Advertisement
Published: June 13th 2017
Geo: 13.7308, 100.521
DAY TWENTY (1/22/13) — Bangkok, The Peninsula
Thai-ing One On!
We depart early from Hanoi and manage to check in, get our luggage checked and pass through security and immigration without Larry's help. We are sure missing Tauck's luggage assistance and having someone who speaks the language. But we prevail.
We board a Vietnam Air flight to Bangkok and arrive uneventfully. I now have a bout of stomach upset; it's odd that I've made it three weeks only to have it show up now. Oh well.
We are met by May, our young and enthusiastic guide, for our stay here in Bangkok. We have a traditional Thai greeting from a young lass who puts a variation of a floral lei around our necks.
Traffic in Bangkok is abominable. There are 65 million people in Thailand and 13 of them live here in the capital. It takes 1.5 hours to transfer to our first sight: the Rose Garden and Thai Village Cultural Show.
On our way, May begins to introduce us to all things Thai. Or at least she tries. We are having a very difficult time understanding her. Worse yet, she can hardly understand us at all. She has some standard spiels she has memorized but when we go off-agenda with our questions, she is confused and disconcerted.
She uses an iPad to communicate, which helps. She tells us, for instance, that Thailand is famous for exporting "salami", or at least that's what we think she says. After 10 minutes of confusion, she turns to her iPad and shows us a picture of a bowl and we realize she is trying to say “ceramics”.
We dine in the big dining room at the Rose Garden, overlooking a lake and pagoda. Food is decent but before we make our selections, I ask May if it is safe to eat the salad and to drink beverages with ice. She responds, “Yes, we will leave at 2 pm.”
To quote Cool Hand Luke, “What we have here is a failure to communicate.”
Following lunch, Cheryl and Dave hold a python, as their first Thai adventure. We feed an elephant some bananas and we take in an elephant show, not dissimilar to something we would see at the St. Louis Zoo.
Then to the “highlight” of this stop: a 45-minute VERY HOKEY – need I say cheesy? -- floorshow called Thai Village Cultural Show. I guess it's a good introduction to Thailand for
families with small children but it is not for us, having already spent three weeks in SE Asia. There are people from villages who parade around with water buffalo. Next are Thai dancers, drummers, an incredibly fake Thai boxing match (not unlike the World Wrestling Federation), a demonstration of martial arts, a wedding ceremony and a final number with flags of all the nations sung to that always annoying Disney tune, “It's a small world after all.” This is truly something neither Tauck nor Maritz Travel (my former employer) would ever consider for a sophisticated travel group.
We now spend another 90 minutes traveling to downtown Bangkok to get to the Peninsula Hotel. May attempts to convey some information but it is mostly misinformation. We ask about dinner at the Blue Elephant, a Thai restaurant recommended by Larry Abbott. Her firm has made us a dinner reservation there at our request; she suggests we hire the van for the evening for $60 because it will take us 90 minutes to get to the restaurant in traffic and the taxi ride might cost us $35 each way. Larry had explained that we were a short distance from the restaurant so we wait
to discuss arrangements with the concierge.
On our way, we pass some sort of procession of monks – perhaps 1000 along the roadside. They are walking on marigold flower petals, past thousands of well-wishers, carrying some sort of tent/umbrella. We think that May says this is the beginning of a three-month period of education for the monks – almost all adult males who are Buddhist (90% of Thais) go through this process at one time or another.
We arrive at the Peninsula Hotel on the Chao Phraya River. All I can say is “Wow!” This is among the top 10 hotels I have ever stayed at. It is incredible. The lobby is lovely; the service levels are incredible; our room is well appointed; the views are awesome. No wonder this is almost always in the top 10 hotels of the world. I am like Alice in Wonderland.
The concierge recommends (very similar to what Larry had recommended) that we take The Peninsula's water shuttle to the SkyTrain, go one stop on the train and we will find the restaurant right there. Twenty minutes max; total cost per person: $1.
We agree to meet May at 8:30 tomorrow morning. However, after her departure, we have
a powwow and agree that we should ask for another guide. She is enthusiastic but her English is just too poor for us. I write the email to the ground supplier here in Bangkok and copy in our travel agent before we head to dinner.
Dinner at the Blue Elephant is magnificent. It's a beautiful restaurant; the Thai food is very very good (although some dishes are a bit hot for some of our American palates). The ladies receive an orchid at departure. We enjoy our evening tremendously.
We especially love the transportation. We like the SkyTrain (clean, air-conditioned and cheap) and are pleased that we have mastered it. It's like using the Tube in London; it's all part of the experience. And we love our Peninsula water shuttle. It's refreshing and romantic to be out on the river late at night. It's a perfect way to end the evening.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.157s; Tpl: 0.014s; cc: 8; qc: 41; dbt: 0.0684s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Kathryn Crandall
non-member comment
Wow! Quite an adventure!