Five nights in Bangkok

The heat and humidity greeted us as soon as we exited the plane. After a bit of an unorganized customs process, we easily managed to get some cash, and into a nice airport-booked car service. Great choice vs waiting in the taxi queue.

The drive to the hotel took over an hour, even though it was only 18 kilometers. We also discovered that many Thai people get around by scooter. It is basically a free-for-all for scooters and motorcycles splitting lanes, driving on the shoulder, and even the wrong way down the road. Most people do not wear helmets. Crazy!!!

We stayed at a beautiful, old Sheraton on the river. The hotel was built in the ‘70s, but had been updated in Thailand colors and architecture. The people working in the hotel were mostly nice, but it was run like a military school. 🤪 I was kicked out of the hotel executive lounge because I was wearing (nice, dressy) shorts, while others could stay who were wearing ripped jeans and flip flops. Women could wear short skirts, but no shorts for men. I was thinking about getting a dress to wear one day, but Jos didn’t want me getting thrown out of the place. The other funny thing was the way the hotel cleared plates during meals. As soon as your last bite was taken, the dishes were gone. Often along with your cutlery. Very structured!! 😀

Another rule that you should keep in mind while visiting Thailand: You may never say anything negative about or otherwise insult the King or the royal family past or present. Not while there and not anywhere they could discover it online or in print (even in fiction) if you ever want to cross the border into the country. Doing so will land you in jail, as many have found out over the past few years.

Bangkok is a big city of Buddhist temples, Hindu temples, churches, and other religious and historical sites. More on that in a minute. The people are lovely, but this is a land of the haves and the extremely have nots. Thailand was ranked as having the highest wealth inequality of the world in 2018. We saw some intense poverty there, and also fancy shopping centers. Bangkok has 8 million residents and is a bit dirty, congested, and I kept noticing there are many more stray cats and dogs than we’ve seen elsewhere.

All that being said, there is a lot going on, so much to see, and there are some great places to hang out and escape the hustle & bustle of the city.

Jos found a great tiki bar a few blocks from the hotel. We spent our first night having incredibly good rum 🍹 drinks. We chatted with the bartenders and one of the owners - Philip from Sweden, who was kind enough to walk us around the neighborhood and point out a few places he recommended! There are so many great little bars and restaurants around the city, and many expats who enjoy living there.

The first full day, we did some exploring around our hotel, as we have done in many other cities during our journey. Walking is a good way to get a feel of our surroundings. We found countless Thai massage places. You will not believe how cheap massages are in Thailand...about 300 Bahts ($10 US) for a full one hour massage. Needless to say, Jos and I had several massages during our 6 days in Country! 🙂

We found a wonderful Buddhist temple with one of the oldest reclining Buddhas in the country. We met many friendly Thai people, albeit, one was trying to get us to go to a market (I assume one of his jobs was to direct people to specific merchants). We politely and then more firmly declined. We also saw two lovely cats that the Monks were taking care of in the compound (very common practice). Buddhists are taught very early that animals are to be revered and taken care of, so the stray cats are generally friendly.

Then we went to watch a semi-final rugby match in a local sports bar. We had a reservation at the bar but were late due to traffic. Unfortunately, the All Blacks of New Zealland lost to England (sorry, Jos).

Next, we were off to a beautiful hotel in Bangkok where we met up with Jos’ friends Mike and Lori. We spent a wonderful evening eating, drinking and chatting. They also took us to a chic top floor bar, Lennons. This is one of the new bars in town and has a very cool music vibe, with hundreds of LPs, cassettes, and I assume some CDs around. Great music and drinks.

We got up early the next day to join a tour of the King’s summer palace and to the second capital of Thailand, Ayutthaya. The palace was beautiful, with buildings dating back to the 1800s. The second capital (the third is now Bangkok) was amazing with ancient brick structures dating back to the 1300s. Unfortunately, some recent floods did a lot of damage to the old structures, which are now leaning like the tower in Pisa after months of standing water softened the ground beneath them. We made a few more stops, including an area with one of the largest Reclining Buddhas in the world. We ended the tour with a relaxing 2 hour boat ride down the Chao Phraya river back to our hotel.

We met with another friend in Bangkok, Jeremiah, who took us to a beautiful Hindu temple, to a nearby Indian vegetarian restaurant at Jos’ request, to a really atmospheric jazz room called the Bamboo Bar in the Mandarin Oriental hotel, and up to the new Skybar on the 74th floor of the newest high rise in Bangkok.

We took it easy our last day in Bangkok, including a little shopping and another Thai massage. A great way to end our 5 days in Bangkok.

Next stop, Singapore.

[Btw, we cannot seem to control the order of the photos when posting, so apologies for the haphazard sequence.]