"I Feel Fat" or a So-so Trip Report from Bangkok
Jan 24th, 2008, 05:15 PM
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"I Feel Fat" or a So-so Trip Report from Bangkok
Well, here goes again! I typed up a TR but it got swallowed up in cyberspace, so this is the second try.
Thanks to all the great help I've received on this board and to the encouragement of one Fodorite, this TR is being written. Otherwise, I would never presume to write about Bangkok which is pretty much terra incognita to me. My apologies first, therefore, that what passes hereafter is not advice but just my personal experiences.
Thanks to the recommendations on an earlier post, I got a terrific fare on Cathay Pacific SF-BKK.
Passed through the brand new Hong Kong Airport and was wowed by the size of that airport. My transfer was from gate A29 to C67 - Wow! Is this place HUGE!On other trips I had just slipped out onto the streets of Hong Kong, never transited through, so it was quite an experience riding all those people movers. I felt like a FedEx package!
Saw a lot of mainland Chinese and heard a whole bunch of dialects, some quite unidentifiable. The biggest indication that China's economy is expanding is all these "nouveau riche" middle-class Chinese travelling. You can generally spot them a mile away because they haven't yet become walking advertisements for manufacturers like Massimo or Nike. Their clothes are all "ordinary" clothes. One thing that also marks them is the length of their pants. Seems like the pant legs were made for giants, the bottoms of the pant legs all gather in a heap on top of the shoes. Nevertheless the clothes do fit much better these days. Interesting group of travellers, filled with energy and a naive excitement. No old folks, just kids to middle age people. (Yes, well, you see, I had to spend another 2 1/2 hours sitting in the HK airport with nothing else to do...this after a 15 1/2 hour flight. The mundane and the everyday things somehow take on extra fascination when the brain is travel-fatigued).
Sitting there in the airport, I FEEL FAT. Flying anywhere over 2 hours makes me bloated. Then Cathay Pacific food is quite good, and on top of two meals, they can feed the passengers all the snacks they want. My waistline has expanded over 5 inches in less than 24 hours. Then there are all these slim Asians...I FEEL FAT!
Another 2 1/2 hours flight later we're in Bangkok - after yet another full meal is served on board. I FEEL FATTER.
Waddling off the plane, groggy as all get out - I don't sleep well on planes, never watch the movies, don't listen to the music - and in line at the immigration, the Thai immigration officer has just said something funny and has all the other immigration officers within earshot all giggling and laughing. Wonderful! what a great welcome! Laughter and smiles! Fat me has finally arrived in Thailand - Land of Smiles! Oh joy!
Right outside the immigration and customs area, a slim (what else?) girl dressed in a natty mustard-colored suit wants to know if I want a taxi. Yes! She leads me to a counter, I pays my 1000 bahts (more on the money later) and am treated like royalty from then on, being handed from one person to another, until finally at curbside a small van appears and I'm loaded into the van. Is it cheaper to just walk out to the taxi stand and get a taxi oneself? probably, but what a great feeling to be so taken care of - really worth the few extra bahts!
It's after midnight and we zip along the expressway and in no time at all we're at my hotel, the Unico Grande Sukhumvit (more on the hotel later). I had printed out a map of the hotel location before leaving the States and do highly recommend this precaution. The driver arrived at the street but didn't know where the hotel was until he saw the sign!
Better post this first. My hotel internet connection is giving me fits and I'm temporarily on the wirreless. Hope this second version doesn't get lost in cyberspace too!
Thanks to all the great help I've received on this board and to the encouragement of one Fodorite, this TR is being written. Otherwise, I would never presume to write about Bangkok which is pretty much terra incognita to me. My apologies first, therefore, that what passes hereafter is not advice but just my personal experiences.
Thanks to the recommendations on an earlier post, I got a terrific fare on Cathay Pacific SF-BKK.
