Thessalonika, Philippi & Kavala, Greece - 2006

In the Steps of Alexander the Great

or

In the Shadows of Mt. Olympus

or

Following that Evangelist, Paul

Yes, there are so many ways I could title this trip because there’s so much history in Greece everywhere you go.  You can’t throw a rock without hitting something historic in the area.  This trip, like many others, had very little planning in the making.  We knew a three-day weekend was coming up but would the weather cooperate?  It’s always dicey this time of the year.  Finally on Thursday we trusted the three-day forecast enough that we decided to pack the night before and head out Friday morning as early as we could assemble without being ridiculous. 



So Friday morning we headed north on the main motorway, which alternates from good six-lane divided highway to two lanes of rough pavement which the Greeks turn into a four-lane road by flashing their lights as they come up behind you and passing you as you drive on the shoulder.  Four cars can squeeze by on two lanes if the shoulders are not blocked.  It gets exciting at times.  We passed Lamia and then Volos where Jason set out with the Argonauts.  The scenery changed from a mountainous seacoast to flat cotton farmland near Larisa to narrow mountain pass through the Tembi Valley.  Once more we came into view of the sea and the impressive 11^th century Crusader castle, Platamonas, with intact ramparts and towers in a commanding position.  But we’ve seen Crusader castles before – we have bigger fish to fry.  Soon we came into view of Mt. Olympus where Zeus and the Greek gods lived.  Typically the top was covered with clouds keeping the gods in privacy.  Just past Katerini we turned west to the small town of Vergina for our first stop.



Vergina is where the ancient Macedonian town of Aegae was located and the main item to see in this area is the museum built in the underground royal tombs.  It’s fairly well agreed that the graves housed the remains of Philipp II, father of Alexander the Great.  The museum is done up extremely well and the treasure, much of it gold, is impressive.  Unfortunately I wasn’t allowed to take photos, even without flash.  Next we headed a short drive away to the ruins of the royal palace and theater where Philipp was assassinated in 336 BC.  Our sunny skies were turning dark and the wind was picking up strongly.  As we were leaving we noticed a young lady walking back into town so we offered her a ride.  It turned out she was Swiss and getting around Greece by foot, bus, and train.  So we gave her a ride to the next town of Veria where she could catch a bus.  We had a quick look around at Veria, where St. Paul came to preach to the Jews in 54 AD.  We headed north just to the outskirts of Edessa and turned east before stopping in ancient Pella.  Pella was the birthplace of both Philipp II and his son, Alexander the Great.  Aristotle was one of Alexander’s tutors here and Pella was the largest royal city of the Macedonians.  Unfortunately it had closed before we arrived so we could not walk through the ruins but we could see most of them through the fence.  It was starting to get dark so we continued our drive into Thessaloniki.



Let me say here that we liked Thessaloniki a lot but think that the traffic and parking may be worse than in Athens.  We had no reservations but had seen a nice, new hotel on the Internet that we decided to try to find.  We were able to inch our way through traffic onto the right streets and amazingly found the hotel and a very fortunate parking spot.  The hotel is called the Tobacco Hotel and is a converted tobacco warehouse.  It is very nice and modern.  Best of all, they had a room available at a reasonable price.  We checked in and left our car on the street for the night without any problems.  We changed into heavy coats as the wind was very strong with some intermittent raindrops.  On the recommendation of our desk clerk, we found the Ouzou Melathron restaurant, which turned out to be quite nice.  They had a giant menu sprinkled with funny witticisms but the food was good and the atmosphere was cozy.  After dinner we walked around some more but because of the weather we decided to go back to our hotel and retire fairly early.  It had been a long day already.



Saturday morning we had a nice breakfast in the hotel (included in the room charges) and headed out for a walk around Thessaloniki.  The weather had changed dramatically with clear skies and cool temperatures.  First we walked to the 7^th century Orthodox basilica of Agios Dimitrios, built on the spot where St. Demetrios was martyred and buried.  Next we walked to the building known as the Rotunda, built in the 4^th century as a mausoleum for Roman Emperor Galerius, but he died in Sofia and was never buried here.  It was converted to a church and when the Turks ruled this part of Greece they added a minaret and turned it into a mosque.  Today it is an empty building but impressive.  A short walk took us to the triumphal arch of Emperor Galerius who spent much of his time in Thessaloniki.  We walked to the Archaeological Museum with its impressive stock of Macedonian gold plus statues, mosaics, and pottery.  After the museum we walked to the waterfront where a large statue of Alexander the Great stands and then to the famous White Tower, symbol of Thessaloniki.  In high school Rita was given a silver charm of the White Tower from a school friend who moved to Thessaloniki so it had a special meaning to her.  We walked along the waterfront then into the main shopping streets and to the remains of the Roman forum which are continuously being excavated.  It was noon and we had seen the highlights so we headed back to the hotel, checked out, and navigated ourselves out of town successfully.



But before we leave Thessaloniki let me hit just a few historical highlights of this fascinating city.  It was founded in 315 BC on the site of the ancient town of Therme by the Macedonian general, Kassander, who named it after his wife, also the sister of Alexander the Great.  Paul visited the town twice, in 50 and 56 AD, and wrote his letters, epistles in the New Testament, to the newly-founded church members here.  Early in the 4^th century it became the main residence of Emperor Galerius who was the last Roman emperor to actively persecute Christians.  The Roman road, Via Egnatia, went through Thessaloniki and was the Roman road to the Middle East.  In 1492 during the Inquisition in Spain, about 20,000 Jews fled to Thessaloniki and settled there.  By 1910 the Jews numbered about 65,000 and made up about half the population of the city.  In 1941 the Germans deported about 50,000 Jews to concentration camps from here.  The Turks captured the city in 1430 and ruled it under the name of Salonika.  Kemal Ataturk, first President of the Turkish republic, was born here in 1881.  In 1912 Thessaloniki returned to Greece, was mostly destroyed by a fire in 1917, and again suffered from a major earthquake in 1978.  It remains the second largest city in Greece with a mixed cultural background and population.



We headed northeast through hilly terrain and just a few miles outside of Serres encountered a flat plain with cotton fields once more.  Serres is about 30 miles from the Bulgarian border and we had to navigate around several old clunkers with Bulgarian plates.  The next major town was Drama, a drab town in pretty settings at the base of Mt. Falakro.  I have to presume there is skiing nearby since there were many shops selling ski equipment – and tire chains too which probably explains the poor condition of the roads in this area.  From Drama we headed south towards Kavala but stopped to see the ancient ruins of Philippi, also named after Philipp II, King of Macedonia.  Alexander the Great visited Philippi several times as some of his royal decrees carved in stone have been found in the area. 



