· Back home... in BangkokBangkok, Thailand · 21st Jan 2008 · Posted by Annie
By now Bangkok was starting to feel a lot like home. Maybe it's because we've been there a couple of times already, maybe it's because we've got Bunna to fall back on when we need to know where something is or how to get there. At any rate, we like Bangkok lots.
Our original plan had been to spend only 'one night in Bangkok' (yes, just like the song) before heading across to Phnom Penh. However, both Chris and I were still feeling a bit weak from our respective illnesses in Bangladesh so rather than rushing around with our enormous backpacks on, we thought we might spend an extra couple of days in Bangkok first and recover fully before hitting Cambodia.
So recover we did. We went out for dinner with Bunna and had a very western but much appreciated meal at Sizzlers. Then we went to Bunna's office and helped Bunna with some firewall issues he's been having (geek geek geek). I think the geeking was also much appreciated by both Chris and I who haven't had much of a chance to do any real geeking since late November!
We also both got our hair tended to - Chris got a hair cut and I got mine dyed dark again. The re-growth on my blond streaks wasn't looking so hot anymore and I'd just about had enough of the blonde (which wasn't so blonde anyway) so I'm back to my old dark self. We had a couple of massages each at a place near Soi Rambuttri in the Khao San area called Sabai Body Massage. I'm falling in love with foot massages... mmm.
Umm... what else. I finally finished filling out my HSMP (Highly Skilled Migrant Programme for work in the UK) application and sent that off to the UK (what a relief). Thanks so much dad, mum, Tom and Anna for all your hard work getting those documents together for me... couldn't have done it without ya!!!
Oh yeah - we each got a couple of fancy suits tailor made for us at 'Bangkok Fashions' run by a friendly couple of guys, Harry and Jesse. We're not entirely sure whether we dealt with Harry or Jesse but whoever it was was very professional and helpful. Chris and I are gonna look oh so corporate in our new suits!
Although this is our third time in Bangkok, we still haven't really done much sight-seeing. So this time we finally made it to see the Golden Buddha which was awesome. The best part was being blessed by a Buddhist Monk who then gave Chris and I a bracelet each and even put them on our wrists for us. We also managed to get ourselves out of bed early enough to go see the famous Floating Market which is about 100kms out of Bangkok itself. Only 300 baht each got us a ride in an air-conditioned mini-van with pickup from right outside our hotel. On one of our previous visits to Bangkok, when we stayed at the Novotel, we were told by the Novotel tour desk that the only way to see the Floating Market was to hire a private taxi at 2000 baht EACH. What a rip-off. Anyway, the Floating Market was amazing - so many colors and smells and noise. We paid an extra 150 baht each and got a ride on a narrow long boat down the main section of the market. The market actually only operates from 5am until 7am for real produce, after which it becomes a tourist area selling souvenirs and food. We were not there before 7am, but it was still a pretty amazing experience. We didn't buy any souvenirs but did indulge in a bunch of 'Longan' fruit and some bananas.
Now for the most interesting and shocking part of this post... after some serious consideration and discussion, Chris and I decided that instead of spending a month in Vietnam like we had planned to originally, we would spend that month in ... JAPAN! We briefly visited Japan early last year on our way back from Europe and absolutely loved it. We'd wanted desperately to go back to Japan on this holiday but had decided that it might just be too expensive. However, 7.5 weeks on this holiday and we've really only spent about $4,000 NZD so we figured... why not! We looked into some flights to Japan and back to Hong Kong (which is where our flights to London leave from) and it wasn't looking good... We're talking $5,000 NZD more EACH. Ughh. So we dropped into a travel agency next door to Bangkok Fashions and to our surprise, we were able to find tickets from Bangkok to Tokyo then back to Hong Kong for about $900 NZD each on Cathay Pacific. That is MUCH more affordable so we booked and paid for them on the spot. Wooohoooooooo!!
Therefore, the newly revised holiday plan is to fly to Phnom Penh on the 21st of Jan, spend a couple of days there, bus up to Siem Reap, spend a few days there, come back to Bangkok, spend a couple more days here, then fly to Japan on the 31st of Jan. Then we have almost 4 weeks... (FOUR WEEKS!!) in Japan and we fly back to Hong Kong on the 26th of Feb. That gives us about 5 days in Hong Kong to go shopping before flying to London. Woohoooooo!!! We're not sure what we're gonna see in Japan yet but we'll probably be visiting Becky in Kobe at some point.