Passed through the brand new Hong Kong Airport and was wowed by the size of that airport. My transfer was from gate A29 to C67 - Wow! Is this place HUGE!On other trips I had just slipped out onto the streets of Hong Kong, never transited through, so it was quite an experience riding all those people movers. I felt like a FedEx package!
Saw a lot of mainland Chinese and heard a whole bunch of dialects, some quite unidentifiable. The biggest indication that China's economy is expanding is all these "nouveau riche" middle-class Chinese travelling. You can generally spot them a mile away because they haven't yet become walking advertisements for manufacturers like Massimo or Nike. Their clothes are all "ordinary" clothes. One thing that also marks them is the length of their pants. Seems like the pant legs were made for giants, the bottoms of the pant legs all gather in a heap on top of the shoes. Nevertheless the clothes do fit much better these days. Interesting group of travellers, filled with energy and a naive excitement. No old folks, just kids to middle age people. (Yes, well, you see, I had to spend another 2 1/2 hours sitting in the HK airport with nothing else to do...this after a 15 1/2 hour flight. The mundane and the everyday things somehow take on extra fascination when the brain is travel-fatigued).
Sitting there in the airport, I FEEL FAT. Flying anywhere over 2 hours makes me bloated. Then Cathay Pacific food is quite good, and on top of two meals, they can feed the passengers all the snacks they want. My waistline has expanded over 5 inches in less than 24 hours. Then there are all these slim Asians...I FEEL FAT!
Another 2 1/2 hours flight later we're in Bangkok - after yet another full meal is served on board. I FEEL FATTER.
Waddling off the plane, groggy as all get out - I don't sleep well on planes, never watch the movies, don't listen to the music - and in line at the immigration, the Thai immigration officer has just said something funny and has all the other immigration officers within earshot all giggling and laughing. Wonderful! what a great welcome! Laughter and smiles! Fat me has finally arrived in Thailand - Land of Smiles! Oh joy!
Right outside the immigration and customs area, a slim (what else?) girl dressed in a natty mustard-colored suit wants to know if I want a taxi. Yes! She leads me to a counter, I pays my 1000 bahts (more on the money later) and am treated like royalty from then on, being handed from one person to another, until finally at curbside a small van appears and I'm loaded into the van. Is it cheaper to just walk out to the taxi stand and get a taxi oneself? probably, but what a great feeling to be so taken care of - really worth the few extra bahts!
It's after midnight and we zip along the expressway and in no time at all we're at my hotel, the Unico Grande Sukhumvit (more on the hotel later). I had printed out a map of the hotel location before leaving the States and do highly recommend this precaution. The driver arrived at the street but didn't know where the hotel was until he saw the sign!
Better post this first. My hotel internet connection is giving me fits and I'm temporarily on the wirreless. Hope this second version doesn't get lost in cyberspace too!
Jan 24th, 2008, 05:30 PM
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On money:
Before leaving the States, i had exchanged some dollars for Thai bahts at the SF airport exchange desk. Rate given was 26 bahts to a dollar - plus a handling fee of $5 US (I exchanged less than $30 because that was all they had in bahts). This is an atrocious rate.
Later, while waiting for the flight and still in SF airport, a fellow passenger, a young Thai, exchanged some more bahts with me at the rate of 30 bahts to a dollar. Luckily he did because my taxi ride from the Bangkok airport cost 1000 bahts plus tip.
I had taken the unnecessary precaution of getting some bahts while still in the States because I wasn't sure if the money exchange desk in the Bangkok airport would be open or not. Shouldn't have worried. The new Bangkok airport was lively and hopping at midnight. The exchange desk rate was 33+ bahts per dollar.
So, I'd recommend that you wait until you get to the Bangkok airport before exchanging any money.
This morning I went to the Krung Thai Bank and got a rate of just under 33 bahts per dollar. The rate at the airport is current and just as good as one might receive in town.
