Once again i yo-yoed back into Bangkok on my adventure. It’s the gateway to South East Asia so i had a couple of days here until i could catch a train down to Butterworth for an explore around the artistic and culinary delights of Penang Island. I received a wonderful welcome from Mel when i arrived, we were both too tired to do anything so we ordered a dominos and indulged in a girls night in catching up on all the gossip from the past few weeks. Blissful!
Korean food in Bangkok – what else?! in the city where you can get anything but trainers!
I wasn’t really sure what to do with myself in Bangkok, as once you’ve seen the temples and explored some of the neighbourhoods you’re mostly left with just shopping and eating as past times. Which would have been OK if i were not a poorly cake lady! Eating is not so much fun when you are feeling nauseous. I had a couple of days of boring life admin, sending parcels and letters etc. I love the fact hat i have time for copious amounts of letter writing at the moment. I plan for it to continue when i start working again, it may be old fashioned but its a far more personal way to communicate than texts and e-mails as convenient as they are. I’m so old!
I haven’t indulged in any proper fitness training while i have been away (save a few mile swims in Thailand) so thought i would buy some new trainers in Bangkok and start to get back into the groove at the Embassy gym. Simple task right? There are shopping malls practically every block in Bangkok. WRONG! Not if you are tall it’s not! The trainers must be made differently for the Asian market as not a single pair that i tried in my normal 39.5 fitted. I asked for a 40 instead to see if that made a difference. The shop assistant laughed in my face, “no madam, we
Thai Bouquet – done very differently to the UK. I was taking notes!
don’t go up THAT BIG here” I’m relatively tall for a woman but i’m not that tall or boat footed. So no trainers for me as i am apparently a giant over here.
Us tired old ladies forced ourselves to go out on Friday night to the nice but also very relaxed Speakeasy at the Muse hotel which is a short walk from the Embassy. It was an effort to get out but i’m so glad we did. We indulged in some delicious cocktails and snacks while looking out over the city from their rooftop bar. We must be old as we both felt a tad hungover after just a couple of cocktails, it’s probably the generous Thai measures though! We still managed to very virtuously drag ourselves to Zumba in the morning though. Which i’m not usually the biggest fan of having been to a very rubbish class before in the UK where i didn’t even break a sweat. But this one was really good and made me want to get out dancing in a bar somewhere. I’ve not done that since a fateful night in Hong Kong.
A nice bit of exercise was a great energy boost for my final packing prep before i headed to the station. I left the Embassy with an hour and a half to get to the train station, ample time you would have thought to get to somewhere which was only supposed to be a 20 minute taxi ride. It would have been OK if the taxis behaved themselves…
Comfort lunch after the train debacle – Christmas starbucks and some wifi (that wasn’t even free!)
A few taxis stopped by the Embassy but they wouldn’t take me, i think they would rather an airport fare. They also probably knew about the traffic heading in the direction of the train station and knew better too! So I walked round to the fancy Embassy shopping mall (Mel & Dan’s corner shop!) none were stopping again. I was starting to get anxious now, i’d missed the window to opt for the BTS instead so i now had to get a cab. Eventually one turned up and he was going to go on the express way to get me there quicker but he was forced to go the other way when the traffic marshall directed him out into the standstill traffic. I stopped looking at the clock as the car edged along, as it was only stressing me out. The guy did his best but there was some kind of football final on in the middle of the area that we were heading through and there was little he could do to circumvent it. I eventually arrived just as my train as leaving… ?
I was approached as soon as i rushed to the platform by a Moto taxi driver who offered to take me to the next station for 300baht on two bikes. I initially said no, but then he came back round as i went to leave and i reassessed. Ok, sounds like and adventure, i’ve never been on a bike before and that’s not too bad a price. Lets go for it! So i hop on one bike and my bag is strapped to another. Then at the first traffic light he starts chatting to me and doubles the price. Erm no, I don’t think so! Instead of being 150 baht per bike to get to one next station up. He now decides that its at least double that price at 150 per station and it was maybe 4 or 5 stations up. I don’t suffer fools gladly so i asked him to pull over. I was only about 500 yards away from the station so still knew where i was and could walk back.
