HAPPY BIRTDAY*, ROBIN!!!Today is Robin's "birtday" - we won't say which number, but she was born after The Watergate break-in and before Nixon resigned over it - and our last day in Thailand. To celebrate this incredibly special day, she took a much-needed break from Huey's shenanigans and opted for some solo adventures. And what better way to spend one's birthday than getting up early and spending the morning outside in hot, sticky, gritty Bangkok?
Robin hired a private water taxi to chauffeur her to various temples and other places of interest along the Chao Phraya River. Among the sites she visited were The Temple of Dawn (Wat Aurn), The Royal Grand Palace, where she saw The Emerald Buddha (emerald is her birthstone), and Snake Farm, where she saw a cobra show, held a six foot snake, and played with a monkey in a diaper (the monkey, that is). While on her private boat tour of Bangkok, Robin was approached by a floating market - literally, a woman selling goods out of a boat to passersby - from which she felt compelled to buy whatever random flotsam was for sale.
(She's benevolent like that.) Robin returned to the room a sweaty mess, brimming with excitement to share her morning (and her photos) with Huey.The next part of Robin's "birtday" celebration came courtesy of Federal Express. In an effort to ship some of our many purchases back to The States, thereby avoiding further diplomatic near-meltdowns at the airport check-in counters of Southeast Asia, we endured a nearly two hour ordeal (ne administrative torture session) at a FedEx office adjacent to our hotel, filling out forms, sealing boxes, and checking various rates and contingencies for shipping from Bangkok to Texas and 
Pennsylvania. (Note to fellow World travelers: DON'T EVER SHIP ANYTHING INTERNATIONALLY!!! If it doesn't fit in your suitcase, you or your loved ones back home probably don't need it, so toss it overboard like so much jetsam.) By the time we escaped the FedEx office, we were already late for our "late checkout," so we rushed back to the room, re-showered (see "sweaty mess," above), packed, and checked out.
Pennsylvania. (Note to fellow World travelers: DON'T EVER SHIP ANYTHING INTERNATIONALLY!!! If it doesn't fit in your suitcase, you or your loved ones back home probably don't need it, so toss it overboard like so much jetsam.) By the time we escaped the FedEx office, we were already late for our "late checkout," so we rushed back to the room, re-showered (see "sweaty mess," above), packed, and checked out.The "birtday" extravaganza continued with our chauffeured BMW ride to the airport, where, thanks to our "party" at FedEx, we succeeded in staving off another baggage debacle and had a tasty pasta lunch at Reef Antipasti Bar before boarding our flight for Hong Kong.
Our first lesson upon arriving in Hong Kong: there are no taxis at Marco Polo International Airport. (We pause to note the irony of this situation: we had pasta for lunch, which Marco Polo
is credited with introducing to the New World, on our way to the airport named for him. Once there, we could not find a taxi - though we did find a bakery aptly named "CAKE" - forcing us to begin a Marco Polo-like odyssey throughout his namesake.) Ultimately, we took a shuttle bus to our hotel, the recently renovated and ultra-modern Novotel Nathan Road Kowloon, where we arrived around 12:30 AM.
is credited with introducing to the New World, on our way to the airport named for him. Once there, we could not find a taxi - though we did find a bakery aptly named "CAKE" - forcing us to begin a Marco Polo-like odyssey throughout his namesake.) Ultimately, we took a shuttle bus to our hotel, the recently renovated and ultra-modern Novotel Nathan Road Kowloon, where we arrived around 12:30 AM.All in all, a thoroughly unconventional "birtday' for Robin, but tomorrow we celebrate big time. "Why? Because we LIKE you!" ("After all," it's still her "birtday" at home in The States.)
* No, that's not a typo (this time). "The Birtday Movement" was initiated in 1987 by Huey and his high school classmate and close friend Otto "Sporto" Strunk. Why, you ask? It's a long story, so let's just say it involves one of Sporto's many high school crushes, a SpinArt t-shirt, and a rare, but irreversible spelling error by a young(er) Huey. In any case, "The Birtday Movement" is sweeping the Nation (and now the World) thanks to Huey and Sporto, who strongly suggest that you "get on the bus" now because, to quote Sporto, "The Birtday Bus don't stop for ____!"
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