We woke at 5:20 (just before our 5:30 alarm), taxi was picking us up at 6 am to take us to the airport. Final dance with the Botanic bathroom facilities and jamming things into my rucksack making sure I put the power banks in the right bag to avoid the airport drama of the last flight where I had them in wrong bag and had to empty and find them in front of the large snaking waiting que behind me.
Em had settled up the bill and we jumped into the taxi and headed to the airport, not long and Em requested a coffee stop and bought herself and the driver a drink, which the driver had to pay for as they couldn’t give change for Ems $20 (we added this to his tip) we crawled through the city as the locals bustled around and the westerners (still standing, just about, from the night before) stood in the road like slow motion zombie sheep, showing severely delayed reactions to the honking horn of our vehicle.
The driver told us about his life and family and how he became good at English (taught by monks and then practiced with tourists everyday for 20 years and working his way up from a toilet cleaner to owning a taxi, and surviving several family dramas and the COVID crisis). He explained that as a child of 11 who moved to live with his uncle because food was scarce and mealtimes were therefore shall we say…..very feisty. It was really interesting hearing a genuine life story from a local.
We arrived at the airport which had that newly built shine and feel…..and emptiness, this is what I imagined a private airport would feel like. We checked in and was about walk through to departures when I was abruptly accosted and escorted to security. Some problem with my bag and I could feel my face flushing. Staff who had the abruptness of having their breakfast disturbed but we’re still trying to be polite then told me I had power banks in my bag at which point I realised in my head I had the bag power bank situation the wrong way round. Thereby followed some hasty and panicked bag unpacking and apologizing for my error. I was just grateful there wasn’t a large audience of witnesses scowling behind me at the time.
We wandered around the airport and I bought a bag of crisps and walked straight into currency confusion (using local reil (4000 to 1) and dollars). I’d been pretty good at working this out so far, possibly better than Emma but I’d saved all my confusion for my last transaction where I thought that the kiosk operator had given me too much change (he hadn’t) so was trying to give him money back much to his confusion. Anyway, no drama other than the guy ending up with a handsome tip for just serving me an overpriced packet of seaweed flavored lays crisps.
The flight was quicker than scheduled due to a tailwind, so only 45 minutes. During which time the staff served everyone a meal (vegan tofu rice and veg for us with a dessert), served everyone a drink of coffee/tea and cleared up. Arrival at Bangkok was also straightforward and we were soon in a taxi, back in the crazy Bangkok traffic commuting the 43 km trip back into the city centre. Our taxi driver pulled out some local smooth moves down backstreets to get us to our hotel shaving off over 60 minutes from googles predicted journey time. Great to see the algorithm defeated by an everyday human!
We checked into the hotel and would be meeting Ems Dad and Joy in a couple of hours but were feeling peckish so headed out onto the streets.
A few hundred yards away was a full vegan cafe so we enjoyed a couple of smoothies (peanut butter and jelly for me, salted caramel frappelappacino for Em) and I tried a burger which went straight into number one on my all time favourite burger (eating out) chart and Em had a cake. We then met up and caught up on the last few days before having a cooling dip in the rooftop pool and agreeing to meet in reception at 6pm to head to the famous night market.
When we arrived outside it was dark and Friday night in Bangkok was starting to kick off. People everywhere and traffic was flowing but was thick with cars and bikes. we walked to the subway shoulder to shoulder with a billion other people. Feeling relatively safe considering the craziness.
The streets were lined with stalls selling everything. We eventually arrived at the escalators and descended down into the belly of the Bangkok. I was feeling like Bilbo Baggins in the Hobbit being carried down into the goblin city and just followed the others thinking if I lost them I would end up living down there like gollum, for ever.
Considering the sheer number of people everything moved really quickly and efficiently (until my card didn’t work at a turnstile! Stressful but I was on such a sensory overload I didn’t freak out) with trains arriving smoothly every few minutes and doors sliding open to fully packed carriages that have you thinking ‘i can’t fit in there’ but you just walk in and you do fit, just about, but you are never sure if the door is going to bruise your backside as it closes.
The market was good fun, Em enjoyed the clothes stalls and I enjoyed looking at the crazy food stalls, Thai’s love their food and the speciality here seemed to be a volcano sized sharing platter of bones and broth. It was everywhere along with all sorts of other ‘food’.
We aquired some fresh spring rolls and a plate of deep fried mixed tofu and ate it as we wandered around absorbing the sights, sounds and smells of the city.
At one point I watched a large rat dance around the ankles of oblivious diners sat in a crowded area sucking on bones and shellfish and slurping broth. I’m sure it was bouncing off peoples feet but nobody made the slightest flinch.
We headed back to a bar near the hotel for a nightcap. A Christmas tree and large life sized statute of father Xmas were at the bar which just seemed strange despite it being 14th December (I would usually be feeling quite Christmassy by now but it just doesn’t feel right in the heat).
I was absolutely exhausted even the cover band singing words they didn’t understand was failing to keep me awake so we headed back to our room for lights out.
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