Bangkok: 20th June to 26th June

Bangkok may be the city we’ve visited most on this trip, this would be our third visit, but we were both looking forward to being back in the capital. The journey by train should have been about 2 hours and we arrived about 30 mins early to sort out tickets etc. The good news was the journey cost us less than £1, the bad news however was that it was a three carriage train with no reserved seats or aircon. Hayley was not impressed:

We piled aboard with the other passengers and managed to find seats next to an old man & his grandson. Within 5 minutes of leaving the station I was already pouring with sweat and even a mid journey switch to a window seat did little to cool me down.

Packed, hot & sticky. By the time we arrived in Bangkok 3 hours later I felt like I had been melted!

We booked to stay at the Rikka Inn on Khoasan Road (the same place we’d stayed last time around) for 2 nights so we could enjoy the atmosphere & nightlife.

After showering and getting changed we headed out for the evening. First off a foot massage to get rid of the stress of the day.

Next door there was a band playing a decent mix of covers (not a single Eagles song in their playlist, but a few Foo Fighters tracks) so we spent an hour or so there while Hayley enjoyed one of her favourite beers:

Next off we tried another couple of bars nearby but shortly the night became a little bit of a blur for me…I do definitely remember having dinner in McDonald’s around 1AM, and not particularly enjoying the Samurai Pork burger.

Feeling horrific the next day we headed out for a late breakfast at a nearby cafe.

After several coffees we were ready to tackle the day, sending off our final package home (I hope so anyway for Dot’s sake). Before trawling the markets looking for a replacement pair of trainers for me as I’d left another pair behind somewhere (though I’m still not sure where exactly). Having no luck we resorted to the one thing we knew we could find, another beer, purely so we could get onto wifi and call home you understand!

Not feeling up to another night out we decided to do something I’ve missed during our time away, dinner and a trip to the flicks.

The majority of western films in Thailand are shown in English with subtitles so we had quite the selection but there was only one film that was getting my vote – Jurassic World. 4 stars from me, I though it was a good popcorn movie (Thai popcorn was good too, though I’d give the cheese flavour a miss). Hayley was less impressed, stating that it didn’t live up to the original but she wasn’t aware there were two other sequels so what does she know. We were impressed even before the film started when an advert for Dove came on, and the cinema was suddenly filled with bubbles – I’m not entirely sure what the point was but it looked great:

This was quickly followed by the entire auditorium standing up for the national anthem which is apparently played before every film. Not wanting to offend we duly got onto our feet and watched the procession of images of the king staring and pointing at a variety of things across Thailand, that guy really knows how to gesture.

The next day we were decamping to another hotel as we’d decided to treat ourselves to a nicer hotel for the final few days of our time in Thailand. We’d booked into the U Sathorn which was further out of the city but had a huge pool and got great reviews – http://www.uhotelsresorts.com/usathornbangkok/.

Trying to get to the hotel we ran into a problem that we’d encounter continually for the next few days, no one knew where it was. Every taxi we got meant juggling the iPad with the address on, Google maps, deploying the sterotypical Englishman abroad approach of repeating the address in a LOUDER VOICE and at one point getting the driver to ring the hotel to ask for directions.

Once we arrrived however the journey was worth it, the hotel was really luxurious and the room was really comfortable, though Hayley was disappointed by the lack of a bath. After an afternoon by the pool Hayley was craving something healthy so we headed out to find a salad for dinner, the things I do for love. In the end the place we found was actually really tasty (even though it was inside an office block), so much so that we ended up going a second time before we left Bangkok.

The next day we needed to sort out the final bit of preparation for Japan, buying our Railpass. With the Railpass you can travel unlimited within Japan but you need to buy the pass before you enter the country. After some researching we found an STA office not too far from the hotel so headed over and got it sorted out, along with a bunch of recommendations for bars to try from the really helpful staff. We’d planned on checking out one of the nearby parks that afternoon but an old friend was in town instead – Hayley’s parasite was back! So instead we headed to Bumrungrad hospital to try and get an appointment. I don’t think I’ve ever been to a nicer hospital, it was spotless, the service was really friendly and we were registered, treated and sent on our way with a pile of drugs within the hour, they even gave us a little memento of the visit:

With Hayley not feeling well we spent the evening enjoying the hotel and relaxing.

Following on from our research into Japan we’d decided that it might be a good idea to invest into a wardrobe that included more than short shorts and vest tops so we headed to a shopping mall to pick up some essentials for a slightly colder climate. We also swung by the STA office to pick up our Railpass only to find that they’d made a mistake on one of the passes which meant we couldn’t use it! STA assured us they could sort it by the following day so we crossed our fingers and headed home.

We’d not really taken the chance to enjoy Bangkok’s amazing skyline so far, so that evening we got dressed up, jeans and un-ironed shirt for me (Hayley looked great as ever) & went for cocktails at Vertigo bar on the 61st floor of the Banyan Tree hotel. It seems the past 5 months have made me forget how to actually get ready for a smart night out:

The view was incredible and the drinks weren’t bad either.

We stayed up there for a couple of hours, and seemed to have a good time, at least we still find each other hilarious after 5 months away.

I think it may have been the lack of oxygen at such lofty heights but we were starting to feel a little woozy so got back down to street level and drove across town for dinner at a great steakhouse. It had been a long time since we ‘d had some good steak so we really enjoyed this, and the accompanying wine. Since we were on a roll we rounded off the evening with G&T’s at the hotel bar.

The next day we finally managed to pick up our Railpass.

As we grabbed a coffee outside i noticed Hayley had a strange rash across her back:

Given the pile of pills she’d been ingesting we decided a return trip to the hospital might be in order and sure enough the doctor wasted no time in telling Hayley to quit taking one of the pills (thankfully the rash cleared up in time for Singapore). With a 6AM start the next day and a heavy weekend catching up with Kat & Sammy in the offing we decided to order room service and get our rest in before jetting off to Singapore. We did manage to squeeze in one last amazing breakfast at the hotel before the flight: