Bangkok Blitz

Whew!  What a day we had in Bangkok.  We’re currently winging our way to Krabi so I’m taking a moment to recap yesterday. I did a terrible job of documenting yesterday with pictures ☹.  Not sure if it was lack of sleep or what, but I really wish I had some pictures of a few things.  Most importantly our dinner and meet-up with Derrick Hau – our chiropractor who moved over to the area at the beginning of the year.  More on our dinner later.

We arrived in Bangkok at 10:30 AM.  What a unique airport – really pretty architecture from the outside.  And the hardest landing I've ever experienced.  We hit the runway and everyone grabbed the seats in front of them.  The plan fishtailed and I thought  for sure it was going to spin out and end up on a wing.  It didn't... but Yikes!

We made it quickly through immigration.  Thanks to prior research and friend’s help I knew to go ahead and change a small amount of money at the airport (enough to get into town and buy a SIM card) and then exchange the rest in town for a better rate.  We also wanted the ability to use data on our cells so we purchased a SIM card for the phone.  There are about 8 different places to get a SIM card – just check the rates and pick the best package for you.  Most signs are in Thai and English.

We picked up my suitcase. YAY, it did arrive! And then made our way to the Rail link to take us into town.  Super inexpensive and easy to use.  You use a kiosk to choose which stop you want and then insert the aforementioned currency.  You get a plastic token to get on the train.  Just tap it to the top of the turn style and you’re in.  HOLD ONTO THIS TOKEN!!!  I didn’t see any signs telling me that and luckily, I did hold onto it.  You’ll need it to get out of the turn style at your destination.  The lines to get onto the train are VERY orderly and everyone is polite.  Nothing like getting on a subway in the big cities.

The train is elevated for a good view and took about 30 minutes to get to our stop, which was the end of the link for the airport rail link.  There are several connections along the routes to get to other parts of the city.

We stayed in Phaya Thai and were only a 5 minute walk from the station.  IF we could figure out where to go.  Our host had sent both detailed written and photo instructions.  What we didn’t realize is that there is more than one #1 exit from the station.  Who would have known?  So we roamed around the streets in the correct vicinity for about 15 to 20 minutes with our luggage.  It was about 100 degrees and 55% humidity.  So funny.  One very nice lady stopped and tried to help us.  She got us going in the right direction and then we found places that matched up with our detailed directions.  FINALLY!  After that it was easy to find our host, drop our bags and wander around a bit.  This whole debacle was so funny.  Yes, I was pouring sweat and was very hot, but it was part of the adventure.

We had some time to kill until our room was ready so we decided to check out the local neighborhood which was very non-touristy.  Eric didn’t even venture to eat any of the street food that was extremely abundant.  We did stop at a walk-up bubble tea place though.  A 24 ounce Thai bubble tea with pearls was only 20 Baht.  That’s about .60 cents! It was sooooooo good.  I could easily drink those every day and most likely gain 500 lbs.  I thought I might lose weight on this trip, but now I’m beginning to think the opposite.  So much for intermittent fasting.  There are too many yummy things I want to try.

We made our way back to our room and checked in.  It was very simple but fairly clean and well kept.  The bathroom was in a shower stall 😉.  Eric said it was a Cosmo Kramer bathroom – we could shower, use the commode and clean our lettuce all at the same time – LOL (Seinfeld reference for those of you who think I lost my mind).

Anywho… We decided to go check out a mall as we waited to meet Derrick for our 6:30 dinner, so we jumped back on the very close BST train and went into the city.   Rail Link gives you plastic tokens and the BST train gives you cards.  Same concept on both.  Tap to get in and deposit to get out at your destination.

360 Panorama from Siam Station

This is a Starbucks

We went to the Siam stop and wowed at all the city architecture for a bit.  It’s also a Holiday weekend – Coronation Day.  This is the 69^th year of King Rama IX’s rule so there are shrines set up everywhere for people to pay respect to their king.  Yellow appears to be the color and you see yellow flowers, shirts, decorations all over town.

This is all flowers - like a parade float

This is a building and the windows are a huge screen - about 50 stories tall

We went into the Siam Mall and we weren’t interested in shopping.  But WOW you could shop if you wanted to.  It stretched several blocks and had all of the high end stores you could want. 

We wanted to check out the food court.  It was on the bottom floor of the NE block of the intersection.  WOWZA!!!!  There was a huge grocery store that looked to be a cross between a Whole Foods, Chucks and New Seasons with even more.  There was an oyster bar, carving stations, chocolatiers, bakery, etc.  Then outside of the store was the “food court”.  I’ve never seen so many places to eat in one place.  Ever.  They had absolutely everything including a lot of American standards – Starbucks, McDonalds, Ben and Jerrys, Taco Bell, etc.  We had a Dao pancake, both sweet and salty.  The sweet one was pretty good.  We didn’t eat anything else even though I wanted to try so many things.  We wanted to have an appetite for dinner.  This is where I REALLY WISHED I took pictures.  Maybe we’ll go back next week and take some.  But if you’re ever in Bangkok and want to see a variety of food in one place, go here.

We then left and decided to get a drink somewhere. After wandering around for what seemed like forever – my dogs were barkin’ – we found a little restaurant/bar.  We sat and had a mojito and beer and watched the insane drivers fly by and were visited by the local kitty kat.  We also found the electrical wiring very entertaining – check out these pictures – make sure you see the open electrical boxes above Eric’s head… wow.

At 6:30 we met up with Derrick at Larp 3.  Holy Moly that was good food.  It’s a local eatery that most people probably wouldn’t just happen upon, but I’ve never had such amazing Thai food.  It was a bit like tapas where w ordered about 8 dishes and tried all the different things: sausages, ginger chicken, glass noodle dish, crispy fried chicken, Green Papaya Salad.  EVERYTHING  was so good!!  Flavors were balanced and nothing was strange tasting.  I’d go back here again and again.  When ordering, just write down the numbers of what you want and hand to the server.  It cost us about $20 usd for everything.  So upset that I didn’t get a picture of all we ate and with Derrick, who is looking amazing and happy.

(Imagine amazing pictures in this spot)

It was about 8:30 by the time we left and Eric and I decided to find somewhere to have a night cap.  We never made it.  We stopped at a night market for some Mango Sticky Rice (YUMMMMM) and by the time we were done with that we were ready to go to bed, finally.

We got back to our place by 10 and hit the VERY HARD sack.  I’m pushing all of my weight on this mattress – barely denting it.  Didn’t sleep great, but we’re ready for our amazing day today at our fancy shmansy stay tonight!!!  

Oh, Thai airways also has fancy dancy safety instructions – check this out, along with a view of rice fields??

 

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