Wednesday 10 February 2010

As The Song Goes,

'One Night In Bangkok,'
well that was what we had, up first thing in the morning and a taxi ride to the city, problem was we were so early our room was not ready so a complementary drink was offered,
so it gave us a chance to look at the bar,
and nice it was to,
we were meeting Steve and Kai there so a quick call to find out where they were, they had been seeing Kai's parents up country,
"Cheers!" a bit early in the day, but welcome to Bangkok! we stayed in the Majestic Grande, just near to Nana Plaza,
the room was nice,
big bathroom, and bed,
a little bit of local handicraft thrown in, Steve and Kai were still some way off from the hotel, so we decided to have a look around, the pool is on the 7th. floor, lots of bubbles, and elephants! we decided to make our way to Bully's and wait for Steve and Kai there, it is on the Sumkivit Road near the traffic lights at Nana Plaza, basically it is a UK themed Brit pub, still with Christmas decorations, Diana was hungry so we ordered a bowl of chips,
and this is the longest chip I have ever seen!
then a phone call to say Steve and Kai's taxi had arrived and they were out side,
and here they are, they had been traveling since early morning,
food at last, salad for Diana and myself,
followed by the main course, spaghetti for Diana and Kai, sheppard's pie for Steve and lamb shank for myself,
Steve enjoying the pie,
then to book Steve and Kai into the hotel,
we waited in the foyer whilst they booked in,
Diana relaxing,
the fresh flowers were a nice touch,
chocolate cakes were looking delicious!
we then went for a walk, this is the famous Nana Plaza, it is open in the evenings,
it is a triangular shape, with bars on all sides, this is the shrine just inside the entrance,
we were then joined by Joe for the evening,
we were going to have our evening meal courtesy of Steve and Kai on the river, this is our restaurant for the evening,
once we had booked in we were given a orchid to wear,
'Ah! sweet!'
by now it was getting dark,
we were also joined by some of Kai's friends, Doy, S and Euw who are all going to join us on our trip to the River Kwai,
the happy couple,
Joe and myself,
we then set sail along the river,
music was provided by this lady, the instrument looks very much like a hammered dulcimer, if you want to know more about them visit Dizzi's dulcimer site here, she is a hammered dulcimer player and percussionist from Somerset, in the UK, she teaches people to play percussion and dulcimer as well as giving special performances and hands on workshops all over the U.K,
it was a sit down meal rather than a buffet, lots of staff on hand to help out,
I took a few shots of some of the buildings on the cruse up river, a bit out of foucus but I was using the zoom feature on the camera, plus my shakey hands did not help!
the Temple of the Dawn,
there were 2 choices for the main course, seafood or Thai,
another shot of the Temple,
and "Cheers!" from me,
I went for the seafood,
I am not sure what this building was,
more of the main dishes arrive,
Kai, Steve and Joe,
the new bridge with a dinning cruise boat going underneath,
a number of cruise boats had different lighting effects on the side of them,
another "Cheers!" from me with the bridge in the background,
Kai and Diana strike the pose,
we have finnished the main course and have turned around for the journey back,
the dessert arrives,
and it is then time for the show,
classical Thai dancing,
Diana was enthrailed,
a neon blue cruise boat certainly looked a bit different,
there were a couple of dance routines,
and a goodbye 'Sawadee'
a mix of ancient and moderen as a criusre boat goes past the Royal Palace,
the Royal Palace,
a church being repaired,
when we alighted from the boat we were offered the chance to buy this picture 200 baht including a nice frame,
Steve and Kai wanted to go by tuk-tuk but Joe, Diana and myself went by taxi back to Nana Plaza, Steve and Kai are in the tuk-tuk in front of us,
the now vibriant front of Nana Plazza,
Joe, Diana, Kai and Steve by one of the waterfalls in the front of one of the bars,
the view looking down from the second floor,
lots of neon and bars,
after visiting some of the go-go bars we headed back to our hotel, but we first stopped in a small bar for a night cap where it was not to noisy,
the staff of the bar,
after a full meal and more than a few drinks we were all ready for bed,
Steve strikes the pose outside the bar, but I forgot to remember it's name,
then to our room, next morning it will be up and away to Kanchanaburi, so a good nights sleep is needed!

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