Autumn in USA - Last day of the trip

And that should be all for my USA trip.



Climb the Rockefeller Center, “Top of the Rock”, in the evening.
www.topoftherocknyc.com



Sky Mirror


Lunch at “Tomoe Sushi”, Japanese Restaurant.



On our last day of the trip we walk in Central Park in the morning.

Autumn in USA - Day 13

We watch the musical play "The Producer" in the evening, of which I like the first part; however the second part is quite long and I almost fell to sleep.


Visit the Ground Zero, Chinatown and Soho.

Autumn in USA - Day 12

We stay at "Paramount Hotel" in New York, the lobby is very modern with colorful chairs.



Lunch at Peter Luger in the the afternoon. Nong Pat's friend has to deposit the reservation about a month ago and our time is alloted at 15.00. And even at that time the restaurant is quite full. But don't ask me how good it is for the main dish "grilled sirlion" in the picture because I have the grilled salmon. However, if I happen to be there next time I would order Bacon for my main dish : thick and tender.



We begin the New York City tour at the “must see”, Statue of Liberty.

Autumn in USA - Day 11

We then head to Jersey City in the evening and have delicious Korean dinner at “Soft Tofu”. Though the restaurant serves only 7 types of soup and beef barbecue. The tofu soup is very good.



We spend the whole day at Woodbury Outlets.

Autumn in USA - Day 10

Philly is one of the oldest cities throughout the United States, filled with many influential and significant historical attractions such as Liberty Bell, Independence Hall, etc. However with a short period of time, we don’t see them all.



As planned we visit Philadelphia, having first, Thai foods before we enjoy the sightseeing. The “Thai Singha” restaurant serves very tasty “Yen-ta-four”.

Autumn in USA - Day 9

We then head to Altantic City, a casino town, though the town itself has passed its glorious time and looks to me to become a dying city. The atmosphere is not as gay and fun as other casino towns promise.



In the morning we visit Arlingtion National Cemetery, which shelter veterans from every war that has involved the USA nation, before we head to Baltimore, Maryland.
Dr. Niran family also drives to Baltimore with us to have a wonderful crab brunch together. This time P. Tim insists that she will be our host. Baltimore is very famous for its crab come from the nearby Chesapeake Bay, especially in Autumn. We are so lucky that the restaurant that we have is one of the best in town, Obrycki’s, founded in 1944.

Autumn in USA - Day 8

In the evening we have a delicious dinner at “Woo Lae Oak”, a Korean restaurant.
www.woolaeoak.com




Today we tour D.C. with Pee Tim as our guide and host for lunch at the rooftop of the Washingtion hotel enjoying the unsurpassed view of the monument. Dr. Niran, P. Tim (Dr. Niran’s wife) and Danny are the long-time-K.Sivaporn’s family friends. Danny is living in D.C. right now.

Autumn in USA - Day 7

We leave Buffalo in an early morning since we plan to reach Washington D.C. this evening. It’s still raining this morning and turns out to become snow flurry later on. So we stop along the road and enjoy it for a while.
Actually this morning we talk a lot about last night episode that the false alarm ranged out during the night. I went down in my jean and jacket with only the passport. Pe Aoy, my roommate, who came down later on, was so calm down that she grabbed everything on the bed table for me, most important was my money.

Autumn in USA - Day 6

We visit the water falls, on the American site, this evening although it’s raining a little bit.
Niagara Falls is a set of massive waterfalls located on the Niagara River in eastern North America, on the border between the United States and Canada. Niagara Falls comprises three separate waterfalls: the Horseshoe Falls (sometimes called the Canadian Falls), the American Falls, and the smaller, adjacent Bridal Veil Falls. While not exceptionally high, Niagara Falls is very wide. The American Falls is 56 metres (180 ft) high and its crestline is 328 metres (1075 ft) wide.



Today we drive to Buffalo to visit the Niagara Falls. During the way we stop by to have lunch at “Dinosaur”, one of my favorite restaurants for this trip. The restaurant serves a very delicious spare-ribs, while the others claim that their sliced beef sandwiches with mash potatoes and gravy are very delicious and yummy.
After lunch our group is split. 10 of us will travel as planned. While K.Sivaporn, K. Rojana, K. Puvania and Kay will stay overnight there before heading back to New York. K. Sivaporn has to cut the trip short since he has just been selected as a member of National Legislative Assembly, of which its first meeting will be held next week. New tickets are to be issued since ANA flight back to Thailand is fully booked and can’t be rescheduled.

Autumn in USA - Day 5

A dinner at “Dakota” steak house where I have Lobster again, while most of us have steak. The salad bar is fresh and the dressing is tasty.
http://www.dakotarestaurant.com/dak/locations.shtml#loc4



K. Sivaporn receives the RAA Fellows Alumni 2006 Award from John Harrington, Dean of the School of Humanities and Social Sciences.



Visit New York State Museum at Albany, a capital of New York.



In the morning we tour Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) where K. Sivaporn and K. Puvanai got their degree here.

RPI is the first school of science and school of civil engineering, which has had a continuous existence, to be established in any English-speaking country.
http://www.rpi.edu/index.html

Autumn in USA - Day 4

Stopping to have lunch at Bickford's family restaurant in Brattleboro, Vermont.



Today we plan to take a small road of scenic fall route from Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont to Troy, New York. However, the winter comes so early this year that the route from Maine to New Hampshire, the red leaves have already fallen. But from New Hampshire forward, the view is breathtaking.

