Advertisement
Published: March 14th 2007
Hello all,
So lots to tell.... As you read in my last entry, Tamara and I left India to head to Bangkok. We arrived in Bangkok on the 1st of March very early in the morning and headed to our Hotel... Our first impressions of Bangkok were (believe it or not) How clean and orderly it was.... This was of course a reaction to having spent 2 months in India which is not very clean or orderly. We arrived at our Hotel which was very nice and had air conditioning which at the time seemed like a real blessing... Our Hotel was situated in a very touristy area with lots of road side bars and cafes and tons of tailors trying to get you into there shops... After a quick nap in the room Tamara and I went in search of a Travel agent in order to organize our visas for Laos and Vietnam. We paid and left our passports with an agent and headed for lunch...
We were very excited to finally be able to eat salad which we hadn't had in the time we were in India for fear that we might get sick. That night I
reserved at a very swanky hotel for Tamara and I to have steak as of course beef had not been available in India for obvious reasons. It was soooo good to be eating steak (I know that Roxy and Elianna will appreciate this).
The following morning we headed off to a tailor which had been recommended to me so that I could have a few things made. I ordered many shirts and suits and Tamara ordered a few shirts a dress and a couple blazers. The selection of high quality fabrics was impressive as was the service in this tailor.
After our first visit to the tailor, Tamara having heard that Bangkok was "shoppers paradise" found out where the nearest mall (its all malls in Bangkok) was and we jumped in a TukTuk (auto rickshaw) and headed there. The mall was like nothing I'd ever seen it was enormous with tons of shops restaurants, cinemas, Internet cafes etc. Not to mention the amount of people shopping there on a weekday, in the middle of the day... The Thai people are so well dressed with tons of style. They are also extremely gracious and friendly.
Tamara and I
(against my will) went back to the mall where Tamara bought 5 pairs of jeans from a shop entirely manned/womanned by lady boys, 8 dresses and about a million pairs of shoes.... I call her Imelda (Marcos) as I believe it may have become a little bit of an obsession!
That night we decided that it was about time that we go to a club. It had been over 2 months that we hadn't been dancing or even had a drink! We booked at this place that had got amazing reviews and had been recommended to me called "Bed Supperclub". When I called to reserve they told us that we mustn't arrive after nine...
We arrived at the club at about 8:30 for dinner. I will upload photos when I get a chance as my description will not do the place justice... The Restaurant side of the club was a massive entirely white oval cylinder with large white leather bench lining the sides of the room. At the far end were stairs leading up to the two balconies on either side of the cylinder which also had the large white leather benches. On top of the benches were
small tables which were to be used for our drinks and dinner.
Tamara and I were escorted to our table which was on the balcony by one of the waitresses who asked us to remove our shoes when we lay on the bench. We were given drinks menus which we ordered from... At around 8:45 we asked for dinner menus and were told that the meal was a surprise!
At precisely nine O'clock the first course was served. A woman standing on the bar passed the plates to another woman who was on a stainless steel ladder who then passed it to the waitress who served it to us all. At this point we still had no idea what we were eating. After each course (all served in this fun manner) a description of what we had just finished eating was projected onto a big screen. It was a very fun experience! Throughout the meal a girl dressed as a mouse was dancing all around the restaurant and a guy was going around with a broom sweeping and dancing as well. Whenever he would see her he would chase he and she would run and hide on the
benches between the clients of the restaurant. He would then go on sweeping as she danced and made faces at him behind his back.... It was very amusing and entertaining...
Throughout the meal there was a man sitting in the middle of the restaurant at a big boardroom table with papers all around looking as if he was doing the accounts, of the restaurant. At the end of the meal 4 of the waitresses came out and danced around him on the table and pulled him up on to the table... The show was a kind of way of telling the people at the restaurant that the working week was over and it was time to dance.... which Tamara and I did shortly after paying the bill... It was quite an experience.......
On the morning of the 6th Tamara’s mom Etta was due to join us and so had booked us in a very nice 5 star hotel for the night of the 5th.... She was to be joining us for the next three weeks which Tamara and I were very excited about as it meant that we would be staying in lots of nice hotels and eating
extremely well... The morning of the 5th we woke up to check out of our hotel and check into the new one.... I awoke with a sore throat and a head ache, brought on by the fact that the whole of Bangkok is air-conditioned at what feels like below freezing. We headed off to the hotel which as expected was beautiful. That night I had a fever and my throat was killing me, so on the advice of my mother I took some antibiotics....
The following morning Tamara’s mom arrived... It was her birthday and we had bought her a handbag and had balloons for her in the room. I was till feeling pretty rotten so I told them to head out and do what they wanted and that I would try and join them later.... They went and saw Thai boxing which they enjoyed and I stayed in the room... A little later they came back and asked if I was up for going to the Oriental (the top hotel in Bangkok) for lunch. I showered and we headed off. At the restaurant I wasn't feeling great so I jumped in a cab and headed back to the
room and slept...
The following day I was feeling much better so we went and explored the Grand Palace and Wat Phra Kaeo. It was amazingly ornate, much more so than anything we'd seen in india. It was a large complex where the king lived and also houses the Emerald Buddha. All the buildings in the complex are covered with miror work and semi precious stones... The Wat Phra Kaeo is Thailands holiest temple.... It was an amazing sight....
The rest of our time in Bangkok was spent shopping and eating which is not very exciting so I'm going to spare you all!
On the 9th we headed to Chiang Mai. Etta (Tamara’s Mom) had booked us in this hotel called D2. It was super modern and had a very cool design.... We were only in Chiang Mai for a couple of days. We saw the night Market which is supposed to be one of the highlights of Chiang Mai, but I wasn’t that impressed. During the first day Etta decided that she wanted to do a Thai cooking course. Tamara and I were not interested in learning how to cook and so we spent the day
exploring the different Buddhist temples scattered around Chiang Mai. They were all very beautiful and set in magnificent grounds. Most of them had a massive golden Buddha surrounded by many smaller ones.
On our last day in Chiang Mai we rented a car and went up to the Main Buddhist temple which was up on a hill with winding roads... It felt like driving up the mountains in Switzerland... We walked around the temple and admired its beauty....
That night we flew to Luang Prabang, Laos, where we are at the moment so I'll write about it when we leave....
Hope you are all well and that reading this wasn't to exhausting!!!
Miss you all and see you soon
JC
Advertisement
alex
non-member comment
pimpin it thru asia...
ola jace, it seems like you and tams are havin a ball. reading your blog has been a blast from the past. it's been really nice rediscovering the magic of india through your eyes. that bed club looks like fun. i went to one just like it in new york once. enjoy the pad thai, kickboxing and fire twirling.... thailand rules!!!! big kisses to tams and etta. missing you lotz from an unusually warm geneva. it hit 16 degrees yesterday!! write more soon, a.