We explored the large ruins of Philippi for some time - the theater, Roman forum, public latrines, sanctuaries to various gods, agora, and good remains of the Via Egnatia highway.  There are also remains of three later basilicas built on top of the Roman city.  In 42 BC Brutus and Cassius, who had assassinated Julius Caesar, fled to Philippi where they assembled 19 Roman legions and 20,000 cavalry.  Anthony and Octavian marched on Philippi from Rome with 28 legions and 13,000 cavalry.  Brutus and Cassius had the better location for a battle but still lost this major battle with both of them eventually committing suicide in defeat.  In 49 AD Paul and his companion Silas came to Philippi on his first trip to Europe and were imprisoned here for a short while.  Later, in about 61 or 62 AD, he wrote his epistle to the Philippians which is also a book of the New Testament.  We stayed until the park closed at 5:00 pm then headed a short distance down the road to Kavala, which was called Neopolis when Paul landed there in 49 AD.



Kavala is a very pretty town situated on hills leading down to the sea.  We quickly found the nice Egnatia Hotel at the top of the hills with commanding views of the city.  We checked in, hurriedly took photographs before the sun set, and then headed into town to explore.  Kavala was under Turkish control from 1380 to 1913.  The old town surrounds an imposing citadel which stands on the site of an ancient acropolis.  A large 16^th century aqueduct supplied the old town with water.  Rita and I walked the narrow streets of the old town up to the citadel as darkness set in.  We found the house where Mehmet Ali was born in 1769 to Albanian parents.  He led an interesting life, first as a soldier in the Turkish army, where he was involved in the wars between England and Napoleon in Egypt, and then when he became viceroy of Egypt after he massacred the Memluks in the citadel of Cairo.  He founded the ruling Egyptian class that lasted down to King Farouk in 1965.  Mehmet Ali is buried in the beautiful Alabaster Mosque in Cairo, sometimes called the Mohammed Ali Mosque.



We walked back to the harbor port and found a nice little restaurant with just a few tables.  The restaurant, really an ozouri, was named Nikiforos.  We had a delicious meal with a large rocket salad covered with parmesan cheese, pomegranate seeds, walnuts and balsamic vinegar.  For main course we had an excellent grilled fish called a dorado.  Local white wine rounded out the fairly healthy meal.  We walked around the harbor a while to digest our food then drove back to the hotel.



Sunday morning we had another good hotel breakfast and checked out early to get on the road by 8:30 am.  We had a long drive ahead of us heading west on the highway that used to be Via Egnatia.  We skirted around Thessaloniki and followed the road south past Katerini once more.  Mt Olympus was in view again and this time there were no clouds on top.  We stopped to view the ancient ruins of Dion, sometimes called Dios, at the base of Mt. Olympus.  Dion was a Macedonian city named after the god Zeus and a favorite of Alexander the Great.  It was a walled city but considered more of a military city where sacrifices were held to the gods before war campaigns.  We walked the old stone roads viewing the baths, public latrines, sanctuaries, houses, and workshops.  Here, too, were several later Christian basilicas built over the former ruins.  Our guide books do not mention Paul in Dion.  We also visited the nice little museum before getting back on the road once more.  We drove straight back to home in Athens arriving about 5:30 pm as the sun was setting on another great Greek trip.

Monemvasia, Greece - April 2006

May 1 is a holiday in Greece, as in most European countries, and we were given a half day off because we worked the Greek Easter weekend for the Secretary of State’s visit to Athens, so Rita and I decided at the last minute to take a trip.  Unfortunately the weather didn’t look as if it would cooperate according to all weather forecasts, but Greek weather forecasters aren’t much better than anywhere else so we decided to take our chances. 



We have wanted to visit Monemvasia ever since we came to Greece but hadn’t done it yet.  Since most Greeks took vacation from Easter weekend to May Day (their labor day) we had difficulty getting hotel reservations anywhere near Monemvasia.  We almost decided to make the trip some other time.  We finally found a room due to a last minute cancellation Thursday night at the Xifoupolis Hotel about 3 miles out of town.  Friday morning we woke to darkening skies which turned to sprinkles by noon.  We headed west then south on the Peloponnese peninsular with more rain each hour.  We drove through Tripoli and Sparta and arrived in Monemvasia about 5 hours after we left Athens.  We checked into our room and drove back to the old walled city for a quick walk around before dark.



The word Monemvasia means “the only entrance” and it is the name given to the rock connected to the mainland by a narrow causeway.  The isolated rock, about 1000 feet high, was separated from the mainland by an earthquake in AD 375 and the old town was founded when the first road was built to it in the sixth century.  It is called the Gibraltar of Greece and reached its heights in the 15^th century when it was a busy Byzantine city of about 50,000 people.  Later it was occupied by Franks, Venetians and Turks.  Today there are less than a hundred full-time residents in this beautiful walled city.  There are actually two towns, the lower town is called the Kastro and there is an upper town that is reached by a steep, zigzag trail.  The upper town is mostly in ruins today with only the Agia Sofia church remaining.  Ruins of a citadel are at the highest point.



Friday night we walked around the lower town and there was a cruise ship anchored a little ways off.  The town was full of German tourists we presumed came from the cruise ship.  We ate dinner at one of the few restaurants in town, the Kanoni, which is recommended by most guide books.  The food was good in a pleasant upstairs dining room with ocean views.



Saturday morning we had breakfast in our hotel and got an early start as parking on the rock near town is very limited.  We arrived about 9:00 am and did a thorough walk around the lower town stopping for coffee about mid-morning.  After that we walked the steep zigzag trail up to the upper town which is mostly in ruins.  When we started the skies were hazy and cloudy but by mid-morning the sun came out for a pleasant day.  The air had enough coolness in it to help us in our steep climb. 



The views from the upper town are spectacular and we continued higher to one of the remaining buildings, the Agia Sofia church.  This church was built on the edge of a steep cliff, which gave us vertigo looking straight down.  While Rita rested I climbed a little higher for views of the citadel but did not hike the distant trail as someone told me it wasn’t worth it.  We hiked along the upper ramparts with great views of the lower town below and found the large cisterns used in times of siege.  Monemvasia was never conquered in battle but the Greeks did lay siege to the then-Turkish occupied city in 1821 during their war of independence.  The Turks were not prepared and nearly starved before surrendering. 



Finally we hiked back to the lower town and had a couple of large Mythos beers at the Matoula Taverna, the first and oldest taverna in Monemvasia.  We sat on an outdoor patio with pleasant views once more and had a nice lunch.  We left about mid-afternoon and decided to drive to the town of Neapoli near the tip end of this part of the Peloponnese.  We took a primitive back road over the mountains and arrived in Neapoli about 3:30 pm.  We had a drink at an outdoor café on the waterfront with views of the islands of Kythira and Elafonisos.  Neapoli is not especially charming but the setting of the town is nice.  We drove back to Monemvasia via a different, coastal route and stopped to see the ruins of Epidavros Limira which we know nothing about as there were no signs and nothing in our guide books on it.  We had dinner at a taverna next door to our hotel and went to sleep with tired legs from our hiking.



