One Night in Bangkok.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Last winter we managed to do what we had been threatening to do for a few years, that is take off for six weeks holiday.

We had Christmas at home with the grandkids, then between Christmas and New Year we took the train  to Paddington and onto Heathrow for our flight to Bangkok. We left Becky in charge of bookings and emails and Ruth and her boyfriend, house and cat sat for us; time to relax knowing that everything at home was in safe hands.

We made Bangkok our base as we flew in and out of the city no less than 10 times in the 6 weeks! Stuarts nephew and his partner live in Bangkok and have a very nice apartment on the Chao Phraya river, this is where we aclimatised ourselves for the first few days. Bangkok was mind blowing, so busy, cars, tuk tuks, motorbikes and people everywhere. We struggled a little with jet lag, the humidity and heat for the first few days.

 

 

 

We spent New Years Eve at Asiatique in Bangkok, it was the place to be in Thailand to celebrate New Years Eve. We queued for over an hour to get a table so we could see the New Year in without standing all night. The fireworks were amazing and from our vantage point not only could we see the ones at Asiatique, but also multiple shows up and down the Chao Phraya River.

Towards the end of our holiday we actually caught up with Stuarts nephew and his partner in Bangkok, they had been in the UK for Christmas and New Year, and we visited the Banyon Tree rooftop bar. A roof top bar is a must do when in Bangkok, the views were amazing, the drinks prices were nearly as high as the building!! After enjoying one drink up on high, we got back to street level and hailed a tuk tuk to get us across town to several street food outlets. The tuk tuk journey was an experience in itself, then there was the street food!

After sampling some street food and another cocktail we headed for the temple of Wat Pho. The grounds of Wat Pho are open at night and you are welcome to wander around, the main temple buildings are not open as they would be during the day. But the lack of crowds, we were the only people in there, and the more bearable temperature made it an awe inspiring visit.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We all felt really priviledged to have been able to visit Wat Pho temple at night. It felt much more spiritual than the temples we visited during the heat of the day and which were teeming with visitors. The detail in the decoration of the temples is amazing, millions of sea shells covered one that we visited, lots of gold leaf is used and mosaic pieces.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Over the coming weeks I will tempt you with a few more photos of the places we visited. Maybe you will be tempted to make the trip of a lifetime as well, or maybe you have already been and if so hopefully they will stir some very pleasant memories for you.