Thailand - Bangkok

Siam City Hotel Bangok

We arrived in Bangkok, both having been before, determined to get out of it as soon as possible! Thanks to a complete over supply of 5 star hotels and numerous online booking deals, we spent the first couple of days in luxury at the Siam City Hotel. The huge and very grand entrance hall glistened with white marble as the well-groomed doormen opened the doors for us. To the right was an elegant cocktail bar with a pianist tinkling out romantic jazz classics on his grand piano. In front, the reception desk adorned with grand flower arrangements had several very beautiful ladies waiting to check us in. In complete contrast we were straight off the plane from Delhi, having tramped around India for 6 weeks, our clothes not to mention our flip flop adorned feet were absolutely filthy! As we headed across the reception hall towards the beautiful ladies, laden down like packhorses with our backpacks and various plastic bags, we left behind a small trail of brown footprints on the marble from the rain outside. Perhaps a slightly over the top description but I think you can imagine the scene and subsequently how we felt when everyone’s eyes turned to inspect the newcomers – like everyone was thinking there was no way, surely, that we could possibly have a reservation there?! In reality everyone was actually very nice and polite and our inferiority complex was completely self-inflicted. Luckily any such feelings didn’t last anyway and it wasn’t long before, in true backpacker style, we were making full use of all the free services the hotel had to offer; the internet, the pool, the gym and of course…the huge buffet breakfast! There is something about getting a good deal in a hotel that you normally would never be able to afford that makes you go completely crazy at the buffet breakfast…eating as much as you physically can so that 1) you’ve definitely got your moneys worth and 2) so that in theory you don’t need to eat again that day.  Maybe it was the same train of thought that also drove us to take all the unused complimentary toiletries with us when we left?! So we felt we’d had our moneys worth but also in the hope that we wouldn’t have to buy any more soap (or toilet paper!) for the rest of our trip. 

Fried locusts, scorpians, crickets etc

I don’t know if it was the contrast to India or whether it has actually changed a lot in 6 years but Mike and I were both amazed at how nice and incredibly clean Bangkok was. There wasn’t any rubbish on the streets, no one stared or shouted at us and there weren’t any cows to navigate around on the pavements! There was heaps of fresh fruit and vegetables and amazing street food stalls and restaurants. It’s definitely true that the Thai people are some of the friendliest, everyone was smiley and helpful and no one tried to rip us off. It’s something that we never thought we’d say but we actually loved Bangkok! After 3 days in luxury we came back to reality and moved down town to the budget loving Khao San Road – the young backpackers answer to late night drinking and parties. We stayed a couple of streets away and perhaps boringly didn’t venture into any of the ‘party pubs’. Instead we found great entertainment in Mike buying a bag of disgusting fried insects and eating them whilst I laughed and took photos.

Hard to chew but quite tasty!

After a few problems getting Amazon to deliver to Thailand, Mike was also eventually able to get his hands on a new kindle thanks to the delivery address of a friend of a friend – Thank you Amar and Jolly that was very much appreciated!

What was originally meant to be a fleeting visit ended up being almost a week as we decided to apply for 60 day Indonesian visas. Once the visas came through however we booked our flights out and we were off to the Philippines!

Huge Lychee

Green tea frappe + icecream. Nice but overpriced!