Sunday morning we woke to thunder and lightning and more rain than we hoped for.  We had planned to drive back mountain roads to Geraki and Leonidio but they will have to wait for another, sunny day.  We didn’t feel like risking the drive on curvy mountain roads in heavy rain.  So we packed up early and drove back home a day early the same way we drove down.  We were so fortunate to have the one decent sunny day to explore Monemvasia which is a definite “find”.  As The National Geographic Traveler says, “It is astonishing that the name of Monemvasia is hardly known outside Greece, because it is one of the most extraordinary towns in the whole country.  The result is that it remains delightfully unspoiled.  Those who venture here can regard it as a special place that few other visitors see.”

India & Sri Lanka – 1976

This is my first attempt to document a trip several years after the trip was taken.  In 1976 I began keeping a rudimentary journal but did not have any word processing system to write up a trip description.  If I wanted to record a trip back then, I would have to type it using our old portable typewriter.  So here is my recollection of that trip taken 33 years ago now using a very brief journal, old cancelled passports, and failing memories.



Now Ruz is the Iranian, and old Zoroastrian, holiday that welcomes in the new year which they celebrate at the beginning of spring, March 21.  We were living in Teheran, Iran, in early 1976 and as we had several days off for the holiday, some people at work organized a trip to India and Sri Lanka for about 20 of us.  Rita and I signed up for the trip along with Rachel, who was eight, and Gretchen, who was five at the time.



We were scheduled to depart Teheran’s Mehrabad Airport the afternoon of Wednesday, March 10.  A steady snowfall started in the morning and lasted all day.  We were at a new wing of the airport that was recently built but there was no heat and the building was like an icebox.  Our Air France flight was delayed by several hours and the airport staff brought us hot tea and blankets while we waited for our flight.  We finally departed after 10:00 pm, about six hours late.



We arrived in Bombay, India, Thursday morning and, naturally, missed our connecting flight to Sri Lanka.  My notes say that Air France put us up at their expense in the Horizon Hotel at Juhu Beach on the Arabian Sea.  Much of the afternoon was spent lounging around the hotel swimming pool.  In the evening we had a fantastic sunset and the beach came alive with hundreds of people, camel and pony rides, dancing monkeys, food stalls, and much more. 



Friday morning we had time to take a taxi into central Bombay and viewed the Gateway of India monument built in 1911 to commemorate the visit of King George V and Queen Mary to India.  We walked around the city, did some shopping, and ate lunch at the Intercontinental Hotel.  Our aircraft departed Bombay at 4:00 pm for Madras where once more Air France put us up in the luxurious Taj Coromandel Hotel since the next flight to Sri Lanka did not depart until the following afternoon.



Saturday morning Rita, the girls, and I had time once more for sightseeing in Madras and we stopped first at a snake farm where we all held a small green snake and saw pythons being annoyed by snake charmers.  We saw the Bay of Bengal and beach that Madras sits on.  We visited an ancient Hindu temple but I didn’t record the name – probably Kapaleeswara (Lord Shiva), Parthasarathy (Lord Krishna), or Ashtalakshmi temple.  We had to walk barefoot on hot pavement filled with dirt and spit.  Needless to say we rushed back to our hotel and washed our feet before departing Madras about 4:00 pm once more. 



The flight was very short to Colombo, Sri Lanka, and after relaxing a while around the swimming pool at the Lanka Oberoi Hotel, we took a taxi into town to what was known as the Fort area where we did a bit of sightseeing and shopping.  At dinner we noticed that the further south we proceeded on the sub-continent, the hotter the curries grew.



The hotel informed us that our arrival was fortuitous since that evening was the Perahera, a Buddhist celebration of grand proportions.  Our entire group took taxis to the area where the Perahera parade was to take place and sat ourselves on wooden bleachers set up for the occasion.  Many locals were there, too, and we tried our first taste of betel nut but couldn’t develop a fondness for them.  After sunset we were treated to an impressive parade starting off with ornately costumed torch bearers followed by a large group of men cracking whips.  These were followed by dancers, drummers and approximately 50 elephants painted up in bright colors, decked out in extravagant garments and covered with patterns of electric lights.  Following each elephant was a small truck or jeep with batteries to power the lights.  It was a fantastic, colorful parade that lasted past midnight.



The next day, Monday, March 15, was a Poya or Full Moon Day and an official holiday meaning very little was open for business.  We spent the morning relaxing around the pool and letting the girls swim with their friends from Teheran.  One boy, son of a friend I worked with, had his birthday so we hastily put together a birthday party for Travis and shopped for gifts at the hotel gift shops.  Near noon we checked out of the hotel with every family doing their own thing.  I hoped to rent a car but discovered we could not rent cars but could rent a car with a driver – for a very small amount.  So we hired Henry and his comfortable car for the next few days.  Henry turned out to be a great guide as well and we saw more through him than we would have with a guide book. 



We headed up into the central hills to the town of Kandy and at various levels we encountered different types of agriculture.  We saw people bathing in rivers along with their elephants.  We stopped to see a mahout with his large elephant and mounted the elephant to have our photos taken.  We also saw a baby elephant which the girls enjoyed petting and feeding.  We saw fields of pineapples, rice terraces, and banana, mango, coconut, cashew, and cinnamon plantations.  The countryside was lush with flowers everywhere and smelled wonderful.  We arrived at a hotel Henry picked out for us and checked into the Hotel Topaz in Kandy rather late in the afternoon.  I’m not sure but I think Henry slept in his car.



Tuesday morning the first order of business was a visit to Kandy’s main attraction, the Dalada Maligawa or Temple of the Tooth.  We had to take off our shoes to enter the temple and were the first ones to visit that morning.  The four of us were allowed to enter first, ahead of the locals.  We were viewing the sacred tooth of Buddha in a gold casket when all of a sudden the gates were opened and we were mobbed with hundreds of Buddhist pilgrims surrounding us.  We extracted ourselves from the crowd and made our way back to the car.



Next we visited the Peradeniya Botanical Gardens on the outskirts of Kandy, 147 acres of beautiful palm trees, bamboo groves, orchids, anthuriums, spice plants, and much more.  One large tree had hundreds of large fruit bats.  Henry told us that part of the movie, “Bridge on the River Kwai” was filmed there.  We had lunch at the historic Queen’s Hotel in Kandy where our waiters went barefoot and wore sarongs.  After lunch in this beautiful hotel we headed back towards Colombo through a heavy downpour.  During a break in the weather Henry stopped at a roadside café for tea.  While here the girls had the chance to play with a little monkey who peed on Gretchen’s arm.  Henry took us to a small beach hotel in the town of Mt. Lavinia, south of Colombo on the Galle road.  Mt. Lavinia is noted for its Golden Mile of beach and is steeped in history.  Later in the night our electricity was out, perhaps turned off by the hotel, and Rachel became sick with a stomach virus.  Rita was up several times in the night leading Rachel to the bathroom by candlelight. 



