Saturday morning - very half-hearted effort in the gym - my stomach was probably just so overburdened with two enormous meals the day before … anyway, I figured I was on holidays so I could skip the gym.

Usual morning flopping around the pool … by the way, the weather was absolutely fantastic … although it was apparently 36 degrees the whole time we were there, I never felt hot and sticky, and there seemed to be a lovely breeze which was very refreshing … it really was perfect.

Another cruise around MBK … think I bought a few t-shirts, and tormented myself by walking past those expensive bags I knew I would never buy but secretly coveted.

We then walked over to Jim Thompson’s House for lunch … I always feel a rush when I walk over the Skytrain overpass to cross the road, and then turn into Soi Kasemsan, knowing the JTH is only moments and metres away. I never cease to be enchanted when I see the house and the beautiful gardens - it’s just amazing to think this oasis exists in the middle of the madness of Bangkok - you can literally feel the tranquillity descending on you as you walk through the gates of the compound …

The main (ie airconditioned!) restaurant was being repainted and so was closed because of the fumes … we sat outside by the pond and had a lovely Thai lunch, looking at the beauty of the house and the gorgeous gardens - was delighted to find a bottle of NZ Sauvignon Blanc on the wine list … not cheap at about A$45, but the food was so reasonable, and we wouldn’t think twice about spending that sort of money on wine in Melbourne, so we ordered a bottle … and it was fabulous. We secretly sneered at the tourists sitting near us who were drinking Fat Coke and eating hamburgers or club sandwiches and chips … they didn’t know what they were missing!

Popped into the beautiful JT shop on our way out and bought a few things … called into a souvenir shop (ashamed to say a very tacky one) nearby and saw some lovely photographic block mounted prints. They were gorgeous photos of monks, buddhas, etc … some were sepia with accents of colours (eg monks’ robes in vivid saffron) - very striking. I had seen some similar ones last year in Patpong and not bought them (again, regretting it when I got back home!) but these ones were even nicer and were a proper series, ie one large image split into three or four panels, which looked really fantastic. Anyway, was keen on them, but knew we would be going to Patpong that night and figured the prices would be cheaper than there, so didn’t buy anything.

Back to the hotel, lounged by the pool (in the shade!) had a swim. Then, off for hair appointment followed by happy hour … different bartender today and drinks were a bit disappointing …

Tonight we were catching up with my oldest and most darling friend Ian who has lived in Bangkok for the past 17 years. I have known him since I was at school and we worked together in HK when I had my very first job (all those years ago). We’ve kept in touch all this time and I see him every time I’m in Bangkok. He’s a gorgeous and fascinating person … the son of diplomats, he has lived all over the world, and has settled in Bangkok. He speaks absolutely fluent Thai (most helpful) and is one of those wonderful farangs who has embraced the lifestyle there and loves and respects the locals and their culture and customs.

He picked us up from the PP and - armed with more Moet and NZSB! - we went off to Harmonique - again! He was mortified when he found out we had been there for lunch the day before, but we love it so much we were happy to eat there more than once. Even warmer welcome with Ian in tow … and we had just such a wonderful evening, eating, chatting, catching up. Debs and Ian hadn’t met before but they got on famously - I knew they would as they are both such gorgeous people. Ian is such fun and knows all the gossip about what goes on and we heard hilarious stories about life in Bangkok … I am absolutely obsessed with the King (whom I call OBK - our beloved king) and Ian filled us in on all the latest news with the royal family, politics, religion etc … fascinating stuff.

After dinner, we hopped in his car and sped off to Patpong … what a hoot. It’s just as mad as ever and it was so much fun having him with us. After a whirlwind cruise up and down the lanes, we sat outside on the pavement of a café and had a coffee, watching the passing parade. Didn’t buy anything except a special yellow t-shirt commemorating OBK’s 60th year of his reign … Ian explained me that OBK was born on a Monday and his birth colour is yellow and that on Mondays all the Thai people wear yellow to honour him … I’m not a yellow person as such, but I was prepared to proudly wear my yellow shirt to show my respect for OBK! Didn’t see any prints as nice as the ones I had seen outside of Jim Thompson’s House … looks like I’d have to return there!

