured. I was taken from the main desk to another where i had to sit for a while and the member of staff went into an office for a while then came out and said my request had been granted.I was at this point feeling exhausted and quite overwhelmed that i had been given this privelage.Busness class is beyond my means and to experience it is a dream.

My intentions to have a seven hour sleep in luxury where soon to be a memory from the past. I was seated with a glass of champagne in the busness class with only one seat left to fill....that was the one next to me. This guy turned up and joined me in the next seat, okay first of all things seemed okay he was not outwardly looking like he was drunk or something but things soon changed. He ordered champagne with a seperate glass of fresh orange which he drank half and spilt the other, then he ordered both glasses to be topped up to full with champagne and drank them both in one. He then started to pester me a bit....i will chat to anyone and enjoy chatting but this was different. He was pulling out huge ammounts of banknotes saying money was nothing, this flight was only going to get worse.

The menu was given to us all and i chose mine and my seated neighbour chose his. It was beautifull food, smoked salmon, a little bit of caviare, huge prawns and that was just one of four dishes! But this guy took one bite then started cursing the cabin staff with the most worst foul language i will not repeat. He then ordered the cheese board which i also had later on it was maginificent but he took a bite out of each piece of cheese then sent it back with a flurry of abuse He was drunk beyond belief. The cabin staff tried to speak to him but he was starting to get out of control....it was all very weird...the next moment he was apologising to me for his outburst. He left his seat and went forward to the cabin and pilots area. I noticed one of the pilots had come out to speak to him then he returned next to me and sat down.

He told me that he had given the purser ( a lady) twenty pound for every member of cabin staff to apologise...(this was returned to him i may add when we landed)...by the purser. A total of two hundred and forty pounds. Things just seemed to get worse, he was talking to himself, shadow boxing in his seat and generaly being a real nuisance if not a threat to all. I watched him carefully. He was demanding a large champagne, a large port and a beer but was denied. Eventualy his large port was granted and he fell asleep. I went to see the cabin staff and explained that i was not with this guy and they said the knew and apologised to me for his behaviour!...i said no it was not there fault and i felt so sorry for what they had to endure.

Certainly this has to be my worst two flights ever out of the hundreds i have flown both for the different reasons.

Well, that is the end of this trip and thanks again for all who followed my journey.

Billy.