I’m a bit surprised by Bangkok. I had assumed it was closer to Phnom Penh in terms of the way it felt, but the atmosphere is more like Singapore. Granted, I’m basing this on one day’s exploration, but the Skytrain (above street level train) and the shopping centres are much more organised and a lot more English is spoken than I’d antocipated. Which is a good thing, since I’ve been really slack and not learned any Thai – even thankyou – yet!)
I started the morning with breakfast in the Executive Lounge at the hotel (thrown in with room rate). Poached eggs, bacon (streaky) and a couple of hash browns – yum! I did appreciate the omelettes at the Goldiana in PP, but I do love poached eggs even more!
Chatuchak Markets
After asking the concierge what some of my options might be for the day, I decided to take the Skytrain to the Chatuchak Markets, a huge weekend market with literally thousands and thousands of stalls. There are a lot of the same styles of shops, but there’s also so many shops that there are a lot of different shops, as long as you have a good wander! I found these awesome little stuffed toy figures attached to keyrings, some amazing 3d jigsaw books for some of the little people in my life, and I also found my mum a good Chrissy pressie (I’m not saying what it is, since she reads this blog, but suffice to say that I might have some interesting conversations with Customs about it!)
Markets alley
The train back to the hotel was easy, and I happened to have to go through a shopping mall on the way back to the hotel. Unfortunately there are very few doors on the street my hotel is on, so I had to explore a LOT before I found my way to the proper exit (oh the hardship!!) but I did manage to not buy anything else… yet. Mainly because I couldn’t carry much more!
Please offer this seat to monks
I love the trains – well airconditioned, with English and Thai announcements of each stop. They have the usual priority seats, but one sign surprised me – a specific one to please give up your seat to monks! I think this goes nicely in my “random public transport signs” collection with the “No durian on the bus” sign from Singapore! I may have sat in the monks’ seat, but I promise there weren’t any monks I could see on the train!
I ordered room service for lunch (what a splurge!) as I was pretty tired and wanted to have a nap. The lady I spoke to on the phone asked if I had any allergies, so I mentioned gluten free, and she went and spoke to the chef to make sure my order was GF! She then rang back to let me know my options – I went with the classic: Chicken Phad Thai. Yum!
The rest of the day was spent napping and then in replying to all the emails I hadn’t had time to when I was on the school trip, so hopefully I’m up to date with most things now.
Nibbles
I popped into the exec lounge again for their evening drinkies – one of the things I really love about the Hilton! They’ve got lots of nibbles too – I had a tiny single serve Caprese salad, like our “salad onna stick” but in a tiny bowl with pesto, a thin slice of tomato and a mini bocconcini, and some really soft, yummy feta.
Rooftop pool and view
The rooftop pool and bar area was my next stop, and I was amazed to see the pool went right to the edge of the roof! My fear of heights was somewhat deadened by bubbles consumption, but I still looked somewhat askance at it! Might try a swim tomorrow if I can convince myself the wall won’t fall out causing the entire contents of the pool to plummet to the ground… Beautiful view though!
Gorgeous!
Two Weeks Away 