Before leaving the States, i had exchanged some dollars for Thai bahts at the SF airport exchange desk. Rate given was 26 bahts to a dollar - plus a handling fee of $5 US (I exchanged less than $30 because that was all they had in bahts). This is an atrocious rate.
Later, while waiting for the flight and still in SF airport, a fellow passenger, a young Thai, exchanged some more bahts with me at the rate of 30 bahts to a dollar. Luckily he did because my taxi ride from the Bangkok airport cost 1000 bahts plus tip.
I had taken the unnecessary precaution of getting some bahts while still in the States because I wasn't sure if the money exchange desk in the Bangkok airport would be open or not. Shouldn't have worried. The new Bangkok airport was lively and hopping at midnight. The exchange desk rate was 33+ bahts per dollar.
So, I'd recommend that you wait until you get to the Bangkok airport before exchanging any money.
This morning I went to the Krung Thai Bank and got a rate of just under 33 bahts per dollar. The rate at the airport is current and just as good as one might receive in town.
Jan 24th, 2008, 05:45 PM
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On my hotel, the Unico Grande Sukhumvit.
I found this hotel through surfing the internet and got a fantastic rate of $75, including the 17% taxes and other amenities.
Here in my room, the closet has a light and in the closet are an iron, an ironing board, two pairs of slippers, two bathrobes, shoe cleaning and polishing stuff, an umbrella, AND best of all, a safe.
In the room is a small sink, a microwave, a coffee pot, a small refrigerator with some canned drinks for sale, two free bottles of water every day, a nice TV, a small sofa, a huge bed, AND free internet.
In the bathroom are the usual shampoo, etc. and a hair dryer.
Super clean and only ten steps away from Bumrungrad Hospital!
Best of all, terrific staff and very friendly.
Oh, yes, did I mention? Free breakfast with both Eastern and Western breakfast foods.
Would I recommend this hotel? Absolutely! Especially if one needs to go to Bumrungrad Hospital.
Two caveats: the hotel lobby is up a flight of stairs and i didn't see any elevator.
Second caveat - the bathroom floor is about 2-3 inches below the room floor. Yes, I almost fell into the bathroom a couple of times before my brain registered the difference in height - duh!
I found this hotel through surfing the internet and got a fantastic rate of $75, including the 17% taxes and other amenities.
Here in my room, the closet has a light and in the closet are an iron, an ironing board, two pairs of slippers, two bathrobes, shoe cleaning and polishing stuff, an umbrella, AND best of all, a safe.
In the room is a small sink, a microwave, a coffee pot, a small refrigerator with some canned drinks for sale, two free bottles of water every day, a nice TV, a small sofa, a huge bed, AND free internet.
In the bathroom are the usual shampoo, etc. and a hair dryer.
Super clean and only ten steps away from Bumrungrad Hospital!
Best of all, terrific staff and very friendly.
Oh, yes, did I mention? Free breakfast with both Eastern and Western breakfast foods.
Would I recommend this hotel? Absolutely! Especially if one needs to go to Bumrungrad Hospital.
Two caveats: the hotel lobby is up a flight of stairs and i didn't see any elevator.
Second caveat - the bathroom floor is about 2-3 inches below the room floor. Yes, I almost fell into the bathroom a couple of times before my brain registered the difference in height - duh!
Jan 24th, 2008, 05:51 PM
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Hi Kathie! thanks for the encouragement!
Have a busy day ahead today. I'd like to try and squeeze in a visit to Ponheary later during this trip - if at all possible.
Thanks for all your great input to this forum! I've learnt a lot about Thailand just by reading past threads! Your name comes up all the time!
Have a busy day ahead today. I'd like to try and squeeze in a visit to Ponheary later during this trip - if at all possible.
Thanks for all your great input to this forum! I've learnt a lot about Thailand just by reading past threads! Your name comes up all the time!
Jan 25th, 2008, 07:15 AM
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Thanks to all the Thailand regulars for your wonderful encouragement!