Now, time to get a new visa in our passports... bring on Cambodia!
Our original plan had been to spend only 'one night in Bangkok' (yes, just like the song) before heading across to Phnom Penh. However, both Chris and I were still feeling a bit weak from our respective illnesses in Bangladesh so rather than rushing around with our enormous backpacks on, we thought we might spend an extra couple of days in Bangkok first and recover fully before hitting Cambodia.
So recover we did. We went out for dinner with Bunna and had a very western but much appreciated meal at Sizzlers. Then we went to Bunna's office and helped Bunna with some firewall issues he's been having (geek geek geek). I think the geeking was also much appreciated by both Chris and I who haven't had much of a chance to do any real geeking since late November!
We also both got our hair tended to - Chris got a hair cut and I got mine dyed dark again. The re-growth on my blond streaks wasn't looking so hot anymore and I'd just about had enough of the blonde (which wasn't so blonde anyway) so I'm back to my old dark self. We had a couple of massages each at a place near Soi Rambuttri in the Khao San area called Sabai Body Massage. I'm falling in love with foot massages... mmm.
Umm... what else. I finally finished filling out my HSMP (Highly Skilled Migrant Programme for work in the UK) application and sent that off to the UK (what a relief). Thanks so much dad, mum, Tom and Anna for all your hard work getting those documents together for me... couldn't have done it without ya!!!
Oh yeah - we each got a couple of fancy suits tailor made for us at 'Bangkok Fashions' run by a friendly couple of guys, Harry and Jesse. We're not entirely sure whether we dealt with Harry or Jesse but whoever it was was very professional and helpful. Chris and I are gonna look oh so corporate in our new suits!
Although this is our third time in Bangkok, we still haven't really done much sight-seeing. So this time we finally made it to see the Golden Buddha which was awesome. The best part was being blessed by a Buddhist Monk who then gave Chris and I a bracelet each and even put them on our wrists for us. We also managed to get ourselves out of bed early enough to go see the famous Floating Market which is about 100kms out of Bangkok itself. Only 300 baht each got us a ride in an air-conditioned mini-van with pickup from right outside our hotel. On one of our previous visits to Bangkok, when we stayed at the Novotel, we were told by the Novotel tour desk that the only way to see the Floating Market was to hire a private taxi at 2000 baht EACH. What a rip-off. Anyway, the Floating Market was amazing - so many colors and smells and noise. We paid an extra 150 baht each and got a ride on a narrow long boat down the main section of the market. The market actually only operates from 5am until 7am for real produce, after which it becomes a tourist area selling souvenirs and food. We were not there before 7am, but it was still a pretty amazing experience. We didn't buy any souvenirs but did indulge in a bunch of 'Longan' fruit and some bananas.
Now for the most interesting and shocking part of this post... after some serious consideration and discussion, Chris and I decided that instead of spending a month in Vietnam like we had planned to originally, we would spend that month in ... JAPAN! We briefly visited Japan early last year on our way back from Europe and absolutely loved it. We'd wanted desperately to go back to Japan on this holiday but had decided that it might just be too expensive. However, 7.5 weeks on this holiday and we've really only spent about $4,000 NZD so we figured... why not! We looked into some flights to Japan and back to Hong Kong (which is where our flights to London leave from) and it wasn't looking good... We're talking $5,000 NZD more EACH. Ughh. So we dropped into a travel agency next door to Bangkok Fashions and to our surprise, we were able to find tickets from Bangkok to Tokyo then back to Hong Kong for about $900 NZD each on Cathay Pacific. That is MUCH more affordable so we booked and paid for them on the spot. Wooohoooooooo!!
Therefore, the newly revised holiday plan is to fly to Phnom Penh on the 21st of Jan, spend a couple of days there, bus up to Siem Reap, spend a few days there, come back to Bangkok, spend a couple more days here, then fly to Japan on the 31st of Jan. Then we have almost 4 weeks... (FOUR WEEKS!!) in Japan and we fly back to Hong Kong on the 26th of Feb. That gives us about 5 days in Hong Kong to go shopping before flying to London. Woohoooooo!!! We're not sure what we're gonna see in Japan yet but we'll probably be visiting Becky in Kobe at some point.
Now, time to get a new visa in our passports... bring on Cambodia!
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