Gretchen's Blog

I venture out with a compadre who works in Moscow. We head to the night bazaar which is an open style market; there are shop stalls in a barn like building. It is lightning and thundering and pouring down rain. The rain is not a hindrance to the shopping but the streets around the bizarre are not draining and neither of us wants to walk through six inches of water to get to the shops. I think we both imagine all the bacteria floating around in the water. A guy with a bicycle and a back seat rides us one by one through the water. It was quite comical.

The prices are all flexible and I haggle and buy some items. This was my best shopping experience yet, because I’m not spending much money I’m less concerned if I overpay by a buck or two.

We spend two hours shopping, checking in with each other every hour to make sure we’re OK. We finish shopping and sit at a restaurant at the bazaar. I order some sausages and a german beer, go figure.

I take a taxi (the driver was pissed because the hotel car guy made him put it on meter, rather than extract a random fair. He alternatively speeds and stops quickly. I feel like I’m on Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride) to go shopping at MBK, a shopping mall that is a cross between a US style mall and an open market. Some of the shops have firm prices and some you have to haggle. There are a lot of knock off electronics and cell phones.

I leave without buying anything, and decide to take the Skytrain back after the previous taxi ride experience. I had to change trains and managed to make it back to the hotel, stopping by a small café for dinner on the way back.

I made my presentation yesterday so I snuck out of my conference today to go to a curry store (it was closed Sunday.) I got more curry than I’ll probably use in 10 years. Looks tasty.

The evening planned by the Thailand office includes a wonderful river boat cruise with dinner included. The food is fabulous and Bangkok looks great at night.

Conference day, work day, so far so good. The day started out a little strange, while we were waiting for our van, there were a bunch of military guys with guns and bullets on their belts combing through the hotel. I figured it was some type of standard procedure.

Later that night, we were waiting for a taxi to go eat and there was a long line of cars dropping people off and the military was present as well. Many had flags on their bumpers of different countries, assumably cars from the various embassies. We found out they were attending an event to celebrate Israel’s 59th anniversary of independence. Our group of three got a little spooked, no wonder there was so much security and all of a sudden we felt a little like sitting ducks in the taxi line.

The night went off without a hitch.

Today I just hired a driver to take me to a couple of more places, Wat Pho, the reclining Buddha, A curry shop and finally the Jim Thompson house.

Wat Pho is even more interesting than the Emerald Buddha, it’s huge and gold. There is a massage school on the same grounds as well as a Buddhist school. Of course I had to ask what the Buddhist monk wore under their robe. It’s the same as what Scots wear under their kilt. No worry about a breeze blowing up these things though.



The curry shop was closed because it was Sunday, sigh but the driver said it was a good local shop so I will try again this week.

The Jim Thompson House was OK, maybe a little oversold to the Americans because it makes them feel good.

I got back in the car and the driver asked if I wanted to go shopping. This wasn’t a guided tour so I figured he would take me to some typical set of shops. Wrong. It happened again, first a jewelry store and silk shop. I got high pressured sales tactics. They were showing me rings with $1500 price tags; hell I don’t wear much jewelry. She asked what kind of jewelry I liked and I replied, Silver Indian jewelry, which is true but I also knew they were very unlikely to have anything like that in stock. Finally we move over to the silk and she tries to sell me some overpriced stuff. Finally I told her I was uncomfortable and she asked why? I told her I was used to looking at an item with a price tag on it and deciding whether or not I wanted to buy. She told me that if I wanted that I should go to the department store (there was disgust in her voice.) I told her she is probably right and that I was sorry but I didn’t want anything that day.

The second store he took me to was a tailor shop. Like I need a suit. Hell if I thought I was going to be the same size every year it would be worth it to invest in something so nice.

It made me feel really cheap not to buy anything.

I sign up with the hotel for a shorter tour today, to see the Grand Palace and Emerald Buddha. What a beautiful temple. I get a different tour guide today, she seems quite nice.

We sit in the temple of the Emerald Buddha quite a while, relaxing and enjoying the meditative qualities around us. The Buddha is made of jade but is emerald in color. I get reprimanded by one of the security guards for sitting with my feet facing the Buddha. My guide tells me your feet must never face the Buddha as that is disrespectful.




My knowledge about Buddha is limited; I think I am going to have to do some research.

This tour guide stops at a purse store; Die Tasche is the name of the store, how funny. This time I succumb to buying a couple of purses but feel bad because I spent more than I would like.

