{"id":2537,"date":"2019-07-29T13:24:48","date_gmt":"2019-07-29T05:24:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hinchy.org\/travels\/?p=2537"},"modified":"2019-07-29T13:24:55","modified_gmt":"2019-07-29T05:24:55","slug":"bangkok-24-27-july-2019","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hinchy.org\/travels\/bangkok-24-27-july-2019\/","title":{"rendered":"Bangkok – 24-27 July 2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Back in January, we saw a great special with\nluxuryescapes.com for three nights of luxury in the Marriot Marquis Hotel in\nBangkok so we rationalised it as being a fitting reward for Christine\u2019s\nbirthday. It was such a good deal but then by the time we had booked airfares,\nand further rationalised that four days in Singapore needed to be tacked on the\nend, the costs ballooned out a little.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thing\u2019s took a worrying turn when we checked in at Perth\nAirport to find that the Air Asia flights through Kuala Lumpur to Bangkok  somehow did not include through luggage and\nwe would have to go through immigration, collect our luggage and re-check in.\nShouldn\u2019t be an issue with a couple of hours leeway. Even better when the plane\ntouched down a half hour early. Not so good when we spent most of the extra\ntime sitting parked on the tarmac. We exited the plane and scurried across the\nridiculously long KL airport sky corridors to reach immigration. The queues\nwere impossible and the two hours leeway looked like evaporating rapidly.\nChristine started to go up and down the queue asking to be let in, pleading her\ncase about missing a connect while I sat at the back of the line like a coward.\nShe managed to get let in about a third of the way down the line. When we\nfinally got to the end, I warned her not to carry on with the man at the desk\nbecause they don\u2019t like pushy people but she ignored me and grovelled so well\nhe just stamped her passport and waved her through; ignoring all the\nfingerprint and photography stuff they do these days. He did the same with me. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We raced on to baggage claim, launched ourselves at the\ncarousel and made it quickly through customs, located the escalator to\nDepartures and found the appropriate check in lane. Once again, Christine did\nher grovelling trick to convince others to let us skip by them. It was awful\nbut it worked. Alas, we were ten minutes too late for baggage check in so\nChristine started to tear up and mentioned the \u201cBirthday Trip\u201d. This ploy\nseemed to work because a quick phone call saw us on our way again, boarding\npasses in hand. The lines through Immigration were as bad as the inbound ones\nso Christine had the audacity to approach an official in a very fancy uniform\nand plead our case. He inspected our documents and took us over to the crew and\nmilitary check-in where we were duly processed and onto the final leg. With no\nhold ups at security, we actually made it through with ten minutes to spare,\nexhausted but content. Well done to the Malaysian officials.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We seem to have a bit of a history with poor connects\ninvolving Bangkok. We\u2019ll need a holiday just to get over the flight. On the\nplus side, the flights were excellent, especially the Perth-KL Air Asia X\nflight which featured excellent leg room and a quiet environment in their\n\u201cQuiet\u201d section up the front. Even when you fork out for all their extras, it\nis still a whole lot cheaper than the big carriers and very comfortable for a\nsix hour flight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Arrival at Don Mueang Airport showed us what real crowds can\nbe like, totally eclipsing the lines at KL. One long snaking line led past a\nseries of signs, indicating 45 minutes, 30 minutes, 15 minutes etc until we\nthen had to break off and choose an individual line. The reason for the slow\nprocessing was apparent when we watched people trying to grapple with the\nfingerprinting machines. People were so incompetent. When we finally got to the\nhead of the line, we scooted through with no issues so we failed to understand\nwhy some found it so hard. One guy had been trying ofr a good five minutes\nbefore us and was still trying after we had been processed. The official at the\ncounter just sat and stared at him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the past, catching a taxi from the airport in Bangkok was\na frightening experience, with scams and aggressive touts in abundance.\nThankfully, all that has been cleared up and one heads for Door 8 to use the\nsimple and efficient taxi desk with metered taxis. It helps to have some small\nchange Baht because the passenger has to pay the two toll stations (70bht and\n50bht) along the way but all was good and we were soon in the famous downtown\ntraffic snarls fighting our way through to Sukhamvit Road and the Marriot\nQueens Park.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once at the hotel, a small army of personnel descended on\nthe taxi to take our luggage and escort us like captured prizes to the\nReception Desk. There it was discovered that we were more than mere mortals and\nwhisked away once again to the 27 floor and the delights of the \u201cM Club\u201d to\nfill ourselves with complimentary drinks and canap\u00e9s while check-in proceeded.\nOur package includes access to the M Club, a large bar area with sweeping views\nof the city and all day non-alcoholic refreshments. Alcohol comes out between\n5:30 and 8:30 and includes all manner of beer, wines, cocktails and the like, a\ndangerous thing to let Christine loose on. It is a good thing that wine is\nincluded because buying wine otherwise in Bangkok is out of our league. Canap\u00e9s  are also on offer but so vast is the selection\nand supply that it is really an evening meal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"\/
