2016 Asia Mega Tour - Hong Kong and on to Thailand

The pictures are going to have to wait again folks. So much has been going on that I haven't had time to even edit them let alone try to get them uploaded via some to the wretched hotel internet services we've had.  Let's look at things in chronological order.

Eight days ago, Tuesday, we left Beijing and came back to Hong Kong. It was a late flight made later because of a delay getting off the ground so we didn't get back to the Pooh Lee Shah Imperial Suites until around 2 AM the next day. Needless to say on Wednesday we didn't do much of anything. As the children of Dragon Tour Guide Pooh (aka daughter #2) are on spring break at school, Wife and I decided to take them for an outing. We took the ferry again to the island of Cheung Chau which we had visited during our first week in Asia. 2.2 and 2.3 like hiking and climbing on things and we knew there were lots of opportunities for that on the island. We had a nice day walking around, came back into the town and grabbed some lunch (at a WAY over priced UNDER quality ramen place) and got ice cream as well. It was a fun day.

The next big event was the arrival of our daughter #1 and her family. They scrimped and saved and found a way they could come out and take advantage of having free housing in Hong Kong. Their plane arrived from San Francisco on Saturday morning...at 5:30 in the morning Saturday. Needless to say palatial as the Pooh Lee Shah Imperial Suites are, they aren't big enough for 3/4 of the de-I clan. Heck the Tower is even big enough for that! So we moved out to another hotel. Mercifully, the only hotel that is even slightly close to them (and it is in fact very close to them) we could obtain at a very reasonable price. I think the door men and women of the building where Pooh lives were a bit confused at our coming and going over a number of days. This move involved our having to repack for both this short term stay as well as for our next adventure.

While we were in town with the family, we did family things including spending a morning at the American Club, a super plush country club type place that has the best playroom ever for kids (while the parents can have the morning Bloody Mary), walked to Wan Chai for lunch and shopping and then on Monday we went to an amusement park, Ocean Park. If you think the Long March Tour stopped because we left Mainland China, you're wrong.

Tuesday morning it was off again to Hong Kong International Airport. We are now old hands at HKIA. I even have their app on my phone to track where my flight checks in. We flew out to Bangkok where we are starting a week long trip. We got to enjoy (I use the term loosely) the pleasures of Air Asia, one of these discount airlines that charge you FOR EVERYTHING. You want seat assignments? You pay. You want food? You pay. You want luggage checked? You pay. You want air to breathe? You pay. Not even water is complimentary. Oh and they have a rule that says it is not permitted to eat or drink anything you bring on board yourself. On general principles chose not to consume anything. Mercifully, immigration was very short and as soon as we got our luggage we bought some chips and water to eat in the car to the hotel.

As luck would have it, our Nephew from Wife's oldest brother's family planned a vacation to Thailand during this period planned to be in Bangkok at the same time we were. So we coordinated the hotel when we made the reservation. We linked up with them and then found a place recommended by TripAdvisor where we had a nice meal for very little money.

On Wednesday, today, I had arranged a combination food and archeology tour. We had a private van and guide take us to the old capital of Ayutthaya. This was capital of the Thailand from the early 14th century through the middle of the 19th century when it was captured and burned by the Burmese. There are tons of temples and ruins there. It is a contemporary of the Khmer ruins near Siem Reap and the Chama ruins in Vietnam. This combination of food and history was great but I will hold off until I can get the 100 pictures I took today edited and in a place where I can upload them to go over what we did in detail.

Tomorrow we are taking a small teak boat tour through the canals of the older part of Bangkok that was the original city before the current one was built.