9-28 (Thursday)

Just a brief message . . . I still have a bad stomach and may have to get off the net at any minute! Actually I was okay all day because I took a Cipro last night. I think I need another one tonight.

I felt like a new person today after having a good night's sleep.

This morning we paid for our trip to the River Kwai. We go there at 6:30 in the morning. We accidently stumbled into a foot massage place for a very relaxing time while we were waiting to be picked up to go to the Royal Palace. I had been there before but it was worth seeing again. Very impressive.

On the way home we had to stop at the obligatory "gift" shop. This was a giant place where they were selling jewels. They were so beautiful. They have one sales clerk to follow you around to try to sell you something. That drove me crazy because I wasn't going to buy ANYTHING.

When we got back to the hotel we picked up our passports and paid for our flight to Myanmar on Sat. We still don't have a room there but are working on it. I don't know if they have internet there or not so if you don't hear from me for a week or so you'll know why. When we get back to Bangkok we are going to head north to Chaing Mai.

9-27 Wednesday

I thought we'd sleep really late this morning but NO, we were up at the crack of dawn. Neither one of us slept well at all.

Breakfast came with the room. It was unbelievable! I have never seen such a fabulous breakfast. Fruits, juices, eggs, cereals, yogurts, hot dishes, cold dishes and even salads. It was too fabulous. Unfortunately I still had a bad stomach but I didn't let that stop me.

We set out to find a new "home" since we only had the Ambassador for 2 nights. We literally spent the whole day looking for another place. I felt awful most of the day with my stomach continuing to be upset but mostly because I didn't get any sleep I was completely out of it.

We sent our passports over to the Myanmar Embassy to get visas. They should be back tomorrow. We plan to leave for Myanmar probably on Saturday.

We are planning to go to the River Kwai on Friday.

We ended up rebooking the Ambassador Hotel for another two nights. Even though it is more than we would normally pay we didn't want to go through the hassle of moving and we found it hard to come to come to terms with giving up the fabulous breakfast.

You know you're in Asia when . . .

it takes two people to turn down the bed. They tuck the sheets in so tight that you would think they cemented them to the bed frame.

You know you're in Asia when . . .

your laundry is hanging all over the room and you're praying for it to dry by morning. Even with our air conditioner running we aren't having good luck with our clothes drying.

I know I'm in Asia when . . .

I immediately stick my hair in two pony tails!

We're here!!

We flew from Orlando to Detroit on Monday morning. We had a long way to walk to our gate in Detroit but we welcomed the exercise. We were going to get something to eat but I heard them announce that you had to be ON BOARD 30 minutes before departure or you weren't going. We got to the gate about 35 minutes before departure. The girl said we only had 6 minutes. We didn't have time to get anything to eat. When we got on the plane it was full! Was I ever lucky - I had a window seat and the seat in the middle was empty. Joyce also had the same good luck where she was sitting.

Usually on international flights you can have beer and wine for free so you can imagine how surprised I was that NW charged $5 per drink. I don't usually drink on a flight but it did surprise me.

The good thing about eating elementary school food all your life is that it prepares you to gag down airline food!

We landed in Narita, Japan in terrible weather. We had about 2 hours before the next flight. I needed that much time because I had a bad stomach and stayed in the bathroom most of the time.

The flight from Narita to Bangkok had a TV monitor on the back of each seat. The plane from Detroit to Narita was MUCH bigger but only had one TV in my area. From where I was sitting you would have had needed binoculars to see the screen. As far as I know they only showed one movie and that was in the middle of the night.

We got to our hotel around 1 a.m. and probably in bed about 2:30.

Thank you everyone

Thanks to all of you who emailed me or called me tonight. I didn't answer the phone because I just had too much to do before the morning. This accident really threw me off schedule for the whole day. My head still feels funny but I don't have a headache so I think I'm fine. I went with some friends to a Thai Restaurant for lunch and learned how to say hello and thank you in Thai so I'm all set to go! Now I have to go finish packing!!

9-24 (Sunday)
I was on my way to church this morning on the 408 expressway when some guy hit me from behind at top speed. I was going 50 so he must have been going 70 or more to do the damage he did to me. How I kept my car under control I’ll never know. The back end is pushed into the tires so far that I thought my tires were flat. I hit my head on the steering wheel but didn’t draw blood. I am okay. Because there is construction on the road there are barricades along the side. I jumped over those so that no car would hit me as they came flying by.
The guy that hit me is 24 years old. He kept apologizing and apologizing. I told him I knew he didn’t do it on purpose. I didn’t have a cell phone and his had run down so we just had to wait for someone to stop or call the police. Finally a couple stopped and called. They told me that the accident had already been reported and the police were on their way.
When they arrived Timothy, the guy, went over and started talking to them. I figured I’d better hear what he was saying so I walked over. It was about this time that I heard the policeman ask Timothy what was behind his ear. When he removed “it” it looked like a small rolled up cigar. I guess it was a “joint” because the policeman told me it was marijuana. He handcuffed Timothy on the spot. Lovely. The policeman told me they had had reports of Timothy driving erratically and weaving in and out of traffic at high speed. Great. He found me! The police searched his truck and found more marijuana and ecstasy pills. What a guy!
I didn’t know he was on drugs when he hit me but I did hurry to the back of his truck and wrote down his tag # just in case he decided to take off. He was probably so high he couldn’t even think to hide or throw away his stash.
I called my cousin, Dinki, to come pick me up. The policeman had me call her long before he was ready for me to be picked up so I wasn’t where I told her I’d meet her. She found another policeman and said she was looking for her cousin who had been in an accident. That police called and found out where I was. As it turned out I decided to have my jeep towed to my condo so I rode with the tow truck driver.
I spent hours on the phone with the insurance company. This is an unusual case because I am leaving the country tomorrow morning at 9 a.m. Even though the girl isn’t an adjuster she said she thinks they will probably “total” my car. I don’t need a rental car now but I will need one when I get back from my trip. I am going to have to do all my business with the insurance company via Internet and fax! What a great way to start the trip!
I am posting some pictures of the car . . . both of the back doors are sprung open at the top and of course don’t open. You can’t get into the gas tank (I wish I had my $35 worth of gas!) and even the sunroof is sprung in open position. You know he had be have hit me really hard for the sunroof to have sprung open. Thanks a lot Timothy!

My friend, Joyce, and I will leave Monday the 25th for two months in Asia. Our first stop will be Bangkok where they just had a coup. I guess we will be riding from the airport to the hotel in a tank or armored car!