Wednesday, March 17 was St. Patrick’s Day but there were no Irish pubs in Sri Lanka at that time – perhaps today there may be some.  Henry drove us further down the beautiful coast to the small fishing village of Hikkaduwa which today is a renowned surfing and diving area.  We checked into a seedy little hotel called the Coral Beach Garden Hotel.  Today, searching the Internet, it appears to be a very nice beachfront hotel but in 1976 it was a crummy run down hotel, the only one in Hikkaduwa.  We said our goodbyes to Henry and settled in for three days of relaxation on the beautiful beaches of Sri Lanka.



The next three days were lovely, lounging on the beach, viewing the many tropical fish while walking on the coral reefs at low tide, swimming, sun bathing, and having a great time.  We took glass bottomed boat rides to view more tropical fish.  I remember a very dark, black fisherman in a skimpy thong walking along the beach with a crude spear in one hand and an octopus in his other hand.  He was trying to sell us the octopus but we were only interested in looking at it.  Our girls were the only westerners on the beach and swam alongside little naked boys and girls.  Alas, we had to return to Colombo eventually.  On Friday late afternoon we took the Queen of the Sea train, second class, back to Colombo and the Lanka Oberoi Hotel once more.  The train ride was very scenic as the tracks go along the ocean.  The windows were open and the smell of the ocean was constant along the route.  The train was also full of cute little Sri Lankan children on a school outing and outfitted in their blue and white school uniforms.  Tragically this same train was swept off the tracks in the tsunami of December, 2004, and over 2000 people were killed making it the world’s worst train disaster.   



Saturday morning was spent shopping in the Fort district once more.  We bought amethyst and moonstones but felt that the corn flower blue sapphires and rubies were too expensive for our budget at that time.  Now we wish we had gone ahead and made those purchases as well.  In the afternoon we visited the Colombo Zoo which had a performing elephant show.  Rita and I ate dinner at the Indian restaurant in the Lanka Oberoi.  Sunday was spent lounging around the pool with the end result that many of our group were sunburned.  Sunday night our group went out for a lobster dinner together.



Monday morning, based on a false rumor, we spent time at the Indian Embassy getting photographs and visas for India that weren’t really needed.  Our flight left Colombo around 2:00 pm and during a layover in Madras we had special stamps put into our passports to allow us to drink alcohol at the airport.  We arrived in New Delhi late in the day and checked into the Oberoi Maidens Hotel in Old Delhi.  This colonial hotel was built in 1903 and retained much of its old charm.



We headed out on our own Tuesday morning and visited the Connaught Circus area and a shopping area simply known as Cottage Industries.  In the afternoon we were moved to the Oberoi Intercontinental Hotel, a supposed step up.  We spent the afternoon around the swimming pool and in the evening Rita and I joined another couple to eat at the hotel’s rooftop Chinese restaurant.  I was surprised to learn that I had to have a coat and tie, which the restaurant provided for me.  The coat was plaid and the tie was garish.  I don’t remember the food.



Wednesday most of the group rushed around frantically trying to find a tour to Agra.  Rita, the girls, and I walked to the train station and bought round trip tickets to Agra with no hassle.  In fact, in Agra we joined in with the rest of the group for tours of Fatehpur Sikri, a 400 year old deserted city, the Agra Red Fort, and of course, the Taj Mahal.  We loved the Taj Mahal with inlaid semi-precious stones and marble.  It lived up to its reputation.  We returned to New Delhi on the train which took about three hours each way.  We had breakfast and dinner on the train and we arrived back at our hotel about 10:00 pm.



Thursday we toured and shopped some more in the Connaught Circus area, this time taking a bicycle rickshaw ride dodging hoards of people, sacred cows, and assorted traffic in the streets.  The girls loved the ride and so did we.  Friday morning we took a tour of Old Delhi visiting the Delhi Red Fort, Gandhi’s grave site, a Hindu temple and the Silver Street Bazaar.  We rested around the swimming pool in the afternoon and departed for our late night flight back to Teheran.  However, we were bumped from the overbooked flight and put up at yet another old colonial hotel (whose name is lost to me) for about three hours of sleep.  We did get to depart on Air France, now known to us as Air Chance, early in the morning and arrived in Teheran about 10:00 am. 



We thoroughly enjoyed this super trip to India and Sri Lanka and were pleased that we got to see more of India than was planned.  In less than a month I departed Iran for England where I transferred to another project and thus began another, new adventure.

Tilba Tilba, Australia

Mount Dromedary

and

Montague Island

Our somewhat-planned Labor Day weekend started Saturday morning as we got away early on a beautiful, sunny day.  The day warmed up quickly so shorts and T-shirts were the order of the day.  Our first stop was about an hour down the road in Bungendore.  We stopped at the wood museum to look at furniture, bowls and more made out of native Australian woods.  Next we stopped in Braidwood, a fine country town where some Australian movies were filmed, for a cup of cappuccino at the Albian cafe.  Then on to the coast and a stop in Batemans Bay for lunch at Reflections.  Another stop in Mogo where we got an early start on Christmas shopping at several of the town's boutique shops.  We finally pulled into Narooma about 2:30 pm stopping at the information center to check on the boat trip to Montague Island.  We had booked for this trip last January but the trip was canceled due to weather.  I think more trips are canceled than taken.  At any rate, we were told that the trip was on for 3:30 pm which surprised us because in summer it left at 5:30 pm.  So we rushed to our bed and breakfast, Green Gables, in Tilba Tilba, had a short talk with our hostess Gwen and rushed back to Narooma for the trip to Montague Island.  Our boat was the "Kona" and we were the last onboard to fill out the maximum of 20 passengers.  Since this is off season only one boat was going to Montague.  In peak season two boats go out since the maximum number of visitors allowed on the island is 40 per day.



The trip out was a little rough because there was a slight headwind out of the east.  Our captain took us directly to a seal colony of bachelor seals who lost out in the mating game.  These were the Australian fur seals and they definitely had a pecking order where big seals had the best rocks and smaller seals were off on their own in another area.  Then the boat took us to another seal colony of New Zealand fur seals who have taken up residence on Montague only in the last three years.  They were smaller and had pointy faces compared to the other breed.  Then the tour group went ashore while the boat anchored off shore.  We couldn't go up into the lighthouse but could tour the grounds and living quarters.  A park ranger gave us a tour and gave us details of the history of the lighthouse which was built in 1881.



