Home » Thailand » Back to Thailand - hang on, hasn't he already been there?!

No no, I haven't left Kenya in a sudden fit of madness to return to Thailand with a craving for deep-fried ants. Instead, please allow me to rewind the clock three months to when I'd just returned to Bangkok from Laos' capital, Vientianne, in order to wait at the airport for a very special someone on her way to see me. Sorry to not have written sooner on my two weeks with Caroline, making this blog just slightly disjointed (and I'll be forgetful of a few names). My fault completely, but better late than never, as they say. As a result, this is just a brief, rushedly-written account of our wonderful two weeks together.

Back to Thailand - hang on, hasn't he already been there?!

Simon Wadsworth
2006-09-04 14:50:00

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time in Bangkok, I took Caroline on a tour of the city, taking in the alien word of for photos of usthe chinese markets of Chinatown, taking a boat trip down the river, eating popcorn while watching turtles, aerobics dancers and a beautiful sunset in Lumpini Park, braving the redlight district of Patpong (where Caroline treated me to my first Guinness in 6 months!), and, of course, the usual wanderings down Khao San Road.

It was still incredibly hot, and in between sight-seeing, we made excuses to buy some sweets or a drink, just so we could spend time in the wonderfully air-conditioned 7/11 stores, our new best friend. Such sight-seeing also included visiting Wat Pho and the Grand Palace, which appears in a book I have called 'Top 40 place in the world to see' - whether this be one man's opinion or many, it certain was an impressive and colourful sight. Up close, the temples are tackily and crudely covered in millions of pieces of coloured glass, fake jewels and gold paint, but when seen as a whole, it's a breathtaking sight and recommended for anyone visiting Bangkok.

Apparantly, Bangkok is a place to bump into people, and makes one question how large the world really is - we, by chance, met up with Tracy and Albert stairs lots of stairs...to Doi Suthep for the 4th time (and living in London, will doubtless be the last such 'bump'), along with Stig from the Philippines and a girl also from the Philippines whose name I've forgotten (damn my New Year's resolution) on the way to the cinema in Silom Square. Caroline treated us to the most luxurious in cinema seating comfort with fully-reclining leather chairs (see photo), that although expensive for Thailand, is no different to the cost of a ticket in the UK. It was great! And then we braced ourselves for the taxi ride back to our hotel. I'd love to know how well taxi drivers would cope in the UK, because out here they're crazy! I'd also heart and witnessed many accounts of drivers refusing to use their meters at night, yet we never seemed to have a problem - confusing me at the time. "You use meter?!" "Yes." "Meter?" You put meter on?" "Yes." "You sure? Meter meterrr.." "Yes." (get into taxi) "Meterrrrrr?" "Yes." "oh, ok."

And this left us with just one final day, which we used to full effect shopping in one of the world's largest markets, Chatuchak Weekend Market. It was HUGE, with 100s of sois
Doi Suthep and 1000s of stalls selling everything from socks to snakes, incense sticks to chopsticks. We did quite a bit of shopping (or rather, Caroline did, I just happily followed admiring everything), until it started raining and creating miniature flash floods down the covered streets.

Then the next morning, that was it, our wonderful two weeks were over as we said goodbye and went through our separate gates to Heathrow and Kathmandu. It seemed to go by so quickly, too quickly, and the waiting begins once more. But now, as I write this, there's only another five weeks! Thanks for reading, as always. Sorry it's a bit of a ''we did this, then we did that'' account, but rushing and working from memory from three months ago, it's a little trickier than usual. Speak to you in a week. Muchos luvos, x