HK, Day 4 - Stanley Market/Airport/Bangkok, Thailand

(Vacation travel in full swing. Busy days, late nights, lots of walking and eating and little time for blogging. Entries will have to be written upon return home.)


Plan for the day: Stanley Market and Bangkok
                                            
Highlights:
- Early morning walk through the city with Jim. Nice quiet time for us.
- Visit to Stanley Market, another open market by a pier.
- Pick up China Visas with minimal fuss.
- Off to Bangkok using HK's Airport Express train.

Stanley Market, a quaint little shopping area by the waters.

Hand carving personal seals.

Maci writing her Chinese name for her seal.

Choosing a seal.

Many to choose from.

Yet more to choose from. Maci was being very selective of her special seal.

The perfect one. It's  a dragon.

Now to decide which coconut drink.

Easy choice for me.

Also mine.

Still mine.

HK airport express takes you right to the airport. So convenient. Ready for  side trip to Bangkok, a last minute side trip. It's been a dream of mine to visit the floating markets.

Upon arrival (11:30ish) we decided to find a place to eat in Chinatown.

Exploring Bangkok streets for a midnight seafood snack.

Note the green coloring at this restaurant. And right across from it was the Red restaurant.

Notice the red coloring at this restaurant.

Art and Chris with baby Calleigh.  What awesome hosts to show us around even if that meant carrying a baby around everywhere at all hours of the night.

We chose the green restaurant simply because it was a step closer to us.

Our first of many Thai egg omelets and coconut drinks.

Delicious giant prawns.

Way Out Of My Box Adventures 
Our late arrival at Bangkok (11:30pm) left us very hungry. (It had to have been at least two hours since our last good meal.)  

After checking into our hotel we decided to go food hunting. Sister-in-law Chris had good recommendations about restaurants vaguely referenced  as the "Red" and the "Green" located somewhere in Chinatown.  She tried to relay this to the concierge who spoke some English. He seemed stumped by these "Red" and "Green" restaurants but nonetheless tried to relay it to our two taxi drivers who, after muttering baffled "Red? Green?" finally nodded in agreement. Great. Into our taxis we went: Chris, Josh and myself in one taxi and the rest of the party in the other. 

After speeding crazily through the dark streets of Bangkok, we finally arrive in a busier, slightly more lit up part of town. "Drop here?" Our taxi driver offered. I peered through the window. "Here" did not have any red or green coloring that I could see but I wasn't going to say anything. I was sure Chris had this well figured out.  She's a seasoned traveler, well versed in the protocols of foreign taxi communication exchange. She does this all the time. "Is this the place the concierge told you to drop us off?" She asked. "Drop here?" The taxi driver offered again, smiling. "But is this the place he told you to drop us off?" Chris asked. Apparently she too noticed a distinct lack of red and green coloring outside.

Our taxi driver started to giggle in the face of Chris' mounting impatience. "Is this the place?" Chris persisted. "I don't know." Taxi driver giggled. At this point Josh and I exchanged I-won't-panic-if-you-don't-panic mom/son looks (we're close like that).  

Chris was awesome. She was taking no crap from this giggling fool. "You told him you knew where the restaurant was. We're not getting out. You take us there. You find our friends now!" She commanded to the now nervously giggling taxi driver. To be honest, I almost joined him in hysterical giggling. I had two immediate thoughts: 1. Too many words. He could not possibly have caught all that English. and 2. Find our friends? In this dark and seemingly vast Chinatown where all taxi cabs looked alike and all the people looked alike---especially in the darkness? It would be like trying to find a needle in a haystack...in a dark barn. A big dark barn. Oh dear, oh dear. "Walk around the leaf, must walk around the leaf..."


After a few more minutes of futile exchanges, a taxi cab pulls up in front of our cab and who-- to our wondering and ever-so-greatly-relieved eyes-- should miraculously exit the cab but our other beloved  half of the group. Oh thank the Good Lord! Josh and I could not have stumbled over each other fast enough to get out of that cab and reunite with our family. Not that we didn't have faith in Chris to straighten out our giggling fool-of-a-driver.  We were just happy to be one with our group again in this big, bustling, strange city at midnight. Welcome to Bangkok!

HK, Day 3 - China Visas, Temple Street Market

Plans for the day: China Visas, browsing street vendors at Temple St. Market, and dinner at Spring Deer.


Highlights:
- Decision to take a side trip to Bangkok. Big thanks to Art and Chris for helping to make that happen. 

- Having the BESTEST girlfriend EVER who was willing to do a huge favor for us regarding searching for and faxing birth certificates! We love you, Cathy! And thanks also to Terri-Ann for leaving the key for Cathy. (For more details, see below in "Waay Out Of My Box" section below.)
- Dining at Spring Deer for their delicious, succulent duck.

Buildings outside the Visa building

Quick stop into a nice hotel.

Dinner at Spring Deer Restaurant in another busy downtown-ish section of HK.

Dinner at Spring Deer restaurant. Known for their duck.

Deep fried donut-like dessert.

Waay Out Of My Box Adventures

- We started off the day at the Visa consulate (not sure of the official name). We needed our China Visas for our Day 8 and 10 excursions into China. Of course we had to spend a couple of hours waiting for our turn to submit applications. When we finally got to the front desk, we were told by a not-so-nice woman (who obviously hates her job) that the kids needed copies of their birth certificates. WTH?! I didn't think to make copies or even take pics of those, the way I did our passports. That's what passports are for, right? Not according to Ms. Not-my-problem-NEXT! Ooh, I did not like her. But one must never piss off a person who has the power to misplace one's passports.  So we spared her a sour smile, muttered a thanks and told her "We'll be back." How did I not foresee and plan and prepare for this? How?! After some deep breaths and muttered mantras, "Walk around the leaf,  just walk around the leaf..."  I was calm enough to think things through.

Long story short, we needed a neighbor to go into our house then our safe, retrieve birth certs, and fax or email us the copies. Pronto. Cathy did all this immediately with no complaints, no questions. Just took her boys to the house--was even greeted by Tobi with the typical sock-in-her-mouth gift--and proceeded to retrieve the needed paperwork. WHAT A PAL! A thousand thanks, Cat. Mission accomplished.