Bangkok Holiday!

DAY ONE

This was definitely a LEGENDARY day.  In fact, I won't even tell you about it yet. Wait until I have more time to tell the story properly.

But let's just say for now that being trapped for two hours TWICE in gridlocked traffic is "experiencing the quintessential Bangkok" and share the locals' current big joke Q: "Why hasn't Burma invaded Thailand?"  A: "It probably has, only their tanks are still stuck in traffic!"

And must add there's a special horror to coming to the end of a LEGENDARY day and discovering you've accidentally packed the toothbrush that you previously used to scrub around the taps in your apartment back in Hong Kong, and then having to use your finger to clean your teeth.

But the bed is gigantic and the mattress is wonderful and it's all fabulous sheets and silk throw pillows and so life still feels good, despite getting home at 2.30 in the morning after finally eating dinner in what was little more than crawl space inside the roof cavity of the only restaurant still open. 

And, yes, I took photos, but you have to wait for them.

DAY TWO

Can't get the day started. The hotel is so lovely we don't really want to go out, so after sleeping in till practically midday we just want to hang around, madly pretending to be a couple trapped in Shanghai back in the 1920s.

DAY THREE

Finally went out yesterday, to check out the fire/protests damage we'd read about at Siam Centre and found it was completely intact, undamaged and "business as usual".  Bloody media beat-ups!!! You never know who to trust anymore, do you?

Apart from that, we never got anywhere thanks to a rainstorm that caused an Almighty Traffic Gridlock that ate up practically the entire evening.

We have begun to live in terror of these dreadful things and dread going out at all.  Be afraid. Be VERY afraid.

These gridlocks have actually started changing the fabric of society, with people setting off for work at 4 am, and thus the expectation that everything be open at 5am which is fast becoming the start of the workday, which means the gridlock is starting earlier and earlier.

Do you recall me saying that I detested Bangkok because of the traffic, and didn't start to love it until we discovered the Klongs - the little canals - and riverboats for getting around.  Well, silly me!  When I booked this place, I forgot that, to get to the Klongs from Chinatown where our hotel is, you have to pass through this really dangerous, creepy area with kinda scary locals, and you always feel blessed to get through it with your wallet and your life still in your possession.

Thus here we are in Chinatown, forced to deal with THE GRIDLOCK and reluctant to leave "Shanghai 1920" to face THE HORROR!!!

Nonetheless, Keith is now saying he'd love to go back to see Jim Thompson's house and so we're off now.

Sympathy is welcome!