As sunset was approaching around 6:00 pm, we proceeded to an area near the shore where benches were set up under lights for our benefit.  We sat waiting and watching the beautiful sunset, scanning the ocean for sight of the penguins.  This is the highlight of the tour as the small penguins, sometimes called fairy penguins, seem to materialize out of nowhere.  They come in on a wave and suddenly hop up on the rocks.  Then they marshal their courage to walk up past us but they believe in safety in numbers.  The first group was about 30 to 40 penguins all about a foot in height.  They waddled past us making a murmuring noise and, once past us, scattered into the dark.  Three more groups came up at about ten minute intervals.  These groups had about 15 penguins in each group.  By this time the sky was dark and full of stars and we could see the lights of Narooma on the mainland.  A few stragglers were still coming ashore but we carefully walked back to the pier and the boat came to pick us up.  We were quite fortunate to have such good weather (it did get cold near sunset) this time of year and to see so many penguins.



Gwen had made us reservations at Tilba Teapot restaurant in Central Tilba and told them we may be late coming in from our tour.  We were only a few minutes late but concerned about the way we were dressed in blue jeans.  Not to worry as Central Tilba is not a dressy town.  We had a good meal presented nicely in a cozy atmosphere.  After a full day we drove back the three kilometers to Tilba Tilba and went to bed early.



We woke up fairly early Sunday morning and had our big, yummy breakfast on the porch with another couple staying at Green Gables.  The atmosphere at Green Gables is very relaxed and with only three rooms you usually meet the other guests and share a table with them at breakfast.  Gwen told us that the NRMA inspected her rooms recently and awarded her a fourth star.  NRMA is the equivalent to the AAA in the US but only rate accommodations, not restaurants.  Gwen is a widow who keeps busy running the bed and breakfast along with her little dog Jessie.  Jessie loves to wait in the hallway in the mornings and as soon as you open your door she runs up and down the hall wanting you to chase her.  She also loves to beg bacon off your breakfast plate - and usually gets some.



After breakfast we packed our backpacks and walked across the street to Pam's general store to have some sandwiches made for our hike.  The trail to Mount Dromedary begins beside the store.  We began our hike up about 9:30 am and hiked past Chinaman's grave and Halfway rock to the Saddle Back.  At Saddle Back we took a short hike off to the Tors, an aboriginal site with phallic rocks and huge granite boulders.  According to legend this is where the aborigines took their women who had problems getting pregnant.  While there we saw two large wedge tail eagles overhead.  We continued on upward through the rain forest with redbark gums, sassafras, brown barrel and other trees and ferns.  Along the way we saw and heard bell birds and heard the whip birds with their unusual call.  We also saw crimson and Eastern rosellas, gang-gang cockatoos and laughing kookaburras.  We reached the summit (800 meters or about 2600 feet) at 2:30 pm just as the weather cooled off and clouds came in, blocking any views of the ocean.  We ate our lunch and listened to the quiet.  We had the mountain mostly to ourselves and the birds.  Surprisingly, we saw only one other couple hiking on this nice Sunday.  After a short time at the summit, we hiked down much faster than the trip up.  We went back to Green Gables where I took a shower and Rita soaked in the tub for a short while.



Very few restaurants are open on Sunday evenings in this sparsely populated section of the South Coast so we were advised that the pub in Bermagui would be open and have reasonable dinners.  We drove the short ten kilometers and found the hotel.  The weather had become cooler and there was a fire roaring in the fireplace.  We ordered our dinner and drinks at the bar and sat down near the fire.  We had good, fresh seafood although it was smothered in too much butter.  Since today was the Australian Fathers Day, several families were eating in the pub with small babies.  However, all the babies were well behaved and we had a nice dinner.  We returned to our beds and turned in early to a sound sleep.



Monday was the US Labor Day so we had the holiday while Australians worked.  After another big breakfast we told Gwen and Jessie goodbye and headed back home.  First we drove back to Bermagui to see it in daylight.  Bermagui is situated on the coast between the ocean and Lake Wallaga, a sacred aboriginal site.  We stopped along the lake and watched pelicans, sacred ibis, cormorants and gulls.  We headed back north and stopped in Central Tilba.  We walked in and out of some shops and did some early Christmas shopping.  We went to the interesting Bates general store where Nescafe did a TV coffee commercial in 1991.  We also went into the Tilba Cheese Factory where we bought some cheese and honey.  Then we headed north up the coastline, stopping again in Batemans Bay for lunch.  We considered ourselves lucky as we had good weather until today when we ran into showers which are surely needed by the farmers in this area.  We stopped in Braidwood again and did some more Christmas shopping then home to unpack. 

Greece - The Mani

We took advantage of the long weekend by making it an even longer weekend.  I took a leave day for Tuesday and with Monday being the Memorial Day holiday we had a long four-day weekend.  To start, we left Friday after work and drove past Corinth and Tripoli to Sparta, arriving with plenty of time to walk around before dinner.


Sparta was the home of King Menelaus, whose wife, Helen, was seduced by Paris, provoking the Trojan War.  The Spartans were most powerful from the 9^th to 4^th centuries BC and defeated the Athenians in the Peloponnesian War.  They were a warlike group and feared by all warriors of that period.  Because they built mostly of wood, there isn’t much left today of ancient Sparta.  It is, well, Spartan.  Today’s town of about 13,000 isn’t much to write about either.  We walked the main streets and sat on the town square drinking a beer at an outside café.  We had dinner at Diethnes restaurant, considered to be the best in town, in a nice shaded courtyard.  The food was adequate but nothing great.  At least we had a decent central hotel. 


Saturday morning we got up early and left soon after breakfast as we had a busy schedule planned.  We drove the short distance to Mistras (or Mystras) and arrived at 8:00 am when it opened.  Last December we were on an Embassy tour that stopped in Mistras for a short time.  At that time we only had time to explore the Lower Town and its remaining churches.  So this time we drove to the top entrance, which is the Upper Town, to begin our tour. 


Mistras has a fascinating history starting in 1249 when William de Villehardouin of Champagne, France, started building the fortress.  In the 14^th and 15^th centuries it was considered the Florence of the Orient and was occupied by Franks, Venetians and Turks (Ottomans) until Greece won its independence in 1830.  Much of the city is in ruins today but many churches remain, one nunnery, the citadel at the highest peak, much of the palace, and many streets and alleys with shells of houses.  We started by hiking up the steep and winding walk to the castle fortress or citadel.  The views were great in all directions.  At one steep overlook the ancient Spartans hurled their malformed babies.  We were the second couple to arrive at the top and we could see for miles in the distance as the countryside woke up.


We climbed down and toured the Upper Town going into Agia Sofia (St. Sofia), St. Nikolas, and Moni Pantanassas, a former 15^th century monastery that is inhabited today by a few nuns and several cats.  We could not enter the former palace as renovations keep people out but we did walk old alleyways and the major streets of this city that once housed 20,000 people.  Finally we had to hike back to our car and head on to Kalamata.


