Back to Bangkok
Thankful we had sent our clothes shopping home whilst in Hoi An, we cruised through the 15kg weight limit check on the Air Asia flight from Hanoi to Bangkok. I am using the word ‘cruise’ very loosely as Chris had 0.1kg to spare and I had 0.4kg to spare. But thankful we were especially when we saw others before us having to pay hefty fines.
We were both excited during the flight to Bangkok….but it was not because we held particularly fond memories of Bangkok; in actual fact Bangkok had not endeared itself to either Chris of myself first time around, but quite simply because we would be checking into the Holiday Inn Hotel. We had decided from the very start of our trip that should the unlikely event of having some cash left at this stage in our travels occur then we would throw what little we had at upgrading to a hotel.
We had five days in Bangkok before our long-haul back to the UK was scheduled to leave and we were intending to make the most of it. We were planning to head North to the ‘Bridge over the River Kwai’ and we had also been considering a visit to ‘Tiger Temple’ – a wat where the monks raise sick tigers and tourists can get up close and personal with the animals (although it is worth noting details of the ‘Tiger Temple’ do not feature in the lonely planet for fears that the tigers are in actual fact drugged). As it transpired we did not make it to either and for the first day we did not leave the hotel making good use of the gym, the swimming pool, the sun in the sky and rooom service. The rest of the week pretty much followed the lazy start it had kicked off with ensuring a stint by the pool to top up the tan before revisiting our favourite cheap restaurant and visiting a few places recommended to us by friends and family.
The only other plan we had for our last week was a bit of retail therapy. We missed out the shopping malls on our first visit as we did not wish to carry any new purchases however after checking BA’s weight limit – a whopping 32kg each until September we were planning to run wild picking up a few presents, some souvenirs and some cheap clothing. Well Chris did as planned and bought himself a number of t-shirts, jeans and trainers whilst I uncharacteristically could not bring myself to part with any cash.
Dan, our good friend from university who is now living in Sydney and has travelled extensively recommended that we visit ‘Bed Supperclub’ – a nightclub based in Bangkok’s Sukhumvit. So on our final night we headed to ‘Cabbages and Condoms’ restaurant which is a NGO supporting the campaign against AIDS. We sat outside amongst thousands of fairy lights and had quite possibly the hotest dish we have had in our lives!
Mouths burning we headed to a nearby bar for a few drinks to cool our mouths. We later made it to Bed Supperclub which is undoubtedly one of the best nightclubs we have ever been in. The website describes it as
‘a ‘dining in bed’ experience. Housed in a custom-built new building and set in a modern and futuristic all white environment, BED crosses the divide between dining and cutting edge entertainment. In BED you take your shoes off, lay down and you’re at home’.
……so we indeed took off our shoes and made ourselves at home! Chris was enjoying the music so much he could have happily stayed there until our fight left.
The journey back to the hotel was a little surreal as the tuk-tuk’s radio played Peter, Paul and Mary’s version of our blog title ‘We’re leaving on a jet plane’ quite fitting as later that day we would be coming to the end of our 11 month trip. In high spirits we asked the tuk-tuk driver if Chris could sit in the drivers seat for a quick photo before retiring for the very last time as travellers.
Tags: Thailand
Chris and Charl
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