Where are you going?

Suvarnabhumi airport is really pleasant – gold statues and decoration with flowers everywhere. Only downside was having to hunt for landing cards as British Airways had not brought enough on the plane! Silly.

Immediately accosted by people offering us tours, transfers and every tourist amenity you can think of. Everyone, I think, sees us as walking dollar signs (not unreasonably, considering our per-person budget for this trip is a fairly large proportion of the average annual income of a civil servant in Thailand) as everyone wants to take us on a tour. The hotel sent the car for us despite me saying we didn’t want a transfer so, lo and behold, the driver phoned our room to ask if we wanted a tour! And then every time we passed him at the front door he wanted to take us somewhere… The bellman also kept asking us if we have plans and if we wanted a tour. Everywhere we hear the call, "Where are you going?" It’s a funny extension of the fact that Thais ask people where they’re going in the same way as we ask “how are you doing?” or the Chinese ask “have you eaten yet?” – to say hello. In the end we took our dedicated driver up on the offer to drive us to the train station on our last day, which worked out well for all of us.

When we arrived we were tired but not shattered due to having dozed on the plane pretty effectively. It was a surprisingly painless flight. We ate in the hotel restaurant which was perfectly pleasant and not too expensive. Though my glass noodle soup with minced pork didn’t actually have any glass noodles in it. I think they substituted tofu…

Eventually found the boat pier and worked out how it all works. Monks on board so the ticket collector shooed everyone down the boat and arranged a buffer of male passengers around them. Nice way to get around and it took a slight edge off the 34 degree heat. Slight. The Chao Phraya river is brown with silt, but we still noticed the odd bit of litter spoiling the picturesque. The large dead fish floating past was not a highlight.

We alighted at Chinatown for a good wander. Many shrimp and fish sauce cooking smells, not to the delight of Tallulah, combined with hot and crowded alleys – an assault on the senses! But I think we were prepared for Bangkok to be a bit overwhelming so we’re not really suffering too badly from culture shock. Though I was melting in the heat – waiting for the boat my eyebrows were dripping.

Nice meal in an air-conditioned (our first priority) Chinese restaurant called “Texas Suki”! Huge menu with pictures, which was helpful, and I got to try some pork buns! Glass noodles in the veggie spring rolls – maybe that’s where the ones from my soup ended up.

We have discovered the wonderful cheapness of 7-Eleven water and I thought it would be a good idea to stock up with six litres, forgetting of course that I would have to carry them. So slogged back to the hotel, weak and heavy laden. Must remember to drink!

There are so many beautiful buildings, even the most routine ones. We passed a school in Chinatown with a spectacular dragon-adorned gate in brilliant colours. 

From the river we can appreciate the melding of old and new, with ultra-modern but pretty hotel skyscrapers next to old wooden stilt houses on the canals. The boats are brightly coloured and covered in flower garlands. From our balcony we can see a vast number of skyscrapers, all lit up at night. This is a megalopolis.