The Marriot Marquis Queens Park – Bangkok<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

After a drink and a plate of Mediterranean fare, we headed\ndown to our room to unpack and settle in for a bit, before heading back to the\nM Club to do further damage to the amazing spread of food. Three days here will\nbe needed to be followed by thirty days in the gym. We spent a very pleasant\nevening chatting to an Irish couple who have lived and worked in Thailand for\nthe last six years. Fortunately, the only thing we had to drive home was an\nelevator and even that was a stretch. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Breakfast was back in the M Club, a modest affair by some\nstandards but still with far too much for these ageing bodies to handle. We did\nour best to consume enough to get us through the day without resorting to\nlunch, rested up a while in the room then headed out to re-acquaint ourselves\nwith Bangkok\u2019s complex public transport system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The nearest BTS Sky Train station is within an easy walk of\nthe hotel. Our plan was to ride the BTS and then swap to a Klong Taxi, a high\nspeed long boat that shoots through Bangkok\u2019s canal system at breakneck speed,\nspraying filthy water in all directions. We paid for an all day pass on the BTS\nthen realised that we had wasted our money and should have just paid single\ntickets for only two rides. The pass doesn\u2019t cover the Klong Taxi so we had\nmore to pay but we soon worked out the system. Our journey took us over into\nthe old city area, where we had a booking for a bike ride the following day and\nwe were anxious to scope out the trip. We seemed to walk and walk, climbing a\ngreat many stairs to access BTS stations and cross over canals. Along the way,\nwe passed fascinating street food eateries and small markets, but the\nattraction of these had been reduced by the full bellies from the M Club breakfast.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"\/
The Klong Taxi<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Having located the bike tour place and satisfied we could\nfind it the next day, we worked out way back with more walking and climbing,\nthe tired legs protesting. We got off the Skytrain at Nana station to visit the\nNana Plaza, a low cost cheap goods market area in one of the shadier parts of\nBangkok. It proved to be a bit too shady for our tastes, with streets lined\nwith bars and nightclubs, full of bored looking young girls and overweight\nsingle western men. We decided that the area was not to our liking and got back\non the Skytrain to return to Phrom Phong, our home station. Once there, we were\nexhausted and set off for the walk home. After quite a while, we both came to\nthe conclusion that we were walking the wrong way and had clocked up nearly a kilometre\nof \u201cwrongness\u201d. There was no chance of just jumping in a taxi to return to the\nhotel because Sukhumvit Road was just a carpark and walking was much quicker.\nAs we once again passed the station entrance, we spied a tourist couple headed\nto the steps and offered them our day passes, knowing full well that we would\nnot use them again that day. They were well pleased.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eventually, we crawled our way back to the hotel, tired and\nbeaten. Our stamina for wandering around SE Asian cities has taken a hit over\nthe years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The afternoon was spent lounging by the hotel pool and\ndowning a couple of wonderful Chang beers, before retiring upstairs for a\nwell-earned nap.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rejuvenated, we hit the M Club again for the evening drinks\nand endless food. The food may not be of the highest quality but it is more\nthan passable and the quantity and variety makes it a standout. We found\nourselves sitting next to the couple to whom we had given the day pass and we\nfound that they were from Perth. Like us, they were enjoying the \u201cLuxury\nEscapes\u201d package, except they had bought the week long package. We passed a\nvery pleasant evening in their company. They still had the all day pass with\nsome time on it so we passed it on to one of the waiters to use on his way home\nfrom work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The highlight of our third day in Bangkok was a bike tour\nwith Just Nok Bike Tours. They are situated in the old city area not far from\nthe busy backpacker zones. We were a little apprehensive about the thought of\ncycling in the chaotic Bangkok traffic but we need not have had any concerns.\nOur guide, a wonderfully jovial guy named Jazz, was an expert at negotiating\nthe difficult parts and kept us in the backstreets for 80% of the 13km ride. It\nalso helped that there was just the guide and us rather than a long tour of\ncyclists to manage. Cycling in Bangkok is so easy and efficient that I am\nsurprised that one sees so few bikes. Jazz put it down to the climate. He said\nthat very few businesses have showering facilities and cycling tends to work up\na sweat. We found things pretty comfortable in the 32 degree heat and the rain\nstayed away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"\/
Bike Tour with Just Nok Tours