The drive from Mistras to Kalamata is an exciting mountain road that passes through a park dedicated to rock climbing.  It starts out very rocky and barren but soon enters pine forests with more greenery and wildflowers.  At this point we crossed the Taigetos Mountains and after a short while we descended into the town of Kalamata, known mostly for its large, delicious olives.  We navigated through the town, busy with Saturday shoppers, and made our way past Messini to Pylos where we stopped for lunch. 


Pylos (or Pilos) was known as Navarino and sits on the largest Greek harbor with one side shielded by three-mile long Sfaktiria Island.  Two forts overlook the bay, one built in 1278 (and difficult to access) and the other in Pylos built by the Turks in the 16^th century.  The Battle of Navarino took place in 1827 when the allied forces (11 English, 7 French and 8 Russian ships) defeated a much larger navy of 82 Turkish and Egyptian ships.  The battle paved the way for Greek independence from the Turks.


We had a pleasant lunch on the waterfront with views of Sfaktiria Island across the bay.  After lunch we walked to the Niokastro, or new castle, but it closed at 3:00 pm and we only had about 15 minutes for a quick look.  So we drove the short distance south to Methoni and an even nicer fortress to explore.


Methoni is a sleepy little town, at least in May, with a nice little beach next to the citadel that was begun in the 13^th century on the site of an earlier fortress in a very strong position on a promontory surrounded by the sea on three sides.  Methoni is mentioned by Homer and also has a history of being occupied by Mycenaeans, ancient Greeks, Franks, Venetians, Turks and modern day Greeks again.  What remains today of the citadel was mostly built by the Venetians in 1494 with additions by the Turks such as the Bourdzi Tower.  We hiked all around the citadel and out to the Bourdzi Tower which sticks out into the sea and is connected by a narrow rock walkway. 


It was late afternoon and we were tired after a long day so we drove a short distance to Finikouda, a small fishing village turned into tourist hotels, but didn’t see any place we wanted to stay.  So we drove back to Methoni and were able to get a room at the Methoni Beach hotel where we had stopped for a cappuccino freddo earlier.  They had a room available so we took it.  It had a nice balcony where we sat and read our books while watching the sunset color the citadel just a few yards away.  We lazily watched sailboats in the harbor and the islands of Sapienza and Schiza in the near distance as the sun set.  We had our dinner in the hotel restaurant, which was on the beach overlooking the small harbor.  Life doesn’t get much better than this.


Sunday morning we slept in and took our time getting away.  We had a nice breakfast on the hotel patio overlooking the bay and hated to rush away.  Eventually we checked out and drove the short distance to the town of Koroni on the Messenian Gulf.  Koroni is situated on a high promontory that protects a small port and is surmounted by a castle once more.  Koroni, called Coron by the Franks, was conceded to the Venetians in 1206 and together with Methoni was called “the eyes of Venice”.  Venice and the Turks fought over Koroni and it exchanged hands a few times.  Today it has small, narrow streets and whitewashed houses with tiled roofs.  We drove through the center of town, barely making it through some streets, to the citadel.  We briefly looked at the main gate and took some photos before leaving town and driving north.



We headed through seaside beach resorts that seemed a bit too touristy for our taste.  At the main road we headed back through Kalamata and into the district known as The Mani.  We drove through the small village of Kambos with an impressive Frankish castle overlooking the town and stopped in Kardamyli where we had reservations for the night.  The Notos Hotel had several stone cabins that were first class accommodations with views of the Messenian Gulf once more. 



After we checked in we drove into town and had lunch at the Kiki Taverna under shade trees with views of the Gulf.  Our waitress spoke excellent English so I asked her if she knew where we could find Patrick Leigh Fermor, author of the best book on the region called The Mani.  I recently read his book and an article about his colorful life in the “New Yorker” magazine.  He is 92 years old today and lives alone in his houses here and in England.  The waitress suggested we check at the Karamitsi Hotel, which we did.  They pointed us to the path to his house, which is behind the hotel, but when we arrived it was all quiet.  I called out and even walked through his unlocked gate but there was no answer.  Perhaps he was still napping or perhaps didn’t want any more company.  So we drove back to our hotel and read our books on our balcony.



In the evening we drove back into Kardamyli and had dinner at Lela’s restaurant.  Lela’s is hard to find but has a beautiful setting on the water.  We decided to eat about 8:00 pm thinking it was early by Greek standards.  In Athens we are usually dining alone at 8:00 pm.  This area is heavily visited, mostly by German tourists who eat earlier, so the small restaurant was packed and we barely got one of the last available tables.  The restaurant also ran out of most of their dishes so we had to settle for what was left.  Rita chose moussaka while I had pastissio and both dishes were very good.  It was a pleasant evening.



Monday we had breakfast on our balcony and checked out about 10:00 am.  We drove further south along the scenic road across the boundary that divides the Outer Mani from the Inner Mani.  We took a cutoff to see the seaside resort of Stoupa where many Germans like to vacation.  We stopped in Areopoli (Ares City) and walked around the old town with its Maniot towers, the unusual 18^th century Taxiarch church, which has the zodiac symbols on its narthex, and the picturesque St. Johns church.  The Maniots were a wild, isolated group who built tall towers to wage war on their neighbors whenever a blood feud occurred, which was often.  Some of their feuds would last for 40 years and the towers allowed them to drop rocks and boulders onto their neighbor’s roof tops, as well as shoot at them. Sometimes complete families were wiped out in these feuds.  They would stop their feuds to group together to fight the Turks and then continue the feud after the Turks were run out.  The Turks decided it was best to not even try to conquer these strange people.  The two items that the Maniots are best known for are their feuds and funeral dirges. 



We drove further south past many tower villages such as Kita, Gerolimenas, and Alika to the best known Maniot tower village, Vathia.  We stopped in Vathia and walked around the many deserted towers and houses.  Then we continued down to the bottom of the peninsula to Porto Kagio (quail – which are hunted here in abundance in the fall) where we had our best meal of the trip.  There are only three restaurants in this very pretty village set in an isolated bay.  Each restaurant had their own small fishing boat.  We picked Akrotiri Taverna because the waitress seemed the friendliest.  I picked a fresh fish out of the cooler and we had an excellent meal of grilled eggplant, zucchini, tomatoes and fish with fried potatoes.  We had a nice white wine with the meal and walnut cake with coffee afterwards.  The setting was perfect, as was the weather, and we didn’t want to leave. 



We continued a bit further, as far as the road goes, to the tip of the peninsula called Cape Tenaro where there are the ruins of an ancient temple to Poseidon.  There is a water grotto nearby which is rumored to be the entrance to Hades or the Greek underworld.  Also, in 1941 the British navy fought a battle with the Italians here with the Italians losing three cruisers.



