hello Bangkok!

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We went for our last dinner at the Horizon Village and met the owners – the Tweechol family – we had already suspected that we had met him in the gardens – such a humble person – what a lovely family – very humble and grateful for us saying how we enjoyed the gardens. He has been blessed by the king for what he has achieved there and it seems that he still has more in mind.
Bangkok here we come – we arrived at the airport in Chiang Mai and I have to say I have been hanging out for a decent coffee for so long – saw a coffee shop and went to order – saw what they called cappacino and decided to play it safe and have a hot chocolate – you don’t have to be a trained barrista to make a hot chocolate….. clearly you do! It was disgusting – literally a spoonful of something and hot water added – yuk! The muffin we ordered was even worse – was so tough and dry we couldn’t even get through one mouthful! So we flew off to Bangkok hungry and decided to get something to eat there.
Then decided we need to get a taxi to the hotel – very efficient system they have at the airport – you queue up and tell the lady where you are going – the taxi guys queue up behind the airport staff – they discuss the destination and they she tells you exactly how much it will cost – but you pay the taxi driver on arrival. The city is amazing – it is huge, a sea of buildings and sky scrapers as far as you can see in the haze of the city. The main motorways and train lines are extremely efficient and the river transport could teach Brisbane river authorities a thing or two! But once you get off the main highway and into the bowels, it is dirty, smelly and noisy… not that we didn’t expect this but we were shattered when we arrived at our hotel – which I had researched on Tripadvisor – excellent reports – website looks good – just never wondered why I didn’t see a pic of the outside hotel! OMG! I was in disbelief when I saw it – we just started laughing because we were sure we were in the wrong place – but the driver ushered us down a lane beside a filthy canal – past street sellers and grotty houses (if you could call them houses!) and there was something that looked a little better kept and some nice healthy plants and in through the gates we walked …. Into an oasis of a place with a sparkling pool, lovely atmosphere, food, bars (one on the roof top with loungers and hammocks) and we were pleasantly surprised – also delighted to meet many other normal travellers there! The service was second to none and our room is clean, tastefully decorated but the view….. next door shack! So we keep the curtains closed.
We decided to head down to the famous shopping plaza – MBK – got instructions to catch the river ferry and walk the rest of the way. If I have not mentioned it before, crossing roads in Thailand is a unique and scary experience – it is a case of look both ways at least three times and try and find a gap and run like hell! Traffic does not necessarily need to be coming down the street in the right direction! Motorbikes are often going up the street the wrong way. There is a pecking order on the roads and pedestrians come after dogs! So, after a few hairy road crossings, we found the canal ferry – an experience in itself – it is a long boat with wooden seats and a roof (remembering most Thai people are small!) you have to clambour in and sit down but everyone who gets in just steps in and sits…… they don’t move up to allow more people to step in and sit so one side of the boat is heavy until eventually when people are climbing in the front and climbing out on to the other side of the boat and scooting along until they can get back in to the boat…the conductor might wave a hand to tell people to move up. I nearly tripped as I climbed in as they have a plastic sheet that is used to be pulled up during the journey to stop you getting wet when other boats pass… and I had a camera around my neck and about enough seating space to sit a small child – one other lady on the seat….. she saw me coming, ducked as I nearly hit her with the swinging camera, but did not budge on the seat! I squeezed myself in to the spot and we sat cosily together while the rest of the seat was empty? How odd! The canal is filthy and I spent my time with my mouth closed in case one drop should splash up! Gaz would raise the plastic side now and again when other boats approached – we finally disembarked about four stops later and headed down the street following our map. We walked and walked and bloody walked – asking directions and eventually doubled back and asked more directions and then met a very friendly lady who got chatting and showed us which shops were best and where to go and where not to go – so sweet of her. She explained to the tuk-tuk driver where to take us and told him he must wait and then take us to the next place etc. Off we set but I really didn’t feel convinced and whispered to Gary that I thought we had been set up. Frantically dialing the ‘tourist police’ number in to the phone for ‘just in case’ we waited until we had arrived at the first destination (which we believed to be a clothes store). It was a tailors store but were assured that upstairs there were ready made clothes…. As we got to the first floor we asked again – do you sell T shirts and shorts like these, pointing to Gaz’s clothes. “Oh, no, but we have many bags and can make clothes…blah blah ‘ We just turned tail and told the tuk tuk driver in a bloody cross voice to stop buggering us around and take us immediately back to where we were when he collected us! He had a very sulky face but took us there in record time.
This is a very common thing here apparently – it must be a way of touting business for each other – all their mission is, is to get you to their shops and they must get a commission for that – it is then up to the shop owner to lure you into buying something. It also happens if you are sightseeing – if you want to see one of the temples, they will give you a very low tuk tuk rate if you will stop at one shop on the way – seems harmless enough but it can take your whole afternoon up as they whizz you around to various friends shops and all with nothing that you want to buy!
Anyhooooo, we were getting a little grumpy by now but managed to finally find MBK and the shopping was all it was made out to be and in nice air-conditioned plaza instead of smelly street markets… and you could still barter for better prices. We were there a couple of hours and didn’t even do half of one of the five floors! We are going back today…… have cajoled Gary into taking a book so that he can sit and have a beer and read while I shop – it is not good shopping with your husband trailing and constantly asking what you are wanting to buy and ‘why not just buy this handbag – why do we have to look at 8 shops of bags – just buy one’!
When we got back to the ‘hotel’ we decided that we did not want to stay three nights in Bangkok! We have already had enough and so changed our ticket to go to Phuket one day earlier. Then we set off for a dinner cruise that I had pre-booked. We were collected by the company – very professional – (a bit embarrassed, clamouring into the already full minivan – they must wonder what bloody hotel we had crept out from!) The evening was spectacular – a lovely old rice barge converted into a dinner boat and we had beautiful views of the river and the main highlights of some of the most amazing temples, the King’s house etc etc – the food was outstanding and just a gorgeous evening! It restored our weary mood until the driver dropped us near our ‘hotel’ – we asked where? He pointed up the street so we thought, oh well, am sure we will see it when we get closer – and off he sped. We walked and walked and had no bloody idea where we were and ended up having to pay a tuk tuk to take us back to the hotel! Gary was rather grumpy about that!
So… for me, personally, Bangkok is smelly, dirty and noisy and yes, I can tick it off the list of things I wanted to do but I wont be back. I would still rather pay an extra few dollars for stuff in Chiang Mai or Khao Lak than come here to do shopping. However, will see how I get on with shopping today!

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