arrived in Chiang Mai

Wow, I’m awake early this morning.  May as well put that time to good use and blog and write postcards, right?

After a nice breakfast with J-J and his wife, a breakfast that included a healthy portion of durian, by the way,

Conrad and I were taken to the airport in Bangkok to fly north.  Destination Chiang Mai.  Nice little lounge, easy and fairly short flight.  Remarkably, we were served a hot lunch up in business class.  Wow.

I had expected Chiang Mai to be a hilly town enclosed tightly by mountains, but the view flying in showed a broad, flat valley.  

We landed and were through the airport and into a car and at the hotel very quickly.  A welcome day of fast and smooth travel!

Our hotel is lovely.  

The Tamarind Village evokes an older time, truly.  I had thought it an old complex converted to a boutique hotel, but it seems it was deigned this way.  Very tranquil here in the heart of the city.  Our room - a suite, actually - is quite nice.  

We settled in somewhat, headed down to ask the desk to make spa and restaurant bookings for us, came back up to unpack more, then took a short walk before dinner.

We kept dinner nearby, heading to the hotel restaurant, Ruen Tamarind, for our meal.  It’s a handsome space, and I know I will enjoy breakfast there on our mornings here.  Their bar looked promising, but the martini was only ok.  And not the focus of the meal, so we shrugged that off and sipped.  The food itself?  Great!  Presented beautifully.  And still too much.  We both loved the chicken in curry with fried and soft noodles.  I also loved the duck larb, but Conrad found it a bit spicy.  He preferred the tuna to be scooped into betel leaves for wrapping, and I liked that but not as much as he did.  

No dessert, a glass of wine each instead, and then we came back to the room to wind down.  I was lights out before ten!

No big plans today until spa treatments late afternoon.  Hooray!

where we are

Hey, it’s me, checking off another state visited.  Number 33:  Rhode Island.  

We flew from Chicago to Providence earlier this afternoon, and we have settled into our hotel downtown.

 It’s a grey, damp day, but ah well.  It’s a nice break from the SoCAL heat.

More blogging to come in days ahead!

Hawaii, day one

I'm back from Hawaii and settled in at home.  Next week will actually be a full week of work at work (well, maybe Friday will be remote).  Bizarre!  There is plenty to catch up on, and I thought I would take Hawaii day by day since there are many photos, and a decent amount of narrative.  Ready?  Let's go!

Hawaii, day one, is really the tale of getting there.  And the tale is not an arduous one, I promise.  Heck, I didn't even have to get up early for my flight!  I got the airport late morning and parked in the lounge to do a little bit of work there. 

The flight was scheduled for about 1:00 in the afternoon, and I was in business class on the way there

(cute little amenities kit!). 

I got on the plane, had lunch in the air,

dozed a bunch, watched some things on my iPad (The Gentlemen on Netflix, a few episodes, funny stuff), and read a little as well (Underland by Robert McFarlane).  The flight took us over the Channel Islands on the continent side of things,

and then after a long while, the Big Island came into view. 

I was happy to have the window seat!  We flew past Honolulu and approached the airport from the west, coming in over the suburban communities there.

The trip was scheduled for a work matter that I'll get to in a later post.  I took advantage of that to enjoy a few days in Honolulu and invite Marie to join me.  She wouldn't arrive until much later that evening, though, so I had a handful of hours to myself.  I booked us a suite at the same hotel where I was told to stay for the work, and the suite proved to be a nice one.  It was roomy - I gave Marie the bedroom

and took the pull-out sofa for myself

- and the view of Manoa and the convention center and the canal and even a glimpse of the water was welcome. 

Yes, you did have to crane your neck a little for that water view,

but not badly so, especially out on the balcony.

I got myself unpacked, and then it was to the mall.  Oh yes.  We were staying at the Ala Moana Hotel, and that meant we were right at the one end of the Ala Moana Shopping Center.  Now, I'm NOT a mall person, generally speaking, but Ala Moana is really something else.  Super high-end designer stores, inexpensive souvenir shops.  Multiple department stores.  Groceries.  It's a big complex, and just going end to end helps the step count.  Marie and I would visit it several times, but on that first day last Wednesday, I had one thing in mind:  musubi.

I think it's funny that so many people disparage Spam.  Yes, it's processed, full of fat, sodium, and sugar.  But it also uses up animal parts, and I appreciate that.  Besides, since when do we not like fat, sodium, or sugar?  The people who make a fuss to me when I post about Spam are the true food snobs, a label that has been leveled at me many more times than I find amusing.  But no, there I am, eating as much Spam as possible on the trip, starting with that delicious treat.  I picked it up at Foodland along with some snacks, water, and wine for the room, and I didn't really eat much more than that for my dinner that night.

Sunset,

and then, as it does in Honolulu, the sky grew dark quickly. 

I hung out, waiting for Marie.  Not long after she arrived, it was time to crash - at this time of year, Honolulu is 3 hours behind us in SoCal, so it was past 1AM for me in reality.  Marie and I had a few days together to enjoy, and we wouldn't miss out by getting a night of sleep.