Hester, I suffer from insomnia and total biological clock confusion!
Night One: Checkin at 2am is a breeze. No one in front of me, no long wait lines. The guy behind the desk is a bit stiff but the older man who helps me take my bag up and get me settled in is the soul of hospitality.
I am exhausted, being possessed of an old body and a young spirit. Old body suffering, young spirit rejoicing. Rejoicing won out and i can't sleep!
Tried to read the two Clive Cussler novels that were in my suitcase and found out that I had already read them - both! Aha -ah! Well, there's always the TV. Watched a badminton match between the Indonesians and the Chinese, the Indonesians won the championship for the third year in a row. Switched to El-Jazeera in English and here was all the news on the Middle East told from a totally different perspective but still objective. Switched to CNN and here are the American presidential candidates (arghhhh! I can do without this sort of news for awhile). Switched to BBC and there's a whole bunch of international news, mostly about the Davos meeting - finally getting sleepy and konked out. Amazing how the US shrinks in importance once one is abroad and made to think about other peoples and other cultures as more immediate concerns.
Day One - ah! What time is it?
This room has NO CLOCK! It can't be, but a thorough search reveals - NO clock! Turn on the computer and it's got California time!
6am Bangkok time and I'm wide awake again. I struggle for the next hour trying to figure out how to work the internet - why is it that every hotel has a different system?
Finally, got it going and write to my family at home to let them know I've arrived safely. My emails are full of the cluck-cluck, silly-sounding noises that only family members share among themselves.
8am and time to try out the free breakfast. Wow! this is as good a spread as any I've seen in better hotels such as the Shangri-la! Of course not as elaborate but it's still wonderful. 3-4 varieties of fresh fruit - the watermelon is cut up into little hearts, cute! - 3-4 different cereals, hash potatoes, sausages, bacon, pancakes, bread, muffins, juice, coffee or tea and then on the other side, fried rice and noodles and congee (rice porridge) with a full accompaniment of condiments - dried shrimp, shredded beef, green onions, etc. Also miso soup.
The hotel guests are a cross-section of this part of the world - a lot of South Asians, Middle Easterners with their women all wrapped up and floating and gliding about like a bevy of balloons, Australians in Tevas and shorts, and one still-bloated Californian.
The bountiful breakfast makes me sleepy again, so I lie down and can't go to sleep - again! Boy, this time my biological clock is really screwed up!
Got up and walked the half block to Ploen Chit Road, made a left turn, then walked another half a block to the Krung Thai Bank. From the road this bank doesn't look very big but once inside it's enormous. Believe this is the head office of this bank. On the way over whenever my eye catches another person, that person smiles at me. Gotta smile back!
From the bank, it's just an easy block back the other way to the Ploen Chit Skyway Station. The Unico Grande Sukhumvit is extremely well situated.
Will continue. Gotta post this before it disappears!
Hester, I suffer from insomnia and total biological clock confusion!
Night One: Checkin at 2am is a breeze. No one in front of me, no long wait lines. The guy behind the desk is a bit stiff but the older man who helps me take my bag up and get me settled in is the soul of hospitality.
I am exhausted, being possessed of an old body and a young spirit. Old body suffering, young spirit rejoicing. Rejoicing won out and i can't sleep!
Tried to read the two Clive Cussler novels that were in my suitcase and found out that I had already read them - both! Aha -ah! Well, there's always the TV. Watched a badminton match between the Indonesians and the Chinese, the Indonesians won the championship for the third year in a row. Switched to El-Jazeera in English and here was all the news on the Middle East told from a totally different perspective but still objective. Switched to CNN and here are the American presidential candidates (arghhhh! I can do without this sort of news for awhile). Switched to BBC and there's a whole bunch of international news, mostly about the Davos meeting - finally getting sleepy and konked out. Amazing how the US shrinks in importance once one is abroad and made to think about other peoples and other cultures as more immediate concerns.
