Doing it in Style!

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So we got to the Marriott and lushed it up with room service, a bath, free toiletries and robes don't you know!

Tony and June (Dulces folks) turned up the next morning earlier then we had expected and instead of being at the airport gleefully waiting for them, we were firmly ensconced in our super soft king-size bed with cable TV and views across the Chaya Phraya river!

We spent the day in or around the hotel as Tony and June got over the jet lag, made a quick trip on the sky train up to the Chatuchak market then back for more room service! You’ll notice a theme starting!

The next day we took a river taxi past the grand palace and through the canals around Bangkok. We passed fish farms with massive fish practically jumping into your boat for some bread, seen some massive monitor lizards, a load of smiling kids swimming in the canals and generally had a great relaxing day including a tuk tuk race through Bangkok. Finished off with dinner at a Japanese restaurant that was lovely, the Chef had us juggling eggs with spatulas - unsurprisingly (given all of the Singha we’d had) it ended up in a mess with smashed egg all over the place (including my lap!).

The next day we had enough time to wander around the grand palace and the Emerald Buddha before catching our bus to Kanchanaburi to play with some more tigers. The palace is enormous and everything seems to be covered in gold leaf and shiny bits of glass. It’s very authentic and all of the things that you expect of the home of a far eastern king, lots of Buddha’s, gold leaf and open lawns.

Kanchanaburi was great - it was a lot sunnier then our first time and that made a huge difference to the outdoorsy stuff. We went to the tiger temple with Tony and June - they were like seven year olds on Christmas day, petting the tigers and playing with them. We spent the next couple of days swimming in the waterfalls at Erawan (in the sunshine this place was even more beautiful then before), on elephant safaris, bamboo rafting and visiting the bridge over the River Kwai. That night we ate in a suitably grungy backpacker restaurant to give Tony and June a taste of local cooking! Watching Tony hesitantly chew the chicken was hilarious!

The next day we were back in Bangkok to catch a flight to Phuket. We were really looking forward to this, back to beautiful beaches and sunshine on the Andaman coast. Tony had booked another amazing hotel and we spent the next few days just basking in the sun, swimming in a massive pool, having massages, eating incredibly well and shopping (mostly for fake watches but also clothes, bedclothes etc etc!)

Anyways, after a few days of paradise at the Dusit Laguna Tony and June had to go home and so we all headed back to Bangkok - Dulce and I had to catch a flight to Hanoi in Vietnam. That evening Dulce started to get progressively sicker and the next day I got it as well! It seems our final purchase in Phuket (Burger King) had given us food poisoning. We ended up having to cancel our flights to Vietnam and play tag team in the bathroom for the next two days!

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