Bangkok - Another quick stop, with shopping thrown in

---

After a short 45 minute flight from Cambodia we arrived back in Bangkok, where we got a taxi to the hotel we had stayed at before and promptly settled ourselves by the swimming pool, as the city was just as hot as ever. We had a lazy day around the pool and in the evening we went for dinner at a cool bar/restaurant where we both had the hottest Thai food in a while – maybe it was just extra hot, or maybe as we hadn’t had spicy food in a couple of weeks we weren’t as used to it, but either way it was still good, although we would be paying for it the next day!

A few cocktails later and we ended up in a club nearby which was good and busy – the whole of the area seemed busier than before, we think it was because so many people have to transfer through Bangkok to visit other parts of the region around the xmas and new year period – so there was a good atmosphere. We went to a couple of other clubs nearby before going back to our hotel around 4am!

The next morning we were both hungover, pretty tired and the hot dinner from the night before was playing havoc with our stomachs, so while we wanted to go shopping (as we hadn’t been the previous 2 times we were in the city) we thought it best to have a quiet day around the pool and not move too much! It was another scorching day which was nice, but by the afternoon it was too hot so we went to our room for a sleep before deciding what to do that evening.
We were going to go a to a rooftop bar (Skybar) for dinner but we were still tired and they are on the other side of the city, so we just stayed around our area and found a cute little local restaurant where we had some of the best Thai food we have had on our whole trip, and it was super cheap! As well as our favourite Thai curry and pad Thai noodles, we tried beef in Oyster sauce and chicken with cashew nuts, which was so tasty and has become a new favourite dish of ours now! We then found a bar to watch some football in before going back to the hotel by midnight.

When we woke up the next day it was hot and sunny again but after breakfast we decided to go shopping and see what all the fuss was about – we had heard about this shopping centre called MBK which was supposed to be pretty good so we went to check it out, and it was amazing! There were 5 levels of shops and stalls in the centre and each level specialised in something – electronics, make up, leather goods, denim etc – it was so big! We both got some designer jeans for less than £20 a pair (cheaper than Topshop and nicer!) as well as a few other bits and Scott finally got his hair cut for the first time since we have been away for just £6 – and they did a really good job! We thought we would just spend as couple of hours shopping here but by 5pm we were still going, although we had to make a move then to get our bus to Koh Phangan that night at 8pm.

We got a tuk tuk back to our hotel and ate a early dinner at a small place near where we had the lovely meal last night, and it was just as good, before getting our bags and jumping in a taxi to go to the bus station. Now we had heard the rush hour traffic was quite bad, so we left at 6.30pm to get to the bus station for 7.45pm – a journey that usually takes 30-40 minutes -so we would have some time to get drinks from the shop for the overnight trip etc, but the traffic was worse than terrible and at 7.45pm we were still stuck in traffic and we thought we would miss the bus, therefore not make it to Koh Phangan for New Year which we would have been devastated about! We don’t know how we made it as at 7.55pm we were still in the taxi in traffic but somehow we pulled into the bus station at 7.58pm and Vic just ran to hold the bus, which wasn’t easy as the bus station is massive and there are loads of buses all leaving at the same time going to the islands and as they are the national buses hardly anyone speaks a word of English and all the passengers are Thai nationals, while Scott got all the bags and tried to find her.

It was a nightmare as Vic had the tickets so although she found the bus and it was waiting, Scott kept getting stopped and asked for his ticket, which he was explaining to everyone his girlfriend had and she was waiting by the bus, this was with 2 big backpacks strapped to his front and back plus a new huge holdall with all our new shopping, but no one spoke English and he thought he wouldn’t make it. It was hectic to say the least but he made it to the bus, which Vic had managed to stall for an extra 5 minutes, and we were soon on our way to Koh Phangan both breathless, sweating, stressed but over the moon we had made the bus!

---