We drove back to Alika where we followed a road along the east coast of the peninsula through more Maniot villages with fortress towers.  We drove to the pretty seaport of Kotronas and then back across the mountains again to Areopoli where we checked into the very nice Limeni Village hotel for the night.  We sat on our balcony watching the sunset and had a nice dinner in the hotel restaurant which was also on a balcony overlooking the bay.  After dinner Rita and I stayed up late watching stars, meteorites, and the occasional satellite from our balcony.



Tuesday we had to start our homeward journey.  We drove across the peninsula to the pretty port of Gythio, which was Sparta’s main access to the sea.  We stopped on the pier and walked over to a beautiful four-masted ship named the “Sea Cloud”.  It was built in 1931 for E. F. Hutton and Marjorie Meriwether Post, changed hands a few times, and then became a cruise ship.  It carries a maximum of 64 passengers, has a crew of 60, and still has hand-operated sails on its four masts. 



We continued northwards through Skala to the medieval town of Geraki with its 12^th and 13^th century Byzantine churches and its Frankish castle built in 1254.  Geraki is called a mini-Mistras by one guide book.  Rita and I walked up to the castle and were met by the keeper from the village who had keys to let us into the churches. 



From Geraki we drove into mountains and the pretty town of Kosmas with a shaded town square surrounded by cafes and an old church.  From Kosmas the road became quite difficult with hairpin curves and steep drop-offs.  The country was wild and mostly uninhabited.  The road drops rapidly to the Dafnon river gorge and finally ended at the village of Leonidio after hundreds of curves.  We continued north on the Arcadia Coast road with nice views of the Argolikos Gulf.  We made a short stop to see the Neolithic ruins at Lerni.  We saw the remains of the House of the Tiles which is dated to about 2200 BC and then headed home through Argos and Corinth.



The drive home was long and tiring and we were happy to be home but it was a great weekend trip to a remote part of the Peloponnese that we had wanted to see for some time.

Thailand & Cambodia - February 2006

We had several good reasons to plan this trip – I had United Airlines frequent flyer points to use up, we were tired of winter, and we promised ourselves a trip as a present to us for our 42^nd anniversary.  The only unfortunate part was that United put us on their Star Alliance partner, Singapore Airlines, and we had to fly to Bangkok via Singapore which added about four to five more hours to a long trip.  Rita had a paid ticket so she flew Singapore Air all the way while I had to change to Thai Airways for the trip from Singapore to Bangkok.  So we left Athens on Friday, February 17 and arrived in Bangkok Saturday morning just 30 minutes apart.  We met up okay in the baggage claim area and took a taxi to our hotel, the Centre Point Lang Suan in downtown Bangkok.  As soon as we checked in we had a shower and short nap before calling our friend, Mike, whom I worked with in Brussels.  Mike now works at the Embassy in Bangkok.



In the afternoon we walked to Mike’s apartment and met his Thai girlfriend, Kratai.  Mike had an excellent suggestion that Rita and I go get a Thai massage at a place near his apartment which turned out great.  For an inexpensive amount we each had a two-hour massage that worked all the jet-lag and kinks out of us.  In the evening we all went to the Good View restaurant on the river for a great meal of spicy Thai food and Singha beer.  Then Rita and I turned in early after our long flight with little sleep.



A word about the climate; our normal daytime temperatures were in the upper 90s to nearly 100 degrees with high humidity.  This is the dry season so although a few times the sky darkened, the expected rain never materialized.  Back in Athens the temperatures were hovering around the 40s for highs.



Sunday we had a nice, big breakfast at our hotel and then met Mike and Kratai for a tour of the old Siamese capital of Ayutthaya, located about 60 miles north of Bangkok.  Ayutthaya was sacked by the Burmese in 1767 and was one of the most important cities in Asia in the 15^th and 16^th centuries.  We took a tour bus to Ayutthaya and on the outskirts we first toured the Wat Chaiwathanaram temple built from 1630 to 1640.  Then we went into the old town where we saw the 15^th century bronze Buddha at Wihan Phra Mongkhon Bophit, the Wat Phra Si Sanphet temple complex and the Wat Mahathat temple.  Following this we were taken to a boat that sailed for three hours down the Chao Phraya River to Bangkok with a nice Thai lunch on the way.



Very early Monday morning we had to check out of our hotel for an early flight on Bangkok Airways to Siem Reap, Cambodia.  This was our first time in Cambodia – a new country to add to our list.  Cambodia was the main purpose of this trip.  Back in 1970 when I was working in Saigon I wanted to take R&R to see Angkor Wat but it was off limits.  For years Angkor Wat was a dangerous place to visit and only opened up to tourists again in about 1995.  Today there are several nice hotels in the little town of Siem Reap and there are many tourists, mostly South Koreans and Japanese.



We arranged our trip through American Express at the US Embassy in Bangkok before we left Athens.  Included in our tour was VIP airport treatment which meant that an expeditor met us and immediately rushed us through passport control and customs to our car and driver.  We were pleasantly surprised to find out we were the only two on our tour – that is the two of us, a driver, Mr. Arith, with a nice Toyota sedan, and our tour guide, Mr. Pok Samnang (call me Sam).  We soon learned that Sam grew up in a UN refugee camp for ten years on the Thai border and learned to speak excellent English in the process.  Sam turned out to be a great guide.  He knew the best places to visit in mornings versus afternoons, mainly for taking photos.  He also knew the best places to take photos and he knew the history of each temple.  I doubt we could have found a better guide.



We were taken to our hotel, Le Meridian, but our room wasn’t ready so we left our luggage and started touring.  We went to some of the older temples first, what are known as the Rolous group, dating from the 9^th century.  First we toured Prah Koh, then Prasat Bakong, and finally Prasat Lolei.  Next we were taken to a Cambodian restaurant for lunch.  Cambodian cuisine is similar to Thai except not as spicy.  We had the local Angkor beer with lunch then back to the hotel to check in and take a short siesta.  Sam and the driver met us again at 3:00 pm (a daily routine) to continue our tour.  In the afternoon we went to Angkor Wat temple, the main 12^th century temple that is very large and impressive.  There are massive galleries with stone carvings telling the epic stories of Vishnu, Rama, and their wars.  Early temples in this region were Buddhist but later the Hindu kings ruled and in many cases they chiseled out Buddha’s images and replaced them with Hindu gods or dancing girls.



We left Angkor Wat about 5:00 pm, went back to the hotel to shower and change clothes, and met our driver and Sam once more.  We were taken to a nice restaurant that also had a Cambodian cultural show which included dancing that resembled Thai dancing.  It was nice but we were tired and happy when it ended to return to our hotel and bed.  The hotel found out it was our anniversary and our bed had two hearts fashioned out of rose petals and a solitary rose on the sheets when we arrived.  We hadn’t told them so we suspected our sneaky daughters.



