Khao Lak

Here we are at the Marriot resort at Khao Lak on the last few days of our holiday. The weather is very patchy with lots of intermittent showers and rough sea off the coast so excursions are pretty much out. But as we have been here before we are content to swim, eat and enjoy time with Jen and Pete and the very lively Sophie and Lachlan. This will be the last entry in this blog as we will be flying home on Sunday. Hope you enjoy the photos which include shots of our room and the pool and Jen's family at one of the pool bars. Tough life eh!

Our last night in Bangkok

So tonight is our last night in Bangkok before moving over to Khao Lak to meet up with Jen and family. They have had such a frantic time preparing their house for sale at home, so it will be great to see them after 6 weeks, and they can have some down time they so desperately need. 2 older child minders looking forward to spending time with the little munchkins.

We were well looked after by the staff at Conrad Hilton Bangkok. We had Club Lounge access, and it was a delight to go up to the lounge for breakfast, then afternoon tea between 2.30pm - 4.30pm and lastly drinks and canapes from 5.30pm - 7.30pm. Our favourite waiter was Om and he was terrific. What a pity he doesn't want to move to Australia!!! Once again Luxury Escapes comes up trumps!!! It's going to be tough coming home and having to do everything for ourselves!! Not to mention the weather...Brrr.

Bangkok

We left Paris on Saturday and arrived in Bangkok today after a short flight to Zurich followed by a very long overnight flight to here. We will be relaxing in Bangkok for a few days and, as this is our fourth time here, we will be just chilling out and not sightseeing. After that we fly to Phuket and then head up to the Marriot resort at Koh Lak to spend 10 days with Jen, Peter, Sophie and Lachlan. So probably won’t blog again till then.

Palace of Versailles

Today we visited this amazing palace built by Louis XIV in the 17^th century. Its gardens, decorative interiors, salons and the Hall of Mirrors have to be seen to be really appreciated. However the photos below will at least give you some idea of its magnificence.

The Hall of Mirrors was of particular interest to Phil as it was in this room that the Treaty of Versailles was signed on 28 June 1919 ending World War One and, among other things, creating the International Labour Organization which has been the focus of Phil’s work for nearly 20 years. The Hall features 357 mirrors in 17 arches between marble pilasters that feature in gold symbols of France including the fleur-de-lys and the Gallic cocherel. The ceiling is decorated with paintings celebrating Louis XIV’s military victories.

Photo 1: Palace from a distance to give some idea of its size

Photos 2 and 3: examples of ceiling art in the salons

Photo 4: Palace gardens seen from the Hall of Mirrors

Photo 5: example of the many gold ceiling decorations

Photo 6: another external view of the Palace

Photos 7 and 8: the Hall of Mirrors

 

 

The Lido

Last night we went to dinner and the show at the famous Lido. Dinner was delicious and the show was a brilliant cabaret. As you might expect from a French cabaret there was some comedy and a lot of energetic and rather erotic dancing with women wearing colourful costumes that covered very little. They danced a wonderful Can Can!

The staging was terrific. At times part of the stage floor would drop away slowly taking dancers with it only to see them rise again wearing different costumes and doing something new. The lighting was brilliant. Phil says what he enjoyed most was the skill of the dancers. Yeah … right… Sue is extremely sceptical J

We were not allowed to take photos during the show so we can’t show you any pictures. But if you Google ‘Paris Lido’ you will get an idea of what we saw.

Back in Paris

Today we left the boat in Paris and arrived at the Hotel Sofitel de Boutet where we are staying for the next few days. As our room wasn’t ready yet we took the Metro to visit the Arc de Triomphe. This involved changing trains and negotiating numerous sets of stairs at Metro stations as, apparently, the authorities believe that escalators should only be available for travel up or down but never for both. This was no fun for Sue given her hip replacement but we managed OK.

The fun started after we got off at the right station for the Arc de Triomphe and then headed off down what we thought was the Champs Elysees but which turned out to be the Avenue de la Grande Armee. A happy mistake as we had banana splits at a neat little café right near the Arc de Triomphe and enjoyed exploring some of Paris that we had no seen before.

Tomorrow we will visit the Palace of Versailles and the next day we are off to dinner and the show at the Lido. What are the poor people doing? J

Domaine de Chantilly

On Sunday we sailed to Conflans and today we visited the Domaine de Chantilly (i.e. Chantilly castle). The original castle was built in the 14^th century was gradually added to from the 16^th to the 19^th centuries. It is a magnificent building surrounded by beautiful gardens and housing wonderful art and other collections. The library has more than 60,000 books and priceless manuscripts, with only space to show 13,000.

Among the spectacular buildings on the site are the Great Stables, built in the 18^th century and dedicated to hunting. Relics of their past are kept in the Museum of the Horse, also on site. Today the stables host over 150 equestrian shows per year and daily dressage demonstrations.

Photo 1: The castle.

Photo 2: Statue of hunting dogs.

Photo 3: Salon.

Photo 4: View of part of the gardens from the castle.

Photos 5 and 6: These give some idea of the lavish way in which the interior has been decorated.