Later in the evening, I hit the streets, eating fruit from a Vendor’s cart and stopping in the local grocery store. I’m a little nervous about pick pocketing but not about getting hurt, there are too many people and most are just like you and I.

I wake up around noon and decide to get dressed and head downstairs for a tour of Bangkok. I get the local canal boat tour. I had visions of some type of Venice Gondola ride but this is not the case.

Quite interesting, the (Mae Nam Chao Phraya) River through Bangkok is quite polluted; black, thick and smelly, as are the connected canals. Yet there are people who are fishing off the docks and from the houses which are on stilts in the water. While I was on the ride, I saw one women open her house door and toss out into the canal what looked to be a box that previously packaged a toy. I imagined it was a Barbie toy but it could have been anything. Just down the way, people were sitting in innertubes and kids were fishing off the porch. I wonder if anyone has tested the fish. Amidst this abject poverty were interspersed golden Buddha temples.

In the middle of the trip, a woman (no front teeth) in another small boat startles me by pulling down the plastic around the boat (it keeps the water spray off the people) and wants to sell me some cheap fans, pencils and general “stuff.” I don’t need anything but I buy some cute pencils for A for about double what I would pay in the US… helping the economy I guess. She also attempts to sell me a beer, which I decline. Then she asks me if I want to buy a beer for the boat driver. I turn and look at him and he is shaking his head yes for the beer. I buy him a beer and hope we don’t tip over, the water is nasty.

The tour guide stops at a Gemstore which she says the prices are set by the government. I get inside and check the prices; I think I can do better in the US. At least I know what I’m buying. I guess the guides get a cut of what you purchase; I don’t buy anything but feel guilty for no purchases.

Made it to Bangkok, whew, what a long set of plane rides. The 10+ hour flight from San Francisco to Tokyo was numbing. Just as we were landing in Bangkok, the lady sitting next to me (a lawyer for the Federal Government) and I were filling out our immigration cards. There was a blank for a Visa number. I asked her, “What Visa number?” She showed me her very official passport with a special piece of paper glued in for Thailand. I thought “great” I must have missed the Visa part of my trip preparation. Visions of a long trip back and tears started to pop into my mind.

I got to the immigration line and handed the officer my passport. She didn’t ask any questions (whew) and stamped my passport with a Visa stamp (go figure.) Thank God….I can’t believe I made it through. Since I’m not “working,” I don’t need a special visa, mine is considered to be an “educational” trip. Wink wink.

While waiting for my baggage, I decided to get some cash from an ATM to get started. I chose 200, thinking I was requesting dollars but it ended up Bahts, the Thai currency. I checked the board to figure out how much that was …. Not quite $6.00. WTF, why would an ATM give out only $6? Next time, I selected 10,000B, almost $300., much better. The currencies are so different; it almost feels like Monopoly money.

The hotel had a car waiting for me but I guess they thought the name Gretchen was a man, so they were looking for a man and I was looking for their sign. We finally hooked up and the drive was relatively short on the expressway. The hotel has high security, they check underneath the car for bombs and I had to go through a screener to get inside. The clerk told me since 911 security has been tight because this particular hotel has a lot of Americans staying at it and it is close to a lot of different embassies.

I got up the first day about noon Bangkok time on Thursday or about 10 PM Wednesday California time.

What are my first impressions of Bangkok? The hotel is very rich; the town is a mixture of “average” people mixed in with many very poor people. You get the feeling that everyone wants money from you. I feel the pressure of "How much should I tip?” “Is it not enough or is it too much?” “Did I tip the driver an appropriate amount to the baggage guy?” “Should I give money to the people on the street?” “Does it make me the object for more money giving?” Agggh. It makes me feel bad that I am staying in a nice hotel and people are living in shacks right outside. No sewers, tin houses, trees growing up in the middle of their houses.

We took the train from Willaims, AZ to the Grand Canyon. It started with a short Western show on the train ramp, complete with horses and fake gun shootouts. Hokie, yes, but A really liked it. The scenery on the trip was great, A and I spent the majority of our time, walking back and forth to the café’ car where we purchased Gummi Bears and Cheetos the first time and popcorn the second.

What can I say about the Grand Canyon that hasn’t been said or photographed? It was awesome. Our room was at the Thunderbird Lodge on the Rim with a “partial view” of the Grand Canyon. The full view must have been the floor above us. How cool is that to open the curtains in the morning to see the Grand Canyon.

