Lexi and I last visited Bangkok together in 2002 on our way to and from a summer holiday in Lao. In 2002 Bangkok was a loud, grubby and rushed place clogged with traffic. Arriving yesterday, Wednesday, in 2013 I am delighted to report that in 11 years Bangkok has transformed itself in to a loud, grubby and rushed place clogged with traffic.
We left Dolphin Bay in a hired taxi, well a car owned by one of the restaurants next to Dolphin Bay, and were dropped off at Hua Hin Bus Station, ready to catch the high noon bus to the capital. Peckish I collected some barbecued chicken, fish and sticky rice to munch on the journey only to be told in no uncertain terms by a very miserable bus host that these choicest snacks must not be eaten on her bus as they would make it smell. I suppose the last thing any driver wants is the smell of freshly cooked chicken wafting around as they drive at break-neck speed to the capital. So fast was the driver that he managed to knock almost an hour off the estimated journey time. But he still suffered from Thai bus driver's contrariness though. This manifests itself by way of the need to drive your public service vehicle at its maximum possible speed, almost bull-dozing as many vehicles as possible off the road and then, when arriving at any scheduled stop ambling, Clint Eastwood style, from bus to stop, smoking a cigarette in a relaxed manner and then returning to the vehicle for the next session of rally driving. Overall I was quite glad that we were consigned to the back seat of the bus to receive the James Bond treatment arriving shaken, but our resolve was not stirred.
We arrived at Bangkok's Southern Bus Station and then set about finding our way to our chosen 'guest house.' (Explanation of the inverted commas to follow.) However before we could clamber on to the 511 to Sukhamvit Road the passengers of Bangkok were treated to the delights of seeing Lexi chase after our last bus trying to get back the barbecued chicken that we had careful not eaten while in transit but had carefully left on the bus.
The 'guest house' that we were heading for was called 27 Hotel and is on Soi 22 Sukhamvit Road. It is also very cheap. We had been loving the luxury of Dolphin Bay for 3800 baht per night (for two rooms) and then we checked in to 27 Hotel for 800 baht (for two rooms). It is important to stress that Lexi and I found 27 Hotel about 13 years ago on our first visit to Bangkok thanks to a Lao tuk-tuk driver who took us, again at high speed, to the place. Then it was cheap and cheerful and clean enough. Little has changed in the meantime. It is still cheap, a bit less cheerful perhaps and certain areas could do with being a bit cleaner. To give a flavour of the place I should perhaps mention a few of the signs that are helpfully displayed around 27 Hotel. The price list offers and overnight price per room of 400 baht and then a short stay price of 200, a photocopied sign tells guests to take care when smoking and a handwritten piece of paper tells room users to do their best not to stain the sheets. On reflection perhaps 27 Hotel has gone down a bit more than it should have done over the 13 years that Lexi and I have known it. It still provides clean towels and hot water in the en suite bathrooms as well as aircon and soap. However the howling cats are a new addition as was the small pile of cat waste in the corridor this evening. I feel that we have now officially out-grown 27 Hotel and will have to go a bit more up market in Bangkok.
Tomorrow (Friday) we are heading off to Cambodia, partly by train, and I have also booked part of our train journey back towards KL. What a process that was! I went to Hualampong Station last night and assumed, wrongly that just as I had when we travelled from KL to Hua Hin that I could make all the necessary bookings at one station. No. I could book a sleeper train to Hat Yai from from Bangkok, no problem. But I could not book from Hat Yai to KL. The booking clerk told me that that was impossible as that was a Malaysia train. But how come I could book at Thai train in Malaysia but not vice versa? Could they look on the booking system to check availability? No. The only possibility would be to get to Hat Yai and then book, hopefully, the train to KL from there. Then it was time of pay. I proffered my Malaysian credit card. The clerk checked the time. What? Apparently credit cards cannot be used after 9.30pm. It had tried to pay at 9.32pm and no amount of pleading would get the payment accepted. Luckily there were plenty of cash points around.
Today's efforts at being tourists though was more successful. We all enjoyed the tour around former silk merchant's house, Jim Thompson, clearly a man of style. Despite disappearing in mysterious circumstances in The Cameron Highlands in 1967 he left behind a beautiful, tranquil place in the heart of Bangkok that has been preserved by the Thai Government.
Next we had lunch and then spent a pleasant afternoon at The Bangkok Art and Culture Centre. There was a really impressive exhibition of local paintings called The White Elephant Collection as well as other thought-provoking works too.
Final port of call was Lumpini Park where Rupert and Trixie enjoyed dashing around on the various bits of play equipment while Edwin and I drove swan shaped peddle boats around the lake. At 6.00pm Edwin and I reverently stopped peddling, while all joggers in the park ceased running and couples smooching at the side of the lake stopped smooching and stood for the Thai National Anthem. Then it was taxi back to 27 Hotel and sleep. Someone who will be sleeping well the evening is the taxi driver who drove us to 27 Hotel as he will have a very full tummy. Edwin, who was in charge of the bread bag, managed to leave it behind in the taxi.