The day had finally arrived (Thursday, 24 June)! We are off to Bangkok, where the world's your oyster.......I don't think I have ever talked about a trip with so many people as much as this one - we were off to celebrate Patrick's 40th birthday.
I checked in before going to work, nice and easy, though wasn't sure how I would get through a full day at work - I was very excited! Met up with Martin to take the airport express to the airport, straight through security and customs then literally ran for the lounge.....champagne, and lots of it, was needed! Mandy finally joined us and before too long we were boarding the plane. The plane ride was only 2.5 hours long but it felt much longer - I was super bored.
No issues getting through Bangkok immigration (thanks to the APEC card), collected luggage and was straight into a taxi. This is where the fun started, first of all I was supposed to be dropped off first but that got lost in translation. On arrival at Martin and Mandy's hotel I got another taxi to my hotel, was taking forever to check-in as they couldn't find me nor the person I was sharing a room with. By this stage I was pretty tired so asked reception to call my friends room. Reception couldn't locate them, oh dear not a good start to the weekend. Something then made me ask what hotel I was in....and low and behold I was at the Grand Hyatt, which I'm sure is lovely but definitely not the Four Season!! Bloody hell my stupid taxi driver had dropped me at the wrong hotel - unbelievable. So back into another taxi and no more than a hop, skip and jump later I was at the Four Seasons and within a couple of minutes was taken to my room. Finally I'm here!
Friday morning I was up early (seemed like I had just gone to bed), Moon, Andrew and I had arranged to meet at the gym at the lovely hour of 7.30am....so much for being on holiday. Had a good work-out then headed to breakfast with Ann and Patrick. Great start to the day!
Decided on a couple of hours at the pool before venturing out of the hotel for a look see. It was hot hot hot so ventured straight towards a large shopping mall (ah a/c), Siam Paragon. The place was huge - so many shops and the food court was out of this world. Had a yummy Thai lunch (pad Thai of course) before looking for a spa. Given the size of the mall we were unable to locate one so headed back towards the hotel knowing we would run into a few. I chose a 1 hour massage and manicure while everyone else had a 2 hour massage, for those of you that know me well (DO NOT READ ANY FURTHER MOON!) I am not a big fan of massages….and because of this don’t have them often at all so of course they are very painful. I do not understand how people can fall asleep while having one. Anyway my torture was over :) (I will say I have had a couple of massages that don’t hurt me and am always hoping my next one will be the same.)
Back to the hotel and had a super quick turnaround before meeting up with a few other people and getting a taxi van to Tawandang German Brewhouse. Traffic was its normal busy safe, plus add the fact it was Friday night we were at a standstill for some of the journey. Thank goodness for John doing a runner to the closest 7 Eleven for beers. I was amazed at how big, and full, the brewhouse was. We did family style food and beers. From here headed to Soi Cowboy (an area/street of Bangkok) with lady bars and bright lights. Went into a few places – was a shock to the system but after awhile found it amusing watching other people watching the ladies.
Saturday I was up early again, breakfast with Moon and Andrew then we headed off to the sky train. Took the train to the water….after having a small detour due to my brilliant navigation skills!!, and the bargaining started. The plan was to visit a Floating Market then head to the huge weekend market. Fortunately the biggest floating market is about 2 hours from Bangkok by road and given we didn't have that much time we went to a much smaller one, by boat. I had actually been there before, but I was happy to go again and enjoy the views of Bangkok by the water. We had a quick look around at the floating markets, Andrew was annoyed he had too much breakfast. Back to the wharf and onto the sky train to the Chatuchak Weekend Market – this place is just HUGE and you could easily spend all day here and only see a small section. It was crazy hot so after awhile decided A/C won over the market. Back to the hotel and a/c :) We started Patrick’s birthday off with a bottle of champagne before splitting up – Moon and I chilled for awhile then went off for a late lunch. We knew it was going to be a long night and with dinner not until 9pm we need to line our stomachs.
Back to the hotel, we all glammed-up then met in one of the rooms to kick off the evening. Champagne was the drink, and 8 bottles later we headed off to the restaurant, Bed Suppar Club (http://www.bedsupperclub.com/bangkok/en/). The seats are one long “bed” with lots of comfy cushions – a little tricky for eating but good if you wanted to rest / have some shut eye. Dinner was a 4 course surprise meal. Throughout the meal there was a small show and music, but with 12 people we were rather good at entertaining ourselves.
Sunday I had a sleep in before heading to breakfast then the pool for a couple of hours. Unfortunately then it was time to pack up and check-out. It had been a great weekend, not much sight-seeing but that definitely wasn’t the mission for this weekend.
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