Tuesday was our actual anniversary but we had to rise and shine to get on with the daily program.  The routine was to eat a nice breakfast in our hotel, meet Sam and driver at 8:00 am, tour until lunch, return to hotel about 12:30 or 1:00 pm, rest until 3:00 pm when we would meet Sam and driver again for the afternoon tour, stopping about 5 to 6:00 pm and get picked up again about 7:00 pm to be taken to dinner.  It was enough to spoil a person.



Tuesday we started our tour driving through the South Gate of Angkor Thom which was the royal city and had a population of about a million people in the 12^th century.  We toured the Elephant Terrace and the Terrace of the Leper King (misnamed).  These terraces were carved with intricate features and were used by the royal court to watch elephant polo and tightrope walkers in the big field they overlooked.  From the terraces we walked to see the temples of Prah Palilay, Phimeanakas, Baphuon, and my favorite, Bayon with the giant faces.  The driver met us and we drove to Baksei Chamkrong for a short visit to this temple.  In the afternoon we saw Prasat Kravan, Srah Srang, Bat Chum, Banteay Kdei, and Ta Prohm which is impressive because it has been deliberately left to be overgrown by “sprung” trees.  Ta Prohm is also where much of the movie “Lara Croft, Tomb Raider” was filmed.  It was quite impressive with the tall trees and flocks of parakeets flying around.  Finally we toured Takeo, Chau Say Tevoda, Thommanon and the East Gate before calling it a day.  We declined to watch sunset at Phnom Bakheng and opted out of our scheduled dinner to have a nice Italian meal at our hotel restaurant to celebrate our anniversary.  In the evening, room service brought us a bottle of champagne, compliments of our daughters - those sneaky girls.



Wednesday was our last day of temple touring and we started out with a drive out of town to the pretty temple of Banteay Srei where the sandstone is a bright pink, sturdier, and, as a result, the intricate carvings have suffered the least from the elements.  We drove through a village where we stopped to watch the villagers make sugar candy out of tree sap.  We saw water buffaloes, cashew and mango trees, dried up rice fields, and houses on stilts.  We stopped at the nearby temples of Banteay Samre and Pre Rup before taking our lunch and afternoon break.  In the afternoon we went to Prah Khan, Neak Pean, Ta Som, East Mebon and then back to Pre Rup where Rita and I climbed to the top to watch the sunset over the temples – a ritual in this region.  Our dinner this night was in the old French Quarter of Siem Reap at a nice restaurant called In Touch.  We sat on the balcony overlooking another famous restaurant, the Red Piano, and drank Tiger beer. 



I should say a word about the local population, especially the children.  Whenever we would stop at a temple there would be a row of makeshift shops selling all types of souvenirs, mostly cheaply made.  Small children from about three years old to teenagers would run up to you asking you to buy something.  They didn’t beg but always had something to sell.  And all sales are in US dollars – the local riel is not worth much to them – they want dollars.  Conversations would go something like this:  “Mistah, Madame, please would you like to buy my (fill in the blanks – flute, books, silk scarf, T-shirt, bracelet, etc.).  Just five dallahs!  Please, Madame, please, buy from me.  Just four dallahs.  Think about it Mistah.  When you come out you remember me and I’ll give you my best price, okay?  Please Mistah, please Madame.”  They were cute, enterprising, and made more than a few sales to us suckers.  Cambodia is still a poor country.  To give you some idea how poor, there are no McDonalds or Starbucks in Cambodia.  Wow!



Thursday was a bit more restful, sleeping in late with our only visits to a school that teaches young people the crafts of stone and wood carving, plus painting and silk weaving.  It’s called Artisans d’Angkor and we picked up some nice souvenirs here.  We also visited the central market place with more of the same things sold at the temples.  In the evening we said our goodbyes to Sam and Mr. Arith who took us to the airport where we caught our flight back to Bangkok and back to the hotel Centre Point where we left our large piece of luggage.



Friday morning Rita and I set out to walk in the heat, humidity, and haze of Bangkok.  It reminds me very much of Houston – heat, humidity, crazy traffic, cockroaches – you get the picture.  This was my third trip to Bangkok since I first visited in 1970.  In 1985 we all visited as a family and saw many of the tourist sites so we didn’t feel obligated to see all of them again this time.  The number of large, air conditioned malls was surprising with most of the name brand stores found in USA and Europe.  We also came across many familiar fast food places like McDonalds, Burger King, Starbucks, Hagen Daz, Baskin Robins, Auntie Annes, Swensons, Outback, Sizzler, Mr. Donuts, Dairy Queen, Subways, Au Bon Pain, Sonics, Dunkin Donuts and 7/11 stores on every corner.  From Europe we saw Boots chemists, Tesco and Carrefour stores, and Lenotre cafes.  Also, all the major hotel chains are represented here now.  It’s not the same Bangkok I remember.



We walked to the Jim Thompson House and Museum which we hadn’t visited before.  Jim Thompson is a local legend, an American architect who, during WWII went to work for the CIA and disappeared in Malaysia in 1967.  However, he single-handedly rebuilt the ancient craft of Thai silk making and made a small fortune in the process.  His house was actually six Thai country houses moved together in one location and connected together into a nice setup.  Today it is a museum and sells many expensive Thai silk items.  There is even a nice restaurant where Rita and I had a good meal while overlooking a pond filled with large koi and other tropical fish.  In the evening we met up with Mike and Kratai again and went to the Huntsman bar in the Landmark Hotel for a nice steak dinner, draft beer, and a great three-girl singing group.



Saturday Rita and I did feel obligated to see some of the old tourist attractions so we took a taxi to see the Wat Pho temple complex with the large reclining Buddha and Thai massage school with old drawings of massage and acupuncture points.  We also walked to the nearby Grand Palace and Wat Phra Kaeo with its temple of the Emerald Buddha (really jade).  The evening was a highlight because we met Mike and Kratai, plus a small group from the US Embassy, at the famous Oriental Hotel, which is consistently voted the best hotel in the world by many trade groups and travel magazines.  We had a gin and tonic in the garden before boarding a small, posh boat for an evening cruise and dinner.  The food was excellent and Mike brought along several bottle of Australian red wine.  It was a nice end to our stay in Thailand.



Sunday we took it easy as our flight left in the afternoon from Bangkok where we transited Singapore once more (nice airport) before catching our ten-hour flight back to Athens.  Our trip ended on a somewhat funny note in that Rita and I had planned to meet in the Singapore airport at the large orchid display we saw earlier.  Well, my flight was delayed out of Bangkok so much that for most of my trip I was ushered into first class so I could be rushed out of the aircraft in Singapore and make my connection.  In Singapore I was met by one of those electric carts with annoying beepers that rushed me from one terminal to another where I had to rebook my ticket.  I told the driver that I was to meet my wife by the orchids but didn’t know if she would be there since we were running so late.  Sure enough Rita was still sitting there waiting for me, the cart picked her up and rushed us to our gate which had just started to board.  We made it in time and so did our luggage.