To tar and compress the folder:

 tar -czvf mydomainarchive.tgz mydomain.com/ 

To untar and decompress the folder:

 tar xvfz mydomainarchive.tgz 

To backup the mysql database:

 mysqldump -h localhost -u username -p database_name > dump_file 

To restore the mysql database:

 mysql -u username -p database < dump_file 

We arrived the night of the 21st in Bangkok and were greeted at the airport by Toom or Tommy (his english name) and our driver. I introduced myself after seeing the “Jerad Harbaugh/Megan Glenn” sign by taking his photo. Later he asked about my Nikon camera and was so excited to talk photography because he shoots with the Nikon D300. He was like a kid in a candy store talking about photography, you can tell he has some serious passion for the hobby.

Tommy took us to the Manderin Oriental Hotel, one of the worlds finest 5 star hotels. We were greeted in the lobby with flower bracelets and escorted to the front desk. Right from the get go we noticed the exceptional service of the Oriental, the bellmen, the checkin staff, the elevator jocky…everyone was so welcoming. Our room welcomed us with a bottle of white wine, an assortment of chocolates and fruits…and we even had our own butler!

Right after arriving we took up my dad on his first recommendation by going to the JJ Market – we had to take the Oriental’s river boat shuttle to the sky train, we took the green line to central station and switched to the lime green line to the very last stop – it was 40 baht each – each way. The markets are total sensory overload, a maze, a hot and sweaty adventure that takes your nasal passage for a wild ride as well! They sell just about everything at these markets from handmade items, to knock off shoes, to rabbits and dogs, lots of street food including durian (some say it smells like cat poo but tastes like paradise) – we couldn’t bear trying it because of the awful smell.

After the markets closed at 6pm we headed back to the hotel and called Randall, my buddy Paul from work’s brother, who happens to be a US diplomat living in Thailand – he told us that the absolute very best restaurant in all of Bangkok was in our own hotel. Megan and I decided to take him up on that advice and went to Le Normandie – one of the world’s top 100 restaurants. We had the chef’s choice – set menu – a 7 course meal with 2 bottles of wine and a special “honeymooners” dessert. This was handsdown the best meal that both Megan and I have ever had – even better than Sushi Sasa chef’s choice – but also was the most expensive meal we’ve ever had. We even got the chef’s autograph on the menu and called it quits for the night.

On the morning of the 22nd we woke up to an amazing breakfast buffet (which was included with our room – otherwise would cost about $40/person) on the river, it was again the best breakfast that we’ve ever had, all of the most amazing breakfast foods – a private juice squeezer, a egg man, fresh mango, fermented milk (actually very good and good for your stomach too), and the list goes on. This is all I have for now…need to write more later…