The End

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To end the trip, we’re finishing off where we started, with a few nights around the Khao San Road area of Bangkok. This time around, we’re booked into Lamphu Tree House hotel, which is a better than average place where we can spend the hottest part of the days either in the pool or in the shade on the terrace or roof garden.

In the evening, we headed back to the Roof bar, where we were instantly recognised and welcomed by Nudh, a firm favourite and very funny member of staff, who proceeds to get us great seats in the busy bar (as usual), overlooking the street below.

Bizarrely, we happened to be seated immediately next to a few people from Greater Moseley (that’s Kings Heath to the residents of B14), who had just got to Bangkok.

Wanting a bit of a change of scenery, we went to a couple of Thai gigs, including one Thai band that features some rapping amongst their set list. These places had only a few westerners in (in one, we were the only two), and the experience was entertaining, if a little hard to follow at times.

We now know Bangkok well enough that we spend the days relaxing and doing very little other than some emergency t-shirt shopping and buying a couple of suits. Maybe it’s the tanned skin and rough unshaven look we appear to have adorned, but this time around, many of the touts are no longer bothering to hassle us. The weary and weathered traveller look it would appear is a good tip for future reference.

On the penultimate night and for the first time this trip we got caught out by the weather. As we were about to head back to the hotel, cracks of thunder could be heard. Remembering the ferocity of Bangkok’s storms from last October, which were very entertaining to watch from our sheltered seats at the time, we knew we didn’t have long. The hotel is just a 5 minute walk from Khao San, and having convinced RD that we’d be fine in the then light rain, we set off. Three minutes later and around 50 metres from the hotel, we are thoroughly soaked through to the skin, and RP thinks RD is going to punch him! The storm lasted for a good few hours, lighting up the skies above Bangkok – the view was, at times, spectacular.

So it’s our final day, and we write this next to the pool, thinking back on the vast collection of experiences and very enjoyable times across South East Asia. Just as last time, it’s safe to say we’ll miss this part of the world.

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