The first thing that amazed me was the fact that the people LOVE THEIR KING. If you just enter the airport, you can see what I mean. On every other business, building, etc - you can see an homage to the king.
Well, Allya and I were under the impression that we'd be in good hands, and he'd see us off to the hotel okay. We probably had gotten there in record time, as we saw the speedometer hit 150-160... Kilometers though... But, do the math, still intense. Before we hit the hotel, however, Uncle Tan asked us if we were hungry. He took us to a traditional Thai food restaurant. I found my new love. We also had found something else very interesting - Thailand was full of old white men with young asian women. It was the first time I had seen this... I guess I need more mirrors in my house, but seriously, this was the beginning. We ate an amazing 5 star dinner, Uncle Tan's treat, and made our way to the hotel. It turns out the street that the hotel I booked was located on a, well, sort of... hmmm... How can I put it... Let's just say, when we pulled up to the hotel, there were alot of girls excited to see me get out of the car - up until Allya stepped out also. However, the hotel was amazingly beautiful. Uncle Tan happily helped us with our bags, and Allya and I said our thank you's and good bye's - and assumed we wouldn't see him again. We checked in without a problem. Room 220, and there was a bell boy ready to walk us to our room. We went off.
As we turned around - There was Uncle Tan standing there on the side, making sure we were okay - He then says, "Okay? - Okay? What time tomorrow? 8am?". Allya and I, confused, said, 10am, it's too early... He told us 9am. We weren't sure what he meant. Was he to meet up with us and take us to breakfast? Was he going to make sure the night was okay? We figured we'd just go with the flow.
Uncle Tan came and picked us up - He asked us what we had planned. We really didn't know. I knew I wanted to go on the little boats around the waterways, and Allya wanted to do the floating market. I also wanted to go to the grand palace. I didn't realize, however, how big Bangkok really was. I was also told to go to Potpong.
Luckily, Uncle Tan knew his way around... more than we ever thought.
We headed straight to an alley, where there was an old man, dubbed the old man and the sea, wanting to take passengers, apparently, on his boat. Well, Uncle Tan said some things in Thai and we ended up following this guy down a smaller alley, and down a smaller alley, until we came to the river - where there was a security guard sitting in this Alley... Watch the video , I'm not making this up. I saw Uncle Tan flash his badge of some sort, and we boarded this little boat.
The old man and the sea helped Allya onto the boat.
It was a tour of Thailand by water... It was private and secluded, and just for the 3 of us. We went everywhere, all of which except for one place, because a boat sank.
Afterwards, Uncle Tan took us back to the hotel - and told us to get our bags. We weren't sure why, and we said that it was okay, we can go do something else. He asked what. Allya explained that she'd like to go shopping. Uncle Tan said the best place was like 2 hours away, but if she wants good shopping - this was the place to go. We agreed. We began driving... and driving... we got out of the city... and then... out into the country... I saw rice paddy's... I saw little farms... Then, mountains came into sight... we then hit the mountains... Then, finally we stopped... He said that it was time to eat. He took us to an amazing little eatery on the side of the road. The food was very good - and the atmosphere was just as good. Oddly, it was alot drier and cooler there than it was in Bangkok. I said it was alot like Los Angeles, only a little more humid. We ate like we'd never eaten before - the price was just as good... $15 for the 3 of us and alot of food!!!
We got back in the car and started driving again. We arrived in a beach city called Pattya - There was alot of shopping and tourists abound! We kept driving... We made our way to what looked to be an outlet mall. As I pointed it out to Uncle Tan, he shook his head and said - yes, we keep going. We finally pulled into a costco kind of super market. Allya and I certainly didn't expect that. We followed uncle Tan to the fish area. He began asking us what we'd like.
Well, long story short - we walked away with more fresh fish than I'd ever seen in one persons possession, short of the Bassmasters tour on ESPN. We got back into the car and started driving again - all of a sudden, we turned off onto some side street. We cruised down a one way street and ended up at some sort of resort. We got out, and Uncle Tan took all the fish and led us into the resort. He walked into the kitchen, and told us to walk around. When he came back out - he told us, "Dinner - 6:30 - okay?". We agreed.
We began walking around this resort paradise, and were amazed. As you can see, the beauty was unmatched. It opened up to the ocean, with beautiful white sand beaches. There was then a table set just for the 3 of us. Here are the pictures I'll write more when I can...
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