<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The theme of the tour was to explore Bangkok behind the\nscenes. This we did, getting well off the usual tourist path. On the western\nbank of the river, there is a large Muslim community, living in stilt houses\nover a large wetland area. Cycling along the narrow boardwalks adjoining the\nfew roads tested Christine\u2019s fear of falling into sewer water (who wouldn\u2019t be\nafraid) but we came through unscathed. There were places deep within the\ncommunity where one could easily forget that we were in the heart of Bangkok\nand imagine ourselves out in the rural countryside.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We stopped at regular intervals to explore places of\ninterest, a Royal Temple, another abandoned temple, sections of the old city\nfortress walls, some beautiful parks and gardens, the huge sprawling public\nhospital area and nearby University. We stopped at a fruit stall where Jazz\nshowed us how to eat Mangosteen, Rambutan and another thing that looked like a\nlychee but was sweeter. All three were very tasty and very refreshing when one\nis thirsty. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"\/<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Another food stop was at a large collection of street vendors\nparked under the huge Rama 8 Bridge. There we ate a snack meal of sun-dried\npork and garlic strips deep fried in hot oil and served up with sticky rice. It\nwas excellent fare. Jazz gave us some tips for the safe eating of street food,\nlooking out for clean oil and checking the immediate surrounds of the vendor\nfor cleanliness. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The tour took more than four hours and we ended up quite\nexhausted but exhilarated by the sights and experiences of the day. It was\neasily one of the best bike tours we have done. The trip back across town in\nthe early evening proved difficult. A taxi was out of the question. Who wants\nto spend an hour going nowhere on Sukhumvit Road? We use the Klong Water Taxi\nfor the first part then swapped to the Sky Train. The crowds on the Sky Train\nwere crazy and we stood shoulder to shoulder, back to back and bum to bum with\nwhat seemed like a hundred other passengers. The trip took twice as long as\nusual because the train kept stopping, probably due to line congestion. It was\nnear 7pm by the time we got to the hotel with just half an hour to have a bite\nto eat at the M Club.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our taxi ride out to the airport was long but uneventful and\nthe general boarding process was far less stressful than the horrors of KL. We\nsettled in for the short Scoot flight to Singapore, leaving Bangkok with the\ndefinite feeling that a couple more days was needed. We generally aren\u2019t ones\nfor staying in at a hotel and so are seldom inclined to spend money on the\nluxury treatment. However, the Marriot Marquis was a whole new experience,\nproviding a high standard of luxury without the pretentiousness that we often\nfind hard to put up with. The staff were friendly and treated guests in a\nfriendly and familiar manner. We felt totally at home while living in a\nstandard to which we are not accustomed. We\u2019ll be keeping an eye on the\nofferings from luxuryescapes.com for our next experience of paradise. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As for our opinion of Bangkok itself, little has changed and\nit still holds relatively few attractions. Moving around the city is difficult\nand expensive. Taxis actually represent good value but the time it takes to get\nanywhere makes them a poor option. The Sky Train is quite expensive compared to\nthe MRT in Singapore and the overcrowding is almost unbearable at times. The\nKlong boats are cheap and fun but the River Boats are also quite expensive. A\nday wandering around Bangkok soon racks up more than $10 whereas a day on the\nMRT in Singapore struggles to be $5. In Bangkok, there is a move to get rid of\nthe many street food vendors and locate them in eating areas. This push seems\nto be unpopular with both locals and tourists alike. The locals rely on street\nfood, with few bothering to cook at home. The food is cheap, of an excellent\nstandard and makes the eating out experience exotic and exciting. Squatting on\na plastic stool under a bridge is way better than sitting in a plastic coated\nfood hall. As with everywhere, it probably has more to do with collecting rents\nand building commercial centres than what the people actually want or need.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Back in January, we saw a great special with luxuryescapes.com for three nights of luxury in the Marriot Marquis Hotel in Bangkok so we rationalised it…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":2538,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4],"tags":[243,411,412,248],"class_list":["post-2537","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-holidays","tag-bangkok","tag-kl","tag-marriot","tag-thailand","has_thumb","clearfix"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hinchy.org\/travels\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/IMG_20190726_114954.jpg?fit=4032%2C3024&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8sUAc-EV","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hinchy.org\/travels\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2537","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hinchy.org\/travels\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hinchy.org\/travels\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hinchy.org\/travels\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hinchy.org\/travels\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2537"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/hinchy.org\/travels\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2537\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2539,"href":"https:\/\/hinchy.org\/travels\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2537\/revisions\/2539"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hinchy.org\/travels\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2538"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hinchy.org\/travels\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2537"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hinchy.org\/travels\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2537"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hinchy.org\/travels\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2537"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}