We've now done PLANES,TRAINS, AUTOMOBILES, & TUK-TUK 11/7/09

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With one last day left, we say goodbye to Ayutthaya and take the train south to Bangkok. We ended up taking a cheapo 3rd class train. We left at 6:40AM so lack of air conditioning and other amenities was fine and for basically $1 total for both of us, it's a bargain. Took 2 hours to reach Bangkok since we stopped at every lil po-dunk crossing in rural Thailand. It was an enjoyable trip and we liked the countryside. There were a few very squalid places along the way with people living on pieces of lumber over stagnant water or under bridges with trash strewn anywhere and everywhere.
Once reaching Bangkok, we hopped over to the subway for a short distance and then onto the Skytrain (elevated train) to reach our hotel. There's a Skytrain stop about 50 yards from the front door and the porter came running up the sidewalk to take our bags. The doorman banged a huge metal gong upon our arrival and we were immediately rushed in for a comfortable seat for check-in (no standing at the desk in this fancy hotel). We're staying in the Shangri-La Hotel, a four star luxury hotel that Tammy loosened the purse strings for and coughed up the money for a swank room in the private wing with a 500 sq ft room, private balcony, butler (no kidding), and a bed the size of Rhode Island. We had complimentary breakfast (enough food to feed an army) and then headed out to the weekend market.
If you could imagine the biggest flea market you've ever been too and then multiply it about 100 times, you might imagine the size of this thing. It's so jammed packed that if you see something you want, buy it because you'll NEVER find the place again! After losing about 20 pounds of sweat in the afternoon sun of Bangkok, we bought a couple of small things and headed back to hotel by Skytrain. Once back at the hotel, our butler arranged shipping for Rick's sword, spruced up the room, brought us cookies, and after washing off the filth of downtown Bangkok, we headed down for complimentary afternoon teas and confectioneries.
After a rest and watching some bad movies, we went down to the Italian restaurant in the hotel and Tammy had her best meal in Thailand to date. An encrusted chicken dinner with polenta and eggplant. The combination of herbs and crispy skin was aromatic and absolutely delicious. The French chef came out and talked with us after we complimented his meal so highly. He explained that American chickens were not very tasty so he uses free range organic chickens from Thailand.
Off to bed now for 5:30AM wakeup to make plane to head back to Singapore and then on home.

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Photos

Poor region by train tracks
The shack is not on grass. The green stuff is a duckweed putrid canal of water that they have built on.

Shangri-La Hotel Bathroom
Complete with bidet. If you don't know what a bidet is, Google it cause we ain't gonna explain it here.

Shangri-La Hotel bathroom
Fancy marble double vanity with tons of little toiletries.

View up Chao Praya River in Bangkok
From balcony

Sunken ferry boat
Too funny to watch them try to raise it using ropes and barrels. Of course, they're in that nasty Chao Praya River and even submerged to tie off the ropes (can you say intravenous antibiotics?). By morning they had only raised the canopy part of the boat.

Comments

[allene Lewis]

Oh without "googling" Bidet, I know what it is for...LOL
Wow you guys have been wonderful in detail as you visited each venue, I felt as if I too were on the trip! Thanks for sharing and most of all thanks for information, on TravelBlog, what a unique and wonderful way to stay in touch. Look forward to see you guys soon.