(Dave here)
An early start from Chang Rai - up at about 6:30 and get to the airport by about 7:00 to catch our Air Asia flight down to Bangkok (an exhorbitant 23 quid each inc. tax)
Used the final sachets of cement, so hoping to make it withough incident!
We arrive at the domestic terminal and arrange for a bus into town (approx. 1 hour and 100 Baht) to drop us at the Khao San Road area (v. backpacker for those who don't know it) and Em looks for a hostel while I look after the bags. She finds somewhere and we move in and unpack - unformtunately its virtually identical to the place at the beginning of the film (The Beach) and being made of Rattan / wood seems to retain heat like a Sauna. The small fan on the ceiling succeeds in wafting the hot air around the room to make sure that there is nowhere cool!
We also discover that the sink is missing from the bathroom! All in all, not Emma's finest hour of hostel room finding so we decide to move tomorrow.
Whilst in the airport this morning, I spotted in a Bangkok city guide that there is a Sunday brunch at the Sukhotahi Hotel which offers free flowing champagne, Caviar, lobster bisque, imported cheeses, foie gras, ... all for about $30 a head - we are sorely tempted, but for many reasons (still haven't got our appetites back, want to be able to speak when we meet Den, ...) decide to give it a miss.
We spend a couple of hours wandering around Khao San Rd, looking at the shops (including Boots, Burger King, 7/11, ...) and head over to meet up with Den at around 4pm in the Sukhumvit area of town at the Marriott.
Luckily, we aren't immediately evicted from the lobby and told to go via the employee entrance round the back of the hotel! We sit in the plushest surroundings since we started the trip and enjoy the air conditioning immensely! After a short interlude, Den arrives with a couple of his Cargill colleagues (Nick and Guido) and they proceed to check in at the executive floor!
We sneak in with them and proceed to avail ourselves of the executive floor free drinks, snacks, ... Emma has a glass of white wine and me, a Jack and coke - our strategy to get rid of our bug has turned into a full on blitz with alcohol (normally seems to work for my sis Jane!!).
We head to Den's room who has a bathroom larger than most rooms we have stayed in, and we weigh ourselves to disocver that in the last week we have lost about 1 stone each in about 7 days it'll be the fad new diet sweeping the UK soon!!
Whilst there, we collect some of the couriered items (including Marmite!!) and give Den a bag of stuff to take back with him (we didn't get many entries to the competition though!!) - there is even a bag of white powder sewn into the lining of the rucksack we've given him (joke!!).
We avail ourselves of his mobile and call home for Mothers Day and to get some remote consultancy from Jo (Den's doctor wife) and meet back at the free drinks area just in time for the evening Hors D'oeuvres to be served - we could get used to this - although for what he's paying for his room, we could stay in most SE Asia countries for about a month!
We all get the Skytrain and MTR (which has opened since we were last over here) and head to Suan Lung (sp?) Night Market which Nick recommended. We hadn't been there before and it was a great place to do some shopping (which Nick, Den and Guido were all very successful at - we didn't get anything).
We had a lovely Thai meal where they were playing traditional Thai music, many more Jack and Cokes (beer for Em now) and then move on to Soi Cowboy - bar street - (Gullivers) where we while away a few hours catching up, drinking more Jack & Coke / Beers (see photo)
We finished it all off with a nightcap back at the Marriot which cost the same as about 6 rounds in Gullivers (see photo)
Overall, a great night - fully sponsored by Cargill - thanks Den/Nick/Guido! We hope you all enjoyed it too and managed to get up alright this morning (especially Den who we left at around 2am!)
We thought the format was such a success that if anyone else would like to sponsor a day / evening of our world trip and take us out for drinks / food, we will be very willing to consider all offers ;-) - just send an e-mail to david.lees@gmail.com with Sponsorship in the subject - all reasonable offers will be considered!!
Hoping that Nick can organise a trip for Den to come visit us in Brazil around early August!
Sponsorship Info : About Cargill
Minneapolis-based Cargill is an international marketer, processor and distributor of agricultural, food, financial and industrial products and services with 85,000 employees in 60 countries. The company provides distinctive customer solutions in supply chain management, food applications and health and nutrition
Just think - your company could get the same publicity - with a web based audience of tens of people!
Bangkok Hotels
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