Day One - ah! What time is it?
This room has NO CLOCK! It can't be, but a thorough search reveals - NO clock! Turn on the computer and it's got California time!
6am Bangkok time and I'm wide awake again. I struggle for the next hour trying to figure out how to work the internet - why is it that every hotel has a different system?
Finally, got it going and write to my family at home to let them know I've arrived safely. My emails are full of the cluck-cluck, silly-sounding noises that only family members share among themselves.
8am and time to try out the free breakfast. Wow! this is as good a spread as any I've seen in better hotels such as the Shangri-la! Of course not as elaborate but it's still wonderful. 3-4 varieties of fresh fruit - the watermelon is cut up into little hearts, cute! - 3-4 different cereals, hash potatoes, sausages, bacon, pancakes, bread, muffins, juice, coffee or tea and then on the other side, fried rice and noodles and congee (rice porridge) with a full accompaniment of condiments - dried shrimp, shredded beef, green onions, etc. Also miso soup.
The hotel guests are a cross-section of this part of the world - a lot of South Asians, Middle Easterners with their women all wrapped up and floating and gliding about like a bevy of balloons, Australians in Tevas and shorts, and one still-bloated Californian.
The bountiful breakfast makes me sleepy again, so I lie down and can't go to sleep - again! Boy, this time my biological clock is really screwed up!
Got up and walked the half block to Ploen Chit Road, made a left turn, then walked another half a block to the Krung Thai Bank. From the road this bank doesn't look very big but once inside it's enormous. Believe this is the head office of this bank. On the way over whenever my eye catches another person, that person smiles at me. Gotta smile back!
From the bank, it's just an easy block back the other way to the Ploen Chit Skyway Station. The Unico Grande Sukhumvit is extremely well situated.
Will continue. Gotta post this before it disappears!
Jan 25th, 2008, 07:41 AM
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At the hotel, the porter-cum-all-around-man-about-the-hotel had supplied me with a map and had marked the station that would be my home stop as well as the station to get to BMK, the super duper "market".
Riding the escalator up to the train platform, there is no breeze and it's already hot at 9:30am on a January morning in Bangkok!
How to buy a ticket? don't laugh! All my previous trips to Bangkok, except one, had been business trips where someone who could speak the language and someone who had taken care of all the little details and someone who came to the airport to pick me up and someone knew the hotel staff and had gotten me a great room and someone...erh! how to buy a ticket? I look around and see my first victim. A slim (what else?) young woman in a nice looking but modest dress. Using hand gestures and raising my eyebrows like Groucho Marx I tried to convey my need to her.
"Do you need help?" she said in English and i nearly fell over backwards with ecstasy. I brought my eyebrows back down from my hairline where they had been lodged and murmured: "yes, yes, YES!" One has to speak softly in Thailand, no one shouts. She helped me buy a ticket and told me to get off at the Siam Station.
We both got on the train when it arrived and just before we reached Siam Station, she said softly to me "This is your stop". At the open door of the train I turned and thanked her. She wai-ed me! So I hastily wai-ed back and got off the train! What a wonderful custom, the wai!
Lost again! No signs for BMK. Emboldened by the kindness of my first encounter I walk up to a man in a red shirt and just asked"Do you speak english?" "Why yes!" He tells me I have to take the train on the opposite track and get off at the next stop. "At the bottom of the stairs, turn right."
I feel really stupid. Just this morning I had corraled the maid and had her teach me how to count from one to ten in Thai and here were my first two random encounters and they both spoke good English! will wonders never cease?
Next stop, BMK.
Riding the escalator up to the train platform, there is no breeze and it's already hot at 9:30am on a January morning in Bangkok!