Got back to the hotel about 1 and crashed.

Next day was Sunday and Ian had vaguely mentioned something about taking us out to Chatuchak Market … hmmm, I wasn’t really too keen but he was so kind to offer and give up his day to hold our hands on the Skytrain etc, it seemed rude to say no! I had been once before many years ago and personally I think it’s one of those “been there, done that” experiences … but Debs hadn’t been and I wasn’t going to deny her the opportunity if she really wanted to go … in fact, she wasn’t feeling 100% that morning and so had said she wouldn’t go … and when Ian rang, we mutually decided it would be too hot and we wouldn’t bother (think he was secretly relieved!). So it worked out well and we had a nice quiet day to ourselves.

I said to Debs that I wanted to go back to the tacky souvenir shop to get the prints, so walked over there and couldn’t believe my eyes that the flaming souvenir shop was CLOSED!! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!! Anyway, decided to console myself with lunch and more drinks at Jim Thompson … this time inside as the paint fumes had cleared by then - lovely lunch and the a/c was quite welcome as I think that was probably the hottest day we had there (but still gorgeous).

Back to the hotel - Debs went to her room for a rest, and I roamed the shops, deciding it was time to buy something (starting to panic slightly, realising we would be leaving the next day!) … ended up with a decent haul - pair of jeans, some more t-shirts, a black faux Gucci bag (NOT from the expensive shops, needless to say! think mine was about B1600), a faux evening watch, pair of running shoes, ordered a few DVDs and CDs …

Went for a swim, then Debs and I went for usual hair and happy hour - hmmm, we could get used to this! We didn’t really have any firm plans for dinner and I’d had a busy day and Debs hadn’t been feeling well, so we decided to have a quiet night in and just eat in my room. We were sitting in my room drinking wine before dinner, when one of those fabulous tropical storms happened. We had a fantastic view from my room and we could see it making its way across the city towards the river and we watched in fascination at the traffic and people reacting to the sudden change … it was like an amazing time-lapse film. We then watched the Monaco Grand Prix live … I’m a Formula One fan and we are really hard done by in Australia - the races are always broadcast so late and are rarely live, so it’s such a treat to watch them live and at a decent hour - especially Monaco!
Probably not the best way to spend our last night in Bangkok, but we were happy! Well, don’t think Debs was too enthralled with watching the GP but she was happy to be inside and relaxing!

Next morning - Monday - was our last! (And yes, every second person you saw was wearing a yellow OBK shirt!!) Lovely morning by the pool, and a last cruise around the shop. We were due to meet Ian for lunch - he had very kindly taken us to dinner at Harmonique so we wanted to take him out in return. We met in the lobby of the Holiday Inn on Silom, and took him to a lovely restaurant around the corner called Baan Chiang. This is a lovely old Thai house set in very pretty gardens in a quiet residential street - much more upmarket than Harmonique but still very reasonable prices, and with a very decent (but not cheap) wine selection. Surprisingly, Ian did not know this restaurant and he loved it. We had discovered it last year - it had been recommended to me by a friend in Melbourne whose sister lived in Bangkok and we loved it so much, I think we went back there three days in a row last year! Only downside is that the service is a bit remote (almost surly at times!) and the staff speak very poor English - even Ian’s perfect Thai failed to impress or charm them … anyway, we had an absolutely amazing meal washed down with lots of lovely chilled French rosé … the food is exquisite, and definitely superior to and more refined than Harmonique but it’s very quiet at lunchtime (have never been at night but will do on my next visit) - we were the only table there - until a French family popped in for a very speedy meal - and the staff don’t have anywhere near the charm of Harmonique.

