Thursday 3/13/2008- Saturday 3/15/2008:
We arrived to Bangkok only 10 minutes behind schedule, and we were overwhelmed with the modern, air-conditioned goodness of a modern country….aaah. We collected our luggage and head for a taxi to Erin and Michael’s hotel in downtown Bangkok. After some ‘communication’ difficulty, we had the taxi driver take the highway (about a $1.50US surcharge), and we arrived to their hotel about 40 minutes later. After not finding them in their room, we sadly asked their concierge for directions to our hotel. Luckily, we ended up running into Erin and Michael at their concierge stand (phew!), and we went on a tour of their hotel. Since it was already 10pm, we grabbed a light snack at the River Café before calling it a night. We made plans to meet up with our travel buddies on a specific street corner tomorrow at 12pm, and we headed north to our hotel. We checked into room 210, Tropicool, and then we hit the hay.
Our first full day in Bangkok consisted of sleeping in a bit, then attempting to get a Thai SIM card for our cell phone. After about an hour of ‘assistance,’ we were out the door with the ‘freedom’ package….we’ll see how much that actual gives us! We hopped on the sky train and headed into the city. Our map wasn’t ‘to scale,’ so we seriously underestimated our arrival time…luckily, we hopped in a taxi, and we got out in the general area where we were supposed to meet our travel buddies. Two Irish folks in Thailand were luckily not too hard to find.
Happy to be reunited, we walked towards the Grand Palace and the Wat Phra Kaeo only to learn that flip flops (which was our choice foorwear) was not allowed. So we attempted to see Wat Po (the Reclining Buddha), and we happily paid our 50 baht each. The gold plated Buddha is 46 m long and 15 m high, with her feet inlayed with mother of pearl. There are many features in this temple beyond religious, as there is also a school on the grounds. The headquarters for the Traditional Medicine Practitioners of Bangkok is also located at the temple.
Our next stop was for re-fueling at Royal Navy Club, which don’t let the name fool you, was a Thai restaurant. After Michael was politely told to give the Coca-Cola bottle back, and that he wasn’t able to take it….we caught the ferry from Tha Chang down the Chao Phraya River to the Peninsula. We took full advantage of the our travel buddies Bangkok hotel splurge, and we relaxed by pool for rest of afternoon and used the free Internet. Ready to take on town for dinner, we made reservations at BedSupperclub in Sukhumvit. Sadly, the “no flip flop rule” struck again, and we were seriously told to go buy shoes at the market, so we could walk into their restaurant, to then take the shoes off to get into ‘bed.’ Yeah, we said ‘no thanks’ and we went down the street to tasty Thai place. After eating and getting seriously confused with the “Soi’s” (side streets) of Bangkok, we hopped on the sky train back to the Reflections. Later learned that “Phrom Phong” or the red light district was one more stop east… I guess it wasn’t meant to be. Our hotel had music blasting for blocks, as they had their re-opening night with band and big party with base pumping until the wee hours…. Goooood times!
Up nice and early, we enjoyed breakfast with the hung-over staff and caught a taxi to Bangkok’s airport. We checked in for our Thai Airways flight to Phuket and waited for Erin and Michael to check in. Somehow, Katie’s United Premier Executive Card (Expired!!!) worked to get (sadly) only her and Dermot into the Thai Airways Lounge. We worked on trip planning and happily used their complimentary printer.
Oddly, the security check was at our individual gate, and then we boarded our quick hour flight down to the Southern Thai islands.