How to buy a ticket? don't laugh! All my previous trips to Bangkok, except one, had been business trips where someone who could speak the language and someone who had taken care of all the little details and someone who came to the airport to pick me up and someone knew the hotel staff and had gotten me a great room and someone...erh! how to buy a ticket? I look around and see my first victim. A slim (what else?) young woman in a nice looking but modest dress. Using hand gestures and raising my eyebrows like Groucho Marx I tried to convey my need to her.
"Do you need help?" she said in English and i nearly fell over backwards with ecstasy. I brought my eyebrows back down from my hairline where they had been lodged and murmured: "yes, yes, YES!" One has to speak softly in Thailand, no one shouts. She helped me buy a ticket and told me to get off at the Siam Station.
We both got on the train when it arrived and just before we reached Siam Station, she said softly to me "This is your stop". At the open door of the train I turned and thanked her. She wai-ed me! So I hastily wai-ed back and got off the train! What a wonderful custom, the wai!
Lost again! No signs for BMK. Emboldened by the kindness of my first encounter I walk up to a man in a red shirt and just asked"Do you speak english?" "Why yes!" He tells me I have to take the train on the opposite track and get off at the next stop. "At the bottom of the stairs, turn right."
I feel really stupid. Just this morning I had corraled the maid and had her teach me how to count from one to ten in Thai and here were my first two random encounters and they both spoke good English! will wonders never cease?
Next stop, BMK.
Jan 25th, 2008, 07:57 AM
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Wow, ET, thanks for this great treat, real time TR with all the terrific details, and I love your writing style. You can eat as much as you like without feeling fat because with your energy you'll burn it all off in a matter of hours. Looking forward to what's coming next.
I didn't know you had left, how long will you be gone?
I didn't know you had left, how long will you be gone?
Jan 25th, 2008, 08:21 AM
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BMK
or is it KBM?
or is it MBK?
Whatever the initials, it's a confusing place because it's enormous and the small stalls squashed in there must number in the thousands! There are escalators that crisscross from one side of the building to the other, sort of like in the Hogwort's [sp?] School. Fortunately these escalators don't shift and change direction!
From the BTS (Skyway) Station and "turning right" one ends up in the huge Koryu [sp?] Department Store where "sale" items are carefully arranged along the pathway that leads into BMK (how much money passed under the table for this construction arrangement to happen?)
I take the escalator and keep going up until it's the sixth floor. It's still the Department Store but here are the grocery items and over there is a hot foods counter.
I'm trying to buy a cell phone. The cell phone sellers are congregated on the fourth floor. There are probably HUNDREDS of small stalls all selling cell phones. I look at so many it's mind boggling. So guess what? No cell phone purchase today. Maybe not ever. Nokia works best in Thailand, I'm told, but Nokia makes so many different versions that even narrowing down to one manufacturer is not enough. So, here are the little gems that I've picked up through the haze of many many phones being presented as the "perfect" one: a) make sure the phone is unlocked; b) make sure it's a quad-band phone, especially if you intend to bring it back to the States; c) make sure it works after you have paid your bahts! No kidding, there was one phone that was so light it was just the shell and there was nothing inside. Maybe it was just my lack of knowledge of the Thai language, but it sure felt strange being told that this was a good phone!
I looked at luggage too, but the prices have gone way up since I last (ten years ago) picked up a couple of really great pieces at about $5 apiece in the Pratunam Market. Nowadays the prices have been between 500 bahts (~$15) to over 2000 bahts for a small 18". Higher prices have nothing to do with the quality of the piece.
There are T-shirts galore, Thai silk galore, electronics galore - in fact, the only galore I didn't see was Pussy Galore. (sorry, it's getting close to midnight here)
Wandering around all those stalls and looking at all that merchandise has made me both cross-eyed and hungry. I see two young Indian girls walking towards me - yes, yes, they are slim and good looking! "Do you speak English?" "Yes, of course, we do!" They tell me that the restaurants on the fifth floor are "a bit expensive", but the place to go is the sixth floor.
