Royal Bangkok

My god I can't believe we've only been away for 2 weeks!! Been having an absolute ball. Bangkok is an experience. Khao San Road is where all the travellers convene and it's a DUMP! The smell is rank. It's the dirtiest most polluted city we've ever seen. We ...

... stayed with our incredibly gracious hosts Ernest & Saisampan at their rather swish Bangkok apartment located opposite 'The Royal Bangkok Sports Club' and with Lumphini Park to the back. On Ratchadumri Road for those familiar with Bangkok geography. ...

This morning, my friend and I went to the Royal Bangkok Sports Club.  Its an exclusive club located right in the middle of Bangkok built at the turn of the century by the British.  It had a very old-world "colonial" feel. Later, we went to visit ...

... shuttle boat to the River City wharf (a half-hour trip down the Chao Phrya River). After buying a Nancy Chandler guide to Bangkok in the Royal Orchid kiosk we headed off to do some shopping. We were making little progress in working out where on earth we ...

... as well as take boats and tuk-tuks (motorized tricycle-like taxi, very popular in Thailand and simply indispensable in heavy Bangkok traffic)... so - bright and early, Nui came to meet us at the hotel...she turned out to be a young, ...

... with a humidex of 38, I'm quite happy to be here during the cold season :) I have to say that although I was dreading Bangkok a bit as I've heard many horror stories of pickpockets, noise, pollution and mayhem, so far, I've been impressed.  It ...

Had an early breakfast and the checked out with the assistance of the tour guide. Then we headed back to the airport and boarded the flight back to Kuala Lumpur. ...

... cooking directions to the wait staff. I have never been to such a posh establishment... her hospitality was truly more that we ever could have expected. If it had not been for Fon and her family our stay in Bangkok would not have been what it was. ...

... 6 more acquaintances who were on the same flight to Bangkok.   My Alone-trip became a barkada trip.   The bangkok group includes Jen (my sister),  Sol and Mich (c0-resident doctors) with their friends Kisseth and Percy,  ...

... , and we'd come back another time to see it properly. We heade around the corner to look at Wat Pho, the largest temple in Bangkok. It houses Thailand's largest reclining buddha; 46m long and covered in gold. After a walk around the rst of the temple, we ...

15 Feb 09 Royal Princess Larn Luang Hotel Bangkok, Thailand   16 Feb 09 Bangkok   Chao Phraya River Tour                 Travelled the Khlongs, river channels ...

... realized it showed up AFTER room service (who are sneaky ninjas) put it there. This is a great hotel. And it was about the same price as Benyada Lodge and a bajillion times nicer. IF you wanna stay in Bangkok in style, stay at Royal Orchid ...

... but we still ended up doing a fair amount of queuing. We can remember now why we don't particularly like big cities and Bangkok is definitely big. We were warned about another aspect of Bangkok life that we might find 'unusual' although we thought the ...

... for a 40 minute drive to our hotel. One good thing about our late arrival is that we didn't have to deal with Bangkok's notorious traffic congestion. Because of the late arrival, our wake up call was moved back to 7 am and our orientation meeting began ...