Time now to walk to China to collect our luggage.......we are definitely not in Singapore anymore la! Waiting waiting waiting and finally we spy our bags. Now to locate the taxi line.
Walking outside the heat hits us, Aah I need to bottle this up and take back to HK with me. Thankfully the taxi line goes relatively quickly, our turn to get a ticket and our number is directly in front of us, perfect. After showing the taxi driver the name and address of the hotel in Thai, thanks TripAdvisor, we are off!
Check in is nice and easy after we were taken the executive/club floor, crazy that this hotel is half the price of the one in Chiang Mai and we are on the executive floor!! We drop our bags and head out to check out the gym and pool. The pool is amazing, yes thanks we will be spending some time with you! For now its back inside we go for Happy Hour.
Clare had given me a number of recommendations for non-Thai restaurants.....we need a break. We decide on one and within minutes are leaving the hotel. Walking down the road (to the train station) I notice the evening temperature here is definitely a lot hotter than in Chiang Mai.
Spanish on 4 (no prizes for guessing the type of food) is very close to Patpong Market so there are lots of people around when we exit the train station. Some roadside stalls are packing up, others are just setting up. I can imagine in a few hours this place will be heaving with people! No thank you very much.
Now that we feel normal again after some tasty food we head to Patpong Market. I don't need a repeat of Christmas Day thanks so every person that asks us if we want to see a show we politely say no thank you and keep walking. The market definitely isn't anything to write home about, unless of course you want to buy copy watch, copy bag.
Thursday, 31 December (New Year’s Eve) after a wee sleep in I head outside for run. The sun is well and truly up and out in force, thankfully when in the shade it's nowhere near as hot.
Over breakfast we make plans for the next few days - nothing too taxing thanks very much.
We get the hotel Tuk Tuk to the Sky Train, then Sky train to the river. It’s a bit of a wait for the Boat to arrive then along the water we head. Nice to be out of the craziness of Bangkok traffic.
After exiting the boat stop there are people for Africa! The closest we get to the Grand Palace the amount of people increase tenfold. Ooh this is going to be fun.....
Finally it's our turn to buy tickets to enter, I'm wearing a short sleeve top but my shoulders are covered. I ask the ticket man if I can enter, he says no. Ok no worries, I've been before and as the line to borrow a cover up is crazy long I won't be joining that I decide I’ll just wait for Susan. Susan makes a wise decision to ask one of the "police" who is watching and reviewing what everyone is wearing if I can enter, he says yes (sweet!) so it's back to the ticket line I go. We are clearly not the only ones to have the idea to visit today.
On entering the complex the first part is the Wat, the colours are all amazing. Shame there is half the world here! It's actually nice to be back here again (apart from the crowds!) experiencing it with someone else.
We are Watted out so it’s off to the Grand Palace we head. This means wandering the grounds as no one can enter any part of the residences. Thankfully there aren’t nearly as many people as at the Wat.
Exit where are you???! Ooh no it's in the same place as we entered, bloody hell through the crowds we head.
Wat Pho, where the Reclining Buddha is, is close by so we head off in that direction passing road size stalls. Some stalls are more of the 'dodgy brothers are us' stalls (one was selling some kind of Clairns products....).
It is well and truly home time now! We finally locate an available taxi, he winds down his window to ask where we are going too, details are provided, then announces that will be THB 500. Seriously is he crazy?!! I THINK NOT! A Tuk Tuk then stops after hearing where we want to go informs us it will THB 450, seriously N-O. Hmm given its New Year's Eve we really aren't going to have too much luck with getting a meter taxi so when the next taxi comes along and tells us it will be THB 500 we get in. It's hot, we need a/c and to eat.
Lunch is a delicious salad, something I've definitely missed since it’s got cold in Hong Kong.
We have a couple of hours to chill before heading out for dinner, to another recommended restaurant.
It's a shortish walk from the Skytrain, and within minutes we are at the restaurant. They have definitely decked it out for New Year's Eve, on the table Susan notices it's a 6 course set menu, shows how much research we had done for tonight. Thankfully there is a vegetarian option for her. We are definitely in for a treat.
We head back to the hotel to see the change from 2015 to 2016. Sitting on a pool lounger chilling while a herd of mozzie's come and attack me. Hurry up midnight!! The countdown is on and within seconds it's fireworks time. Hello 2016.
Friday, 1 January (2016) after a sleep in we have a late breakfast before we begin our relaxing day. No spare seats at the pool, instead we enjoy some a/c. Gives us time to plan our next couple of days.
Early afternoon it's back to the pool we head, this time there are seats. Score. There is nothing better than being about to jump in and out of the water when one gets too hot.
