One Night in Bangkok

Katie and I were woken around 3 AM Friday morning by a massive storm with a lot of lightning and strong winds.  After some on and off sleep we got out of bed around 6:30 to get ready for our trip to Bangkok.  We left our room and headed up to the hilltop for breakfast.  I spent most of my time inside the buffet room enjoying the cold AC.  Because of the rains it was a very hot and steamy morning.

At 9:30 we jumped on the speed boat and headed to the mainland where the car transport met us to take us to the airport.  The airport experience was uneventful except for the few minutes we got to Skype Ethan and Blair.  We boarded the plane and off to Bangkok we went.

We were excited to arrive at an actual gate at the Bangkok airport but disappointed when they directed us down the stairs connected to the gate and into another bus,,,, ugh.  They carted us around the airport then dropped us off right at baggage claim (that was nice).  We loaded up our luggage and walked out of the baggage claim area where our guide was waiting with a smile.  The guide and our driver grabbed our bags and off to the hotel we went.

After checking in we put on our walking shoes and started exploring.  We quickly learned that this town is filled with some very persistent sales people.  They will try to sell you everything; they don't quit.  We decided to take a Tuk Tuk across town to a shopping area.  We learned a few more things; 1) traffic here sucks (it can easily take over 5 minutes to get through one intersection) and 2) a 40 Baht Tuk Tuk ride (about $1.50 US) is just the start.  Most taxis and all of the Tuk Tuks get some big commissions if they take you to a certain shop.  The entire day they wanted to take us to get fitted for a suit or to a jewelery store.  I think I had to use the word "No" over 500 times throughout the day.  At night it was a whole different story.  The places they receive commission from at night is a whole different story.

After some unsuccessful shopping we found our way in to a nice air conditioned mall where we stopped for some Thai food.  The place we ate at reminded me of a small TGIF type restaurant you find inside a lot of malls in America.  We ordered some green curry which all but burned our tongues off.  After finishing up lunch we headed back to the hotel to rest up for dinner.  On our walk I struggled a bit with the map and we ended up doing a little more exploring than originally planned.  After a little R&R in the room we headed to the hotel bar for a drink before heading out on the town.

The drinks at the hotel are the most expensive in town.  A double Vodka was over $30 US,, wow.  Anywhere else around town you can get just about anything for $3 to $5 bucks.  Katie and I ventured in to a few bars and then walked through the night market.  This town definitely comes to life at night.  Around midnight we grabbed a pizza then headed back to the hotel for the night.  That was it, the photos are below.... enjoy :-)

2010-06-25_Honeymoon in Bangkok