Oops, seems it's been a while since I managed to write a blog post, apologies!
I think I last posted just before we went to Bangkok, seems a long time ago now - was a brilliant trip. It was my first time back to the airport, I was remembering when we landed 5 months ago and having no idea what we'd let ourselves in for. After a quick bite to eat (Popeyes Louisiana Chicken, why not!), it was time to board our A380, eee!! Easily the best flight I've ever been on - you get so much room even in economy and the whole service / entertainment system was the best I've encountered. As Stephen commented you can see why the likes of BA are starting to worry with their fleets of out of date planes.
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| Awesome plane - who needs business/first! |
We landed in Bangkok about midnight and it was a quick and easy transfer (always pleasing when things you book online work out) straight to our hotel. It was hot hot hot in Bangkok! I think we knew it would be hot but this was just that bit too warm to be walking round exploring. Over breakfast we consulted our guidebooks / tripadvisor and decided to head to Jim Thompsons house. I confess to not knowing who he was beforehand (an american business man who helped revive the Thai silk industry in 50's and 60's) but very much enjoyed a good snoop around his house. You have to go on a guided tour, which was decent but I'd have liked to have learnt more about the silk industry itself and the processes.
We then walked down to the Chao Phraya river and took a boat trip up towards Khao San Road. The boat took us past some temples we intended to visit later on during the trip, but unfortunately this was all we saw of them. When visiting a temple you have to cover up, wearing jeans and a jumper was just not an option in the crazy heat! We did consider getting up early one morning but when you're staying in an awesome hotel with an incredible breakfast buffet included in your room rate it's kind of rude not to indulge!
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| Khao San Road |
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| Cool down drinks |
Khao San Road appeared to be the land of the 'gap yah' and we felt far too old and sensible to be hanging round there..... lots of posh kids 'finding themselves' via the manner of cheap booze and knockoff goods so we didn't stay too long.
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| Typical picture of crazy traffic and motorbikes in Bangkok |
The following day (after failing to get up early and go look round a Temple) we decided to have a lazy day. We went for a good mooch round a couple of enormous shopping centres in the morning, followed by an afternoon reading by the pool. In the evening we'd booked tickets for Silver Linings Playbook in a very snazzy cinema. Tickets were expensive (£18 each) but I'd say just about worth it. On arrival to the 'Lounge' a server comes to take your order via iPad - wine and chocolates were on offer but clearly we had to opt for Popcorn and Pop!
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| Lounge where you wait for the film |
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| Mmmm popcorn (I may have upset Stephen by eating quite a lot of his!) |
You then go through into the main cinema where you sit on reclining sofas (I think there were probably only 20 sofas in the whole room) and get given a blanket to keep you warm due to the air conditioning (the poor polar bears). Definitely a very luxurious experience and probably one you'd only do when on holiday!
Saturday brought another failed attempt to go see anything historic. We had a lazy breakfast where I discovered pandan pancakes with coconut cream and mango, how did I manage to miss out on this the previous two mornings!?
After breakfast we took the skytrain to the Chatuchak weekend market - wow, this place was for serious shoppers!! It was a bit hot and overwhelming / enormous so we didn't last long there either. Basically we're not good with tourist things and mainly just like exploring via the manner of food and drink when we go places. We also realised we could buy most of the stuff (well, except the Thailand / Tuk Tuk related stuff obviously) in Hong Kong if we really wanted it, though perhaps not quite as cheaply.
Once we got back from the market it was pool time again!
I spent quite a while by the pool on my phone looking up good bars to go to that evening. What I didn't realise is that it was the Bangkok Governor election the following day so the licensing laws had changed and lot of places were shut as a result - disaster! We were about to head back to the hotel and try one of the restaurants there when we stumbled upon a mexican place, they weren't serving wine / beer / cocktails but a margarita was no problem!
We had a really good weekend and a great first experience of Thailand - we love the food (I am missing epic pancakes and tom yum soup for breakfast!), the people are really friendly and there's just a really nice atmosphere, can't wait to go back!