Sixth floor, BMK, has more of the same merchandise and then along one wall is a food court selling about 20 different versions of inexpensive Thai food. I chose duck over rice which comes with a soup. Not a whole lot, but enough - about the amount in one of those Jack-in-the-Box bowls. total bill 45 bahts ($1.30). Lots of Thais fill the small tables and an occasional farangi.
Even on a weekday BMK is crowded and filled with activity. However, the sales push is gentle, unlike in China where it's pretty much in your face. I feel so relaxed here in Thailand.
Back at the skyway, I purchase a skypass and breeze back to the hotel. It's 3pm and I fall into a deep sleep. woke up at 11pm! Must have snored a lot!
End of Day One in Thailand!
or is it KBM?
or is it MBK?
Whatever the initials, it's a confusing place because it's enormous and the small stalls squashed in there must number in the thousands! There are escalators that crisscross from one side of the building to the other, sort of like in the Hogwort's [sp?] School. Fortunately these escalators don't shift and change direction!
From the BTS (Skyway) Station and "turning right" one ends up in the huge Koryu [sp?] Department Store where "sale" items are carefully arranged along the pathway that leads into BMK (how much money passed under the table for this construction arrangement to happen?)
I take the escalator and keep going up until it's the sixth floor. It's still the Department Store but here are the grocery items and over there is a hot foods counter.
I'm trying to buy a cell phone. The cell phone sellers are congregated on the fourth floor. There are probably HUNDREDS of small stalls all selling cell phones. I look at so many it's mind boggling. So guess what? No cell phone purchase today. Maybe not ever. Nokia works best in Thailand, I'm told, but Nokia makes so many different versions that even narrowing down to one manufacturer is not enough. So, here are the little gems that I've picked up through the haze of many many phones being presented as the "perfect" one: a) make sure the phone is unlocked; b) make sure it's a quad-band phone, especially if you intend to bring it back to the States; c) make sure it works after you have paid your bahts! No kidding, there was one phone that was so light it was just the shell and there was nothing inside. Maybe it was just my lack of knowledge of the Thai language, but it sure felt strange being told that this was a good phone!
I looked at luggage too, but the prices have gone way up since I last (ten years ago) picked up a couple of really great pieces at about $5 apiece in the Pratunam Market. Nowadays the prices have been between 500 bahts (~$15) to over 2000 bahts for a small 18". Higher prices have nothing to do with the quality of the piece.
There are T-shirts galore, Thai silk galore, electronics galore - in fact, the only galore I didn't see was Pussy Galore. (sorry, it's getting close to midnight here)
Wandering around all those stalls and looking at all that merchandise has made me both cross-eyed and hungry. I see two young Indian girls walking towards me - yes, yes, they are slim and good looking! "Do you speak English?" "Yes, of course, we do!" They tell me that the restaurants on the fifth floor are "a bit expensive", but the place to go is the sixth floor.
Sixth floor, BMK, has more of the same merchandise and then along one wall is a food court selling about 20 different versions of inexpensive Thai food. I chose duck over rice which comes with a soup. Not a whole lot, but enough - about the amount in one of those Jack-in-the-Box bowls. total bill 45 bahts ($1.30). Lots of Thais fill the small tables and an occasional farangi.
Even on a weekday BMK is crowded and filled with activity. However, the sales push is gentle, unlike in China where it's pretty much in your face. I feel so relaxed here in Thailand.
Back at the skyway, I purchase a skypass and breeze back to the hotel. It's 3pm and I fall into a deep sleep. woke up at 11pm! Must have snored a lot!
End of Day One in Thailand!
Jan 25th, 2008, 09:51 AM
#16
Great report! Love hearing your impressions and experiences, especially hearing about a new hotel choice.
Tiny tip...the plural of Baht is Baht; no "s". No big deal, but you can save a keystroke!
Can't wait for the next installment!
Tiny tip...the plural of Baht is Baht; no "s". No big deal, but you can save a keystroke!
Can't wait for the next installment!
