Had a rooftop breakfast and discovered that the wifi was still down - a break in a line had shut down the Internet all through the area. That, plus the fact that we no longer needed to be in the downtown area, and were fed up with the downtown traffic, motivated us to search out a new hotel,The Classique Inn, located in a forested mansion area, with grand old colonial homes. We wouldn't be staying there today, but Dana arranged for us to to hang out there until our flight time.
However, we first went for a walk in the Agga Youth Hotel neighborhood to get an iPad charging plug (successfully), catching a monk procession en route.
We then went to the Inn, stowed our stuff, lunched in the garden...
and then, after some serious ipad time (great wifi), and a stroll to a neighborhood art gallery, we had a blessedly uneventful trip to Bangkok, and were soon ensconced in our $38 per night luxury (really) hotel - an amazing Travelocity discount deal that was available with the flight...
although not for those who value privacy. The bathroom could be curtained off, but the aesthetic appeal of a visible toilet seat escapes me - some Art Deco thing apparently.
Day 28:
Early rise for a trip into the Myanmar Embassy, only to find that a taxi ride that was supposed to take over an hour took only 15 minutes, and we arrived at 7:00 am and were second in line...
which turned out to be fine, since the first guy in line was an American who knew the ropes well, and got me to a little shop that serviced visa applicants with forms, copying, photos, glue for the photos and even paper clips (in my case for about 75 cents total) and guided Dana to a 7/11 for some coffee, fruit, yogurt, and croissants.
After the service opened at 9:00 we zipped through and had our stuff successfully submitted within 15 minutes. We will hopefully have our new visas at the 3:30pm pickup time tomorrow, on Day 29.
With time to spare (we had envisioned spending half a day at the visa office, we walked to the Oriental Hotel that Dana remembered fondly from when she was here in 1970 and 71. It had a new name, Mandarin Oriental (maybe Chinese-owned now), but still the same elegance...
and riverside ambience.
Then back to the hotel on the Sky Train (with a lot of help in the connections).
Re the Sky Train, see if you can identify some differences between it and the NYC subway.
We had a dip in the Vismaya pool, which has a more understandable modern style than the exhibitionistic toilet.
The hotel seems to be going for a simple, even stark, look that may appear stylish, but no doubt also serves to reduce decorating costs (lotta bare concrete).
Day 29:
Sky Train to a station near the river where we boarded a small tourist boat for a trip up the river...
to the Grand Palace - which is still grand.
We had an excellent guide and learned a lot we had not known about the palace. Also, there had been some major rejuvenation within the last year and everything looked, well, grand, including the gold leaf statues like this one...
on which you could still make out the edges of the gold leaf pieces (they disappear in a year or so.)
We then went to the flower market, where, frankly, it was a bit disconcerting to see orchids processed like raw material in a factory.
We then hung out for a bit in a park (where they had a rather complete exercise machine setup)...
essentially killing time until the Myanmar Visa section opened for the collection of our passports.
After a convoluted journey (involving a befuddled samlar driver, a short Sky Train hop and a brutal wait in the sun outside and in a sweltering small room with a couple of hundred others), WE GOT THE VISAS!!! The biggest challenge of the trip is behind us.
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Videos now embedded. GLAD YOU GOT THE VISAS! :-)
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