Early evening we head off to Octave roof top bar for 360 degree views of Bangkok. Again we are definitely not the only ones with the same idea. While sipping a cocktail we watch day turn into night with the sun going down the moon comes up along with the lights of the city going on. A great sight that I never get tired off.
Dinner is at a newish Italian restaurant we had researched earlier. Our taxi driver is very sweet and chit chats to us the whole way, definitely the best English we've come across from a taxi driver in Thailand. We have a few speed bumps locating the restaurant; the streets aren't the same as in NZ / Australia. He makes a quick call to the restaurant and bingo we are off again.
Dinner is delicious! And makes me want to go back to Italia quick smart.
Saturday, 2 January we are up nearly at the same time as the sun - far too early on holiday!! We make a couple of bread rolls to take away (too early to be eating) then head downstairs to meet our driver for the day.
We depart the hotel at 6.55am; the streets are a different place this early in the morning and thankfully so is traffic (which is close to non-existent). Long May that continue.
The Damnoen Saduak floating market is 1.15 hours from the hotel on the highway, our driver I think was practicing for the F1 but hey ho that's cool with me. The quicker he is the quicker we arrive!
After paying a ridiculous price for a boat (they sure know how to rip the foreigners off!!) we are off cruising around the canals. It's interesting seeing how the locals live. The closer we get to the actual market the more touristy shops there are along the way. Our driver tries to stop at a few but quickly learns we don't want to buy anything.
Finally we get into the action! I can tell this place is definitely set up for the tourists but it's still great to see. Brings back memories from my trip down the Mekong River and Lake Inle.
Our boat driver drops is off and gives us 40 minutes to wander around. While I'd much prefer to remain on the water it's nice to get another prospective. After picking up a hot drink we spy spring rolls, check they are vegetarian - yes thanks we'll have some. Yum-o.
We continue to wander; you definitely wouldn't go hungry here!! And there would be absolutely no excuse to family/friends back home that you don't have time to buy them anything, there are souvenir shops everywhere! No thanks, we'll stick with the food watching. Also in the mix is a small monkey you could hold and number of snakes you can put around your shoulders and have a photo with. Umm that will be a definite N-O from me!
Unfortunately it's time to meet our boat driver again - I could spend all day cruising around taking it all in. Thankfully he recognises us!
Our (car) driver is waiting for us when we exit the boat; thank goodness for that as I'm not sure if I could recognize him. Time to get back into the car and head to Kanchanaburi.
Two hours later we arrive.....I'm literally crawling up the walls to get out of the car. We had come to Kanchanaburi to visit the war museum. Back in 1942 Kanchanaburi was under Japanese control; Asia forced labourers and Allied POWs build the infamous Burma Railway (also known as Death Railway).
We enter the Kanchanaburi War Cemetery, this main POW cemetery for victims of Japanese imprisonment (while building the Burman Railyway). Susan's Great Uncle was buried here so after reading up on the history we went looking for his tomb stone. It was horrible reading the tomb stones and seeing the ages of these PoW's.
Across the road is the Thailand-Burma Railway Center which we visited. Scary stuff reading about that happened pre/post World War 2.
Back to the car we go for a short ride to The Bridge on the River Kwai. The driver informs us we can go to the market before heading to the bridge.....no thanks la, we will pass on the markets.
Time to leave this joint, thankfully it's nice and easy to locate our driver in the car park. Bangkok here we come! The journey is long and boring. To start with there are far too many big trucks carrying sugar cane.
Add to the mix a million other cars. Finally a good 3 hours after leaving Kanchanaburi we arrive at the hotel. Time to get out of the car.
I head up to the pool area with my book, I want to maximize as much warm weather as I can before returning back to cold HK :)
We enjoy a quick happy hour in the lounge before heading outside of the hotel for dinner. We had decided on the location we were going, based on a recommendation from Clare, which I had been too before. As we found two short cuts it was an easy hop, step and jump from the hotel. We went with a Kiwi restaurant - another delicious meal.
Given it’s our last night in Bangkok we walk back to the hotel via the main roads. The hype of activity is ooh so different to how the streets were this morning when we were heading out for the day.
Sunday, 3 January had arrived far too quickly! After a wee sleep in and breakfast we headed up the pool. Aah this is the life!!
All too quickly it was time to head back to the room to shower and pack up. We enjoyed lunch in restaurant before checking out.
Our friendly doorman manages to get us a taxi within seconds, our time has definitely come to an end!
I sit at the gate watching the sun set, while most other people stand in a line that is going nowhere (muppets!); a fitting end to a wonderful break in Thailand. Back to the real world I head....
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