Autumn in USA - Day 3

Time for serious shopping, not just window shopping like yesterday, we drive to Portland where we shop at Freeport Outlets.

End the day with a very delicious dinner at “DiMillo’s” floating restaurant and marina hosted by Mr. & Ms. Schut. Mr. Brag Schut was once TISCO’s Mangaing Director.

Autumn in USA - Day 2

In the afternoon we visit Harvard University convincing Pe Aoy to take a degree of Home Economics here.  We then visit Newbury Street, a shopping street, where we mostly enjoy window shopping even at Victoria Secret.



We start our sightseeing with Duck Tour, boarding the renovated World War II amphibious landing vehicle which drives us around town passing the golden-domed State House, Bunker Hill to the Prudential Tower. The last part of the tour, it splash us into the Charles river for a view of the Boston and Cambridge skylines.
http://www.bostonducktours.com/

Autumn in USA - Day 1

Arrive at JFK, our group of 14 persons pick up the rental car and drive to Providence, R.I., where we have dinner at a fine Italian restaurant, Al Forno.

Another day trip in Ayudhaya

Though it was just a month ago that I went to Ayudhaya, I requested to join my brother trip this time due to 2 reasons:
1. a well-known winner of the TV game show “แฟนพันธ์แท้กรุงศรีอยุธยา”, Khun Nirut Loharangsri (คุณนิรุตต์ โลหะรังษี), will be our guide and I would like to listen to some of our nation history (of which I learnt and left most of them at school)
2. Wat Chaiwatthanaram, I really want to visit this temple but never had a chance before.

Houses along the Chao Phra Ya river at Muang District, Ayudhaya Province. According to the officials, the floods keeps rising and the water level reaches three meters in some areas. They are struggling to reinforce walls of sandbags along the river.

Our last stop for today trip is at Wat Chaiwatthanaram

Located on the bank of the Chao Phraya river, to the west of the city island is Wat Chaiwatthanaram. Built in 1630 by King Prasat Thong to honor his mother, Wat Chai Wattanaram was conceived as a replica of the Angkor temple. A Royal monastery, the temples unique feature is a huge prang which is surrounded by smaller prangs. This symbolizes Mount Meru, the abode of the heavenly gods.

Wat Phutthaisawan



St. Joseph's Church

St. Joseph's Church was built during the reign of King Narai in 1666 as a result of a request from the missionaries headed by Bishop Lambert de la Motte a missionary who wished to build a church and a mission school. The original wooden church was rebuilt in bricks and mortar in the European style between 1685 and 1695. During the second Burmese attack, the Siamese used the church as a shelter which led to its being destroyed on 23 March 1767. In 1831 Father Pallegoix came to Siam and took care of the restoration work on the church. The restoration was completed in 1847. More additions in the 12th century Romanesque style were made during the tenure of Father Perros during the reign of King Rama V. The church is a place of continuous Catholic worship in Thailand for over 300 years.

Wat Toom



Wat Na Phra Mane
Maybe this is a third or fourth time that I have visited this temple. Seems like it is one of the “must” list in visiting Ayudhaya now.

Our first stop for the trip is at Wat Suwandararam Ratchaworawihan

The main attractions of this temple, which is located on U-Thong Road, southeast of the city, are the paintings. The mural paintings in the Ubosot depict the gathering deities and jataka stories, while the murals on the front wall show a picture of the Lord Buddha subduing evil. Within the Viharn, is a picture depicting the bravery of King Naresuan the Great, which is a masterpiece with several copies found in many other places. The paintings has been renovated recently by the donation from BAY.

Thanks Pe Fa for the pictures ka.

Today in Bangkok no matter what or where you go, you always see the road sign pointing to “Suvarnnabhumi” airport, so on the way back home with a split second decision, we are on our way to visit the new place. It is the first time for me, but not for Pe Fa (whose office is there) and Mer (who has visited the place already on the survey trip).

For me, inside the building everything seems so chaos and busting with people all around the place, I don’t know that they are all passengers or just curios lookers like me. Anyway, I finally get a headache and not at all impressed with the enormous-budget-consuming project. But I won’t spend time here talking about the comments and what-should-be-done, enough to summarize that all critics that I heard before are all justifiable.

On the way back from the market, we stop by at Wat Songtham Worawiharn.

Wat Songtham Worawihan is an old temple of Mon-Buddhism sect. It was constructed at the same time when Muang Nakhon Khuaenkhan was being built, during the reign of King Rama III. At present, it is a second class royal monastery. The huge Phra Raman Chedi was built in Mon style. Buildings in this temple are built of brick and cement. A decoration on the roof of the temple is made of teak. The replication of Lord Buddha's Footprint was enshrined inside the temple.

ตลาดน้ำบางน้ำผึ้ง



Steamed fish with curry paste





Since the “Industrial Ring Road” bridge opened, a test drive on the new bridge was taken by our exclusive guide, Mer, with the result that there was an interesting floating market at Bang Kra Jao area (Phra Pradaeng district, Samut Prakarn). So to confirm her opinion, a small group is gathered to visit the market, of which is quite well managed by local people. The market itself is a bit small if comparing with the famous floating ones such as at Dam Nern Sadauk (ตลาดน้ำดำเนินสะดวก) or at Wat Rai King (วัดไร่ขิง). But at here I am appreciated the way they tried to utilize the natural products: the banana leaf instead of plastic and variety of products are all in small quantity, not so commercial, not franchising., and the place is not so crowded. But tourists are starting to visit it and we see a large group of foreigners starting a biking tour around the place.