I got off and they tried to negotiate, insisting that the new price was what i had to pay. How do I know they won’t do it again?! It was a flat no from me, i didn’t want to end up even further away not knowing where i was and at the mercy of these rip off merchants. So i started walking back to the station so angry i had tears in my eyes. I was marching down the street chanting “don’t cry, don’t cry, don’t cry” to myself. I didn’t want to look weak and have someone else try and take advantage. Lo and behold they took a shortcut and tried to offer me a free lift back to the station. How can I trust them after they had done that??!! No thanks, I’d rather walk in the midday sun and sort myself out. Bangkok taxi drivers can do one. There are so few that are not Wiley and just out to rip you off. Public transport all the way now. Even more incentive to get the luggage count down… I have 2 extra days now as the train was full for tomorrow when i tried to rebook it at the station.
So i had another 2 days in Bangkok, i had beautiful accommodation from the wonderful Mel and Dan, but i was so dejected after the rouse from the moto driver. No one gets one over on me! Bangkok was starting to chew me up and i wanted to escape it after that. My phone wouldn’t work and i had no way of contacting Mel to let her know. I sought solace in a Starbucks Christmas lunch and what is normally free wifi – but no they charge here! Surprise surprise!
I retreated back to the Embassy and my Bangkok Mum & Dad’s house (they really do look after me!) and licked my wounds. Dejected after missing the train i was now feeling very poorly as well, apparently i looked very broken and lost when Mel picked me up! So i took myself out for some very plain food at Harrods like you do. At the corner shop of course, so i could
Ham, Egg & Chips at Harrods Bangkok
watch the Sunday fashions in Bangkok which are amazing! On my “people TV” channel there was a man walking around in a full on Chelsea kit with socks and everything, shoes and a cowboy hat, another guy in a leather two piece suit, football socks and a hat!! football socks are clearly a thing, maybe i am missing something?! Then when i headed up to the cinema to watch a film i saw a very glamorous looking girl in a baby pink sequin mini dress with sky high stripey Paul smith heels for a Sunday afternoon cinema trip! I felt very underdressed in my black maxi dress!
The rest of the day was all about hibernation, i was dosed up with anti-biotics from pharmacy (only 50p… can you believe it?!) and tucked myself into bed for some chatter with Europe. This will be my undoing the further East i get as it’s so nice to hear from people, i need to be more disciplined!
I was ready to get to the station bright and early on Monday morning, still feeling a bit cross at Bangkok and wanting to escape it a bit i stumbled across the rather splendid Eathai in the basement of the corner shop (Embassy) It’s like eataly!! But
The sanctuary of Eathai Bangkok
Thai, i was smitten! It was smaller than the one on the Turin mothership, but had the same feel with different sections for different types of food, so street food of different sorts, food from different regions of Thailand etc. More expensive than what you get in smaller establishments but very well cooked which is what i needed when was gingerly making my way back into the eating fold again after a few days of feeling off colour. So i opted for the very safe flat noodles with chicken and egg with chicken wings with a mango and elderflower crush. The wings were not as good as the street ones but came a passable second. I was done with exploring and done with Bangkok, it chewed me up and spit me out. I had been swindled (attempted!) and was sick and I just wanted to go somewhere more relaxing and enjoyable then this treat revealed itself!! I had a huge smile on my face as i walked out of that place.
That smile was wiped when i got to the MTS station on the way to the train station, there are bag screening machines everywhere on the MTS that go off all the time and no one ever gets searched. So obviously they decide to search me when i walked through with my super squished in bag… Are you kidding me??! They all go to the main train station! Are you going to search everyone with a suitcase? Oh no! Just me… Sweaty and grumpy I put the bag on the table and sprung it open. Oh you’re just going to peer in, yes I thought so! I wasn’t most impressed to have to compress that back down in the middle of the train station concourse.
I treated myself to an Est when i made it to the train station nearly 2 hours early! it’s like pub coke, which really made me chuckle and think of home 🙂 While a Thai lady looked on apparently terrified of me, looking away every time i looked round and tried to be friendly. Thailand can be so welcoming in some ways and harsh in others. I was glad to be moving on for now to a new adventure, Penang island was beckoning. Another recommendation from someone that knows me very well that became a random addition to the agenda. I was very excited to see for myself if it was all it’s cracked up to be.
A super excited cake lady relieved to be on the next leg of her adventure
Baci a tutti x x x
