Hi. Just a quick post to say we not only made after all the excitement but arrived early. The first half was very good; Linda not only managed to charm the check-in guy to let leg room on the emergency exit seats but got the excess baggage fee waved (we were two kilos over). The second half from Doha was a drag, though. Out of a full plane, a half dozen back seat personal cinemas weren’t working and Linda and I had two of them. So there was a whole plane asleep in front of perfectly operable dead screens and me seething on the back seat, fully awake, with an inoperable one!
24 hours later and a good sleep at chez Cavs and we’re raring to go. The girls have gone to a WI’s annual meeting/Xmas drinkies this lunchtime and Mike is down south on business. I declined the company of 85 expat wives and went for a mooch around Bangkok. The place is still crazy.
Busy, busy, busy, with mobile wok food stalls on every street corner selling all sorts of wonderful deep fried (and unknown) stuff, turgid soups and strange fruits; massage parlours down every side street; Japanese karaoke bars (this part of Sukhumvit has a large Jap population, apparently); towering buildings with ornate spirit houses perched on poles outside; and the occasional well crafted park and water feature. The main drag out of Bangkok, Sukhumvit Road, is still a nightmare of traffic with huge concrete columns supporting the passenger Skytrain on every side of the road marching off into the horizon. Thinking I was safe on the pavement (Look down! Look down! There are holes and broken cobbles everywhere) I nearly get run over by 12 Germans on bicycles followed by two motorbikes. It soon becomes apparent to the unwary visitor that motorcyclists, when finally gridlocked on the main streets simply mount the kerb and take to the pavements (cyclists just don’t bother with the roads – I don’t blame them). In fact, the bikes are the biggest nightmare when mooching about. You think you’ve got the hang of the cars (not difficult as they don’t move far for very long) but the motorbikes will come at you every which way, including the wrong way – so don’t trust the one way street signs!.
Time for an afternoon rest at the apartment’s private swimming pool (am I annoying anyone yet?) and I guess when Mike gets back it will be more drinkies and Thai food somewhere. We’re on the road tomorrow – I’ll let you know where we end up.
PS – Sorry some of the comments didn’t show immediately. I had the default set to “moderate comments before posting” so that meant I had to read them first. I’ve changed it so all comments should publish straight away. Keep ‘em coming.
24 hours later and a good sleep at chez Cavs and we’re raring to go. The girls have gone to a WI’s annual meeting/Xmas drinkies this lunchtime and Mike is down south on business. I declined the company of 85 expat wives and went for a mooch around Bangkok. The place is still crazy.
Busy, busy, busy, with mobile wok food stalls on every street corner selling all sorts of wonderful deep fried (and unknown) stuff, turgid soups and strange fruits; massage parlours down every side street; Japanese karaoke bars (this part of Sukhumvit has a large Jap population, apparently); towering buildings with ornate spirit houses perched on poles outside; and the occasional well crafted park and water feature. The main drag out of Bangkok, Sukhumvit Road, is still a nightmare of traffic with huge concrete columns supporting the passenger Skytrain on every side of the road marching off into the horizon. Thinking I was safe on the pavement (Look down! Look down! There are holes and broken cobbles everywhere) I nearly get run over by 12 Germans on bicycles followed by two motorbikes. It soon becomes apparent to the unwary visitor that motorcyclists, when finally gridlocked on the main streets simply mount the kerb and take to the pavements (cyclists just don’t bother with the roads – I don’t blame them). In fact, the bikes are the biggest nightmare when mooching about. You think you’ve got the hang of the cars (not difficult as they don’t move far for very long) but the motorbikes will come at you every which way, including the wrong way – so don’t trust the one way street signs!.Time for an afternoon rest at the apartment’s private swimming pool (am I annoying anyone yet?) and I guess when Mike gets back it will be more drinkies and Thai food somewhere. We’re on the road tomorrow – I’ll let you know where we end up.
PS – Sorry some of the comments didn’t show immediately. I had the default set to “moderate comments before posting” so that meant I had to read them first. I’ve changed it so all comments should publish straight away. Keep ‘em coming.
2 comments:
Well done you - Oh how we love these long, dark, winter evenings settled with a glass of red checking in on Lampen tours!!!
I won't make any rude comment so you don't need to worry about moderation (what does that mean?)
I can almost smell and hear the streets- some sort of a travel book in the making.
Looking forward to tales of drinks and birds
Hi All
yep cracking the ice off the inside of the bedroom windows this morning and eating my gruel made me realise how lucky we are compared to the Lampens who have to suffer swimming pools, Christmas drinkies, heat, Thai food and the perils of Bangkok pavements. My one thought at the moment is that Bangkok may not be the best place for updates on 'birds' - at least of the feathered variety (having noted the reference to massage parlours!). When are you Lampens off out into the country side and earning your keep telling us about the Limestone Wren-warblers, Scarlet-backed Flowerpeckers and the like? Enjoy!
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