Monday, Feb 22 Arriving in Bangkok

Mon, Feb 22- it’s 6:30 AM and we’re sitting in the transit lounge in Taipei on our way to Bangkok. We’re flying EVA Air, a Taiwanese airline, because they offered business class seats for coach price and well worth it! Lots of leg room, prettily decorated cabin and individual on-demand movies! Got about six hours of sleep, plus seeing “Bright Star”, “The Invention of Lying” , “Amelia” and an interesting documentary on the history of blue jeans!



RR had pre-ordered a fish dinner which was pretty good, but I had a choice of very good seafood pasta or chicken. His breakfast turned out to be fish also, so I ordered a mushroom omelet for him and traded.

We had an amazingly smooth landing and debarked quickly leaving behind a very neat cabin, rather that the total chaos and garbage one sees after a 14-hour flight on an American airline.

We explored the terminal, visiting live orchid and silk flower exhibits and boarded another EVA jet for the four-hour flight to Bangkok. Clouds all the way until Thailand and then hazy tropical humidity over flat agricultural lands until we reached Bangkok airport with it’s fantastic architecture.

We cleared customs and picked up our bags, stepped into Bangkok’s 90 degree, 100% humidity and got a taxi for the 40-minute ride through the endless, rather unattractive, sprawl of Bangkok - until you suddenly see an exquisite golden temple or lovely ornate bridge. We finally pulled into the Marriott Spa & Resort on the west bank of the Chaophraya River. My sister, Hilary, who has accumulated about one million Marriott points for her consulting work, gave us two nights at this totally plush hotel. Because of her high rank with the chain, we got a lovely river-view room, complimentary breakfast, cocktails, snacks, laundry… We found a bowl of exotic fruit on our table and ate a crunchy sweet Rose Apple.

I think we’ll just hibernate here and recover from our 27-hour ordeal and jet lag before we join the birders on Wed afternoon!

We went down for our cocktails, explored beautiful bars and cafes (there are TEN just in the resort!) and settled into a lovely area of plants and dark wood floors and furniture and were served Mai Tais and invited to sample the hors d’ouvres…well! No need for supper after this array of tiny delicious made of who-know-what sandwiches, pastries, summer rolls, dips, sauces- and even desserts. Collapsed into bed at 8:30...