Bangkok’s revenge
Waking up at 6am has never been easier. I
bounced out of bed, showered and was ready to catch our flight. We got a
shuttle to the airport with 3 hours till our flight. No queues and no bags to
check meant we were bumped up to an earlier flight. Weirdly I was excited for
the stop over we were meant to take as I like to pretend I’ve been to that country from the one hour stop over but I was happy
to arrive in Thailand earlier.
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| Happy Chappy! |
Lee’s long legs mean we were allowed the extra leg room seats so we
spread ourselves out in the very empty plane and enjoyed the ride.
The flight wasn’t quite as great as our Asiana experience but Air Asia is definitely
a great airline. We actually were naughty monkeys and experienced our first alcoholic
beverage on a plane. All you read is to avoid drinking in the air but it was a
great way to start our trip.
Landing in Bangkok was thrilling. Outside it looked like
every Vietnam
film. Palm trees lined all the streets. Ponds and water logged fields filled
every other garden. Our hotel was a little bit out of the city but still on the
main trainline so it was easy to escape to town. My favourite feature of the
hotel is the train line that went right past the front door. There was only one
tiny train a day but it was brilliant to see the track just there for no
reason.
We were too late to see the temples but we
headed into Siam and saw the
craziness that is Bangkok.
There was double leveled train lines above our heads, walk ways instead of
streets, trees next to neon , 8 lanes of traffic and street food every few centimeters.
I was in love. I blinked and I was in Blade runner.
We wandered the streets and stumbled upon
the grandest shopping mall I’ve ever seen. We needed
Wifi to plan our evening so headed inside only to be faced with every food
imaginable. Now for two westerners who have been in Korea for almost 6 months all the
food blew our minds. We are secret Americans when it comes to food. Cinnabon,
toast with maple syrup and sweet shredded pork and the greatest bagel I’ve ever had. The food baby I had after that lot needed to be walked
off for at least a good hour.
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| Life models all around the mall |
My British side almost leapt for joy when I
saw this Costa sign. But it was coming soon so I had to settle back down and
hope Korea
follows the trend.
We wandered the streets for a while and got
some money from the atm before we attempted to sneak into the sky bar. The sky
bar is a roof top bar at the top of one of Bangkok’s skyscrapers. On the website and on trip advisor we were warned no
trainers or shorts would be allowed but we weren’t deterred. I walked in front of Lee and put on my biggest smile.
Luckily because it was a Tuesday and quiet we were allowed in. The sun had set
and I was a little overwhelmed with the view.
It’s not
often that Lee and I are lost for words but this was one of those times.
We treated ourselves to a few of the best
cocktails I’ve ever tasted and
talked about everything possible while we listened to the live jazz bar. It
really was one of my perfect moments.
That was until we had to pay……..
Lee asked for the bill and reached for his
card when we realized we hadn’t taken it from the Atm.
In Korea and the UK you take the
card then money then receipt. The receipt comes with the card but in Thailand you
get money, count it then get the receipt and then the card. We skipped the card
step.
In a panic we tried the Korean cards we had
specially taken to use abroad. No luck.
This especially grated on me as I paid and
checked at least 3 times with my Korean bank that this card would work. As is
the way with most Korean bank transactions it didn’t work.
Luckily I dug through my wallet and found a
very old card with just enough money on it to pay.
Opphs!
We ran back to the atm and discovered
through a lot of expensive phone calls that the second a machine takes your
card it is destroyed so we had no cards with no money in Bangkok. We were in trouble. We stayed up the
whole night and spent the whole next day trying to think and do every single
thing possible to save our asses. Korea told me that my bank had lied
to me and that my card was no good and could do nothing….at all!!!! So I will be changing banks very soon…Thank you NH.
At lunch time (countdown: 12 hours with no
money) we counted the pennies and headed out to find the cheapest food
possible. Luckily in Bangkok
that was very easy. We found so many amazing markets and the smell was overwhelming.
The smell of Lemon grass and turmeric will forever be a reminder of Thailand. We
settled for a tiny food market and ate the best Thai beef soup I’ve ever had. Two bowls cost 1 pound!
It was funny to be 27 and have no money on
holiday. When Lee and I were 15 we went to Paris only to realize it was a holiday so all
the banks were closed. With no way to change our travelers checks to Euros we
had to sit outside Versailles on the bus trip we had taken unable to go inside.
Its nice to know that we aren’t grown ups yet.
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| The call that saved us! |
In the end it was Lee’s amazing father that saved us. He sent us money via Western Union and we were okay again. Luckily. With only
a few hours to spare before our flight to Koh Samui.
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| The celebration drink and sausage roll! |
So we got our stuff together and jumped in
a Tuk Tuk with the instructions of ‘Grand Palace’ I was hoping we could catch a glimpse at night but the high walls
meant we were a little let down. What we did see was incredible.
We were on a mission to find Thailand’s best Pad Thai so walked the streets and stumbled on a flower
market I’d read about. It smelled
and looked stunning. I saw so many flowers I had never seen before. (we also
found that Thai 7-11’s sell Big Gulps !!)
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| A beautiful garden. I could have stayed here all night. |
We
walked through the night markets and I bought a stupidly cheap and lovely dress
as well as found a great bar on the river to have a few holiday cocktails.
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| Bunnies in costumes in the night market. |
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| River cocktails |
Once we were back on the Pad Thai hunt we
stumbled across many statues, many cockroaches (I won’t miss that one cockroach street soon, especially since one landed
on poor Lee’s face) and finally
found the worlds finest Pad Thai. It did not disappoint!
We almost ordered a second helping but were
so full and tired. The place is called Thip Samai and you have to queue for a little
while to get in. Its open from 5pm till 3am and only serves Pad Thai. I had the
Superb PadThai and I will be dreaming about it for a while.
If you are in Bangkok I’d recommend it.
We did manage to make it to Ko San road. If
you are with a group and want to get extremely drunk then it’s the place for you but for us it was a little too similar to
Magaluf and the cheap drinking holidays you go on in the uk.
Once we were home a few hours later we felt
we had made up for the disaster the day before. Although it was only a few
hours of enjoying the city we had a fantastic time.
I think I would happily return to Bangkok.
Like the song says one night in Bangkok definitely did
make the rich man humble!