I was starting to panic about my unpurchased prints, and told Ian that I had to go back to the tacky souvenir shop because we only had a few hours left in Bangkok! He had a few things to do so we arranged to meet him at Siam Paragon in an hour and so Debs and I jumped into a cab and sped off to the tacky souvenir shop. Thankfully, it was OPEN today - phew! Debs sat in the cab and I jumped out and just started madly gesticulating at the prints I wanted and the staff were furiously bubble wrapping them at a great speed and then we threw them in the boot - it was quite hilarious, like a sort of getaway scene from a bad movie. (Um, for the record I bought 17 prints - eek!) Taxi took us to Siam Paragon and we found Ian … we had a bit of a cruise around the shops - to be honest, I’m not overly impressed by those big glamorous shopping centres, but up on the higher levels there are some stunning decorating and homewares shops which have beautiful things in them.

I’m now starting to panic because it’s nearly 4pm and I have to check out by then - and I haven’t packed! We had negotiated with the hotel to keep one of the rooms until 4 so Debs had packed and moved her stuff into my room before lunch, so she was fine.

Ian led us back to the hotel through the labyrinth of shopping centres and walkways … so glad he was with us or we might never have made it, it’s so confusing!! I left Ian and Debs in the hotel bar whilst I rushed upstairs to pack …

You know those scenes in the movies where people just rip things off hangers and throw them in a suitcase and you say to yourself “how ridiculous, nobody really packs like that”? Well, they DO!! I honesty just grabbed everything I could find and threw it all into the case, trying to cram all my bubbled wrapped prints in there too, sat on the case, squeezed the zip closed and then realised that I was wearing the most ridiculous travelling outfit, but it was too late and I just couldn’t be bothered to try and unpack and find something more suitable or chic … anyway, we were travelling economy … and Jetstar!! (I still managed to leave a few little things behind in the room - hopefully nice gifts for the maid!)

I checked out and we stored our bags with the Concierge and had lots of huge farewell hugs with Ian. We had a couple of hours to kill before leaving for the airport, so we walked around MBK in a sort of daze … you know that flat, rather miserable feeling when you know your departure is imminent and you are just killing time and putting off the inevitable? We were about to head back to the bar for happy hour when I suggested to Debs we should see if our limousine was ready, and we could just head out to the airport early and cruise around the shops there and have drinks in the Qantas Club …

Car was ready and so we hopped in and headed for the airport -- about three minutes after we left, the heavens opened and we experienced one of the most severe downpours I have ever seen in my life (and this from a girl who grew up in the tropics!) … it was seriously horrendous. Had we been sitting in our room drinking wine and watching it, it would have been fabulous, but we were stuck in the middle of the world’s worst traffic jam, with a plane to catch and seemingly no way out! I think we travelled about 2km in the first 30 minutes and by this time I was getting very nervous about possibly missing the flight (with the next Jetstar flight three days later - fun for us, but not so amusing for our employers!). On top of this, I was starting to get a bit car sick with sudden stopping and starting motion, even though we were in a very comfortable and a/c brand new BMW. Anyway, after what seemed like an eternity, we did eventually arrive at the airport … nearly three hours later! We settled ourselves in the Qantas Club and had some food and drinks, and we were both a bit too stressed and overwrought from the car ride to even bother to go duty free shopping! I think we felt so relieved to have made it to the airport we didn’t want to take any more chances by wandering off and possibly missing the flight because we were in the wrong section of the terminal!!

Plane left on time at 9pm … we settled into our seats in the second row of economy, had a drink and we both fell asleep almost immediately!

Flight was a little more turbulent than on the way over, but on the whole very painless and we slept most of the way home.

Landed in Melbourne - 14 degrees, welcome home! Stocked up on last minute duty free alcohol, breezed through immigration, customs and saw our lovely driver waiting for us in the arrivals hall. We walked out of the terminal building and felt that delicious gust of cool air on our faces … we were home.

It was a fab trip … short and as you can see, we really didn’t do much, but it was just what we wanted and we had a brilliant time.

Debs is off to Europe and the US next week for five weeks, and I’ll be back in Bangkok and Koh Samui in August … but I know we’ll look back on our little weekend jaunt with great fondness.

Hope I haven’t bored everyone to death with our very unexciting tales. I hope my next JBR will be a little more interesting … but it probably won’t be - oh well, don’t say I didn’t warn you!!

Love
DB xx