Two Nights in Sukumvit

After the initial, laud, baptism of fire to Thailand, that was Khao San Road, I was looking forward to getting over to the other side of Bangkok to the shopping district and doing some chilling out on the malls.

I went looking for a ride across town early afternoon. I had I motorbike taxi try to persuade me to hire him for 300 baht for the journey, just under 5 English pounds. Even if I was kamikaze enough to venture into Bangkok's crazy traffic jams on the back of a motorbike, the thought of doing so with a backpack and rucksack strapped to me with a combined weight of almost 30KG with the sun glaring down on me seemed just too extreme for a pampered guy like me, so I kept looking.
Eventually I managed to flag one of the reputable yellow and green air-conditioned taxis to take me. As always with Bangkok taxis if they offer you a fixed price, no matter how good it sounds, simply ask for the 'meter' and you will almost always get a better deal, final cost 200 baht including tip and I got to ride in luxury not hanging onto the back of a bike for dear life as it weaved in and out of traffic!

I had found a quite hotel on Soi 20 near the Asoke BTS sky-train station, so easy access to all the main shopping areas. The sky-train is perfect for getting around, air-conditioned and journeys are only 10 - 40 baht anywhere on the network, that is just 15 - 65 pence a journey.

The hotel is the http://www.dropinnbangkok.com/Drop Inn[/url.
Rooms can be described as 'cosy'; but they feel like an interior designer was actually consulted when designing the rooms, with some nice additional touches such as an orchid resting on each pillow when I arrived. This resulted in a far better experience than the Viengtai Hotel, though no pool this time; but all for the same price.

And so it was that I set of exploring the closest shopping centre the 'Emporium'. This is where the richer Thais shop with prices similar to western cities. They sell pretty much everything here; but what really made it stand out was the silk and furniture shops. If ever you are furnishing a new home that has a bit of space in it you will not be disappointed with the authentic Thai stylings available here. When I win the lottery I'm coming back here and am going to fill a cargo container with all the lovely things I want to buy! I'm finding it very hard to resist the erge to fill up my backpack with loads of souvenirs before the later part of my holiday, so as to save carrying them around everywhere.

After visiting the 'Emporium' shopping centre I decided it was time to have wander close to the hotel, to see what was about, try to find somewhere nice to spend the evening. In doing so I have made the following observations:

• All the 'Irish' pubs in Bangkok are run by Thais and only sell English cider.
  
• The only place to go for decent cider is on Soi 23. It's a Dutch pub inventively named, the 'Old Dutch' Inn, staffed by Thais, managed by an American and sells Swedish Cider. Who would have guessed it.
  
• Thai people do not have a clue what cider is. If you want it you will have to already know what brand the place sells and then ask for it by brand name. Otherwise you just get the biggest blank look you can imagine, even from the Thais with good English.
  

Of course being a hardened 'Magners' cider drinker I have been preaching the gospel of Irish cider to the masses out here, so those that follow in my footsteps should hopefully have more luck when searching for a good pint of the appley stuff.

No holiday is complete without a conversation with a policeman

You have never made the most of a holiday unless you have had reason to exchange words with a policeman. This being a grand holiday though I new I was going to have to do something better than merely asking a uniformed officer for the time.
I did not think it was going to be easy mission before me, or that is at least how to achieve it without spending the night in jail....
Little did I know that I was to have that conversation sooner than even I expected. I was walking down the street, looking for somewhere to eat, when this guy walks up along side me and starts a friendly conversation, in the manner the Thais do.
'Hello', 'Are you from England?', 'How long have you been in Bangkok?', 'By the way I'm a police captain in CID'.....
What?! You are a what?! You can imagine the thoughts running through my head right now:
Oh Shit!, Did I just jaywalk? god I police captain, of CID no less, would not be bothered with something so minor as that, What did I do?!, Do I look like some international drug dealer or something?! Am I going to jail? an innocent man framed before his time!

My heart is pounding at a little over 100 miles an hour now, long gone is the care free stroll I was just taking.... But give me credit I pulled it together and tried to sound totally at ease as I asked, in only a slightly apprehensive voice:

"So what bring a police Captain to around here?"

'Oh I'm just on my way back from lunch, saw you where English and though I would say hello.'

Is it ok to throttle the beggeazers out of a police captain? for scaring me like that. I decided now was not the time to fine out and chose to just thank lady luck that I had not suddenly become a wanted man. Instead we just chatted as we walked towards his police station. I turns out he guessed I was from England just from the type of sandals I was wearing! He is not a captain of CID for nothing. Turns out he has a sister in London and visits her often. That is how he knows what bad English fashion looks like ;-)

Off to spend 5 nights in Pattaya next. Will report on if it really the hedonistic capital of the world. And if I can find a decent cider anywhere, that is not from Sweden.

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