We took in a couple of Ranger Programs, the best for A and I was the Condor talk. As the Ranger was talking, several birds started to fly overhead. It was one of those moments that take your breath away. A and I wrangled for the camera to take a couple of photos.

We also managed to get in a couple of short hikes and hiked part way down the Bright Angel Trail. I think A would have gone all the way down without thinking about how she would get back. 10 years ago I would have ……..

We returned on the train, this time complete with a Banjo player and a train robbery. A hid herself under her Strawberry Shortcake blanket. The Robbers kinda figured out where she was hiding.

After the train ride back, we headed for Kingman,AZ to get an early start on our trek back to Bakersfield.

A great first road trip….sigh.

We made it to Flagstaff last night ending a driving nightmare. We stayed at Little America hotel and it was lovely. The next morning we took our time getting up, ate breakfast, enjoyed the hot tub and playground and checked out around noon.

Our itinerary for the day was the Wupatki National Monument and Sunset Crater Volcano.

I think this was our best day so far. A and me did some small hikes, checked out the volcanoes and Indian Pueblo ruins. A took notes and plans to share this with her classmates.

We finished this leisurely tour, A got a Bear Claw from the vending machine and we headed to Williams,AZ to position ourselves for the train trip to Grand Canyon tomorrow.

We got up early and planned to repeat McDonalds for breakfast on the road. Where two highways intersect on our map appeared to be the best chance but we were getting close and no fast food to be found. I pulled into a lone gas station, filled up just in case (this would be my smartest move of the day, which tells you how the rest of my choices went.) I asked the attendant if there were any fast food places on our route and he shook his head no. Breakfast was going to be from a gas station mini-mart. I told A to pick whatever she wanted. She got a packaged Danish that looked to be a month old and a bag of Cheetos. I got cheese and crackers.

We followed the website directions to Grand Canyon West. I must have missed the part where the last 14 miles was a rough, windy, rock road. I felt lucky if I got above 20 mph; puke is the word that comes to mind. I almost turned back but we had come so far anyway, I forged ahead.

We got to the main terminal and there was obvious chaos. The first thing we did was buy a skybridge package. I could tell it was going to be a hard day for the Huapai Indians and tourists because their normal 200 visitors per day looked like it would top 2000. We went immediately to the skybridge, it just so happened they got the official camera working on the bridge 2 minutes before we got to that spot and it quit working about 5 minutes after.
They wouldn’t let you take personal cameras or anything on the skybridge fearing you would either drop it on the glass and scratch it or throw it over the edge and it would drop far below.

After the skybridge, we grabbed the next shuttle bus to Guano Point to check out the view and the food. The line for food was wound around so far we gave up that idea and bought Indian Jewelry instead (this is a stretch as the only thing Indian was the sellers. My earrings broke the first night) and waited for the next bus. We changed buses at the main terminal; A in her hurry forgot her $14.95 mini flashlight that shown a picture of the skybridge. They didn’t sell any more of those at other trading posts but it wasn’t worth trying to find it or buy another.

We got on another bus which was basically a large horse trailer with seats to the Hualapai Ranch where we hoped there would be a shorter food line. People complained about the dust and I thought… where do you think you are? We got to the Ranch where a guy with black teeth and a real gun felt he had to give his spiel, we were only interested in the food but since he had the gun we waited for him to say his part and then hightailed it to the food line. The food was OK at least the line was reasonable, A hated it, we hurried back to the bus stop to get back to the main terminal to get the hell out of dodge. We stopped at their trading post to grab snacks for A since she didn’t eat the food. She found Cheetos and Jelly beans… there’s a theme going on here.

We peeled out as fast as we could and were amazed that cars were still coming through that horrible road. At least we got out of there early. As they were streaming in, all I thought was “suckers!”

The only part that was enjoyable was the skybridge but I would wait a year or two until they get a road in place and the kinks ironed out.

We got up and out relatively early Sunday morning, 8AM, had breakfast at McDonalds in Mojave. A’s choice. Later we arrived in Laughlin at Avi Casino just inside the Nevada border but (unbeknownst to me) a Mojave Indian Casino. It looks like a favorite spot for young families (kid care) and retirees (cheap.) A loved it, we spent hours by the pool, ate, changed, she went to their kid quest which was awesome and I gambled. Too bad we didn’t book this for two nights.