Bangkok

The Bangkok minibreak started at 7am on Saturday when I met friends from Nepal who now live in Bangkok for their Saturday morning run. This was possibly rather ambitious on my part as I haven’t run anywhere for at least a year… and have generally been fairly lazy since arriving in Yangon. Whilst D&J easily notched up 10km I managed 2.5km (1 loop of the park) before I had to collapse have a rest and watch a crocodile creature crawling from the lake… I then managed to walk-run another loop… it was so hot! Anyway, I guess I wont be entering the Yangon marathon any time soon. 

  

After breakfast D&J showed me the sights… we did a river cruise (ooooo the buildings were so tall… the lights so bright… the skytrain so swish…), after that we went into a random shop selling weird and wonderful potions and pills, climbed some stairs and into a back room with mattresses. We then lay down and had rather nice Thai massages whilst the masseuses chatted amongst themselves and watched Thai TV. Spa it was not… but the massage was very nice. Then it was time for lunch and HUGE ice-cream Sundays (I guess there are some advantages to moderate levels of exercise in the early morning).

   

I then ambled back to China Town, via Tesco Lotus (a big disappointment – I think City Mart in Yangon is heaps better than Tesco Lotus in China Town). Ant arrived from the UK at around 4ish and we then spent far too long trying to work out what we were going to eat without going too far from the hotel (Ant was feeling ill – English illness) and without eating something Asian. This turns out to be rather a problem when you are staying in China Town. We ended up walking to the Indian quarter and eating Thali. Yum. Yes still Asian… but not Chinese Asian… and definitely not Shark Fin Soup.

  

Out hotel was quite fun… and Chinese… but lacking daylight in the rooms. That was more than made up for by the fact you could order a pet fish for the bedroom. Of course I had to try this out, so called reception and ordered a fish. 10 minutes later 3 fish and some fish food arrived, along with complimentary fruit and flowers… which were perhaps related to the fact I also asked to move rooms as the first room was noisy. This morning at breakfast there were many glamorous Thai types wandering around, this was later explained by a red carpet and photos and decorations in the lifts and lobby – I think a couple were getting married in the hotel.

  

Tuk-Tuking around town

  

Jo and Simon would be proud… we went to an exciting shopping mall with Starbucks (and all sorts of other fancy stuff in it)… see how provincial we have become… amazed by Starbucks of all places.

Made it home this afternoon to be greeted by Pepsi and Coke. They have apparently arrived. Not sure if they are producing bottles of fizzy stuff yet, but it surely wont be long now before Yangon is awash with locally made Coke. You can buy Coke now, either from Singapore or Thailand… but with the lifting of US sanctions Coke and Pepsi are moving back in. The rose was given to me at the airport. A cunning marketing plan by an Indian restaurant. A welcome rose and a voucher for a free glass of wine at their restaurant. Genius idea!

 

We have spent the evening unpacking the bags Ant bought. This involved me eating a crunchie bar (yum), and putting 3 chorizos in the mini fridge. Ant seemed to think chorizo was an essential import. As we have no cooking facilities perhaps we will just be taking a nibble of chorizo whenever we feel hungry???

Bangkok was fun, but also huge, dazzling and crazy. I think I am happy we live here not there… but it is nice to know we are only a 1 hour flight from the bright lights if we need them.