WEDNESDAY 1st APRIL (continued): Several companies run bus services from Prasat to Bangkok and elsewhere in Thailand. The trick is getting a good service. There is a so called VIP service which is a business-class equivalent but we opted for one of the better services instead. The bus (or rather a coach) we caught was actually very comfy with lots of leg room and, of course, air-con.
This service also had the advantage of not stopping after it left Prasat; other services tend to call at several towns en route. The driver did seem to drive a touch sedately but we got to Bangkok in a touch over 7.5 hours with one 20 minute refreshment stop.
On reaching Bangkok Bus Terminal it was clear we had hit on rush-hour, which in Bangkok is not to be taken lightly. As usual, we were accosted by by touting taxi-drivers, most if not all of them a bit greedy. The ones that approached us were asking 6, 7 and even 800 Baht to drive to Nana. This should cost no more that 350 Baht in a meter-taxi.
The queue for the meter taxis was long and we were tired and very hot. We joined the queue but were approached by a guy touting his Tuk-tuk for 400 Baht. Now I've always said I'd never be seen in one of those things, maybe a bit of a snobby thing, but in this instance his touting of saying "my tuk-tuk better than taxi... very quick". Well I've seen these guys in action and they barge through traffic like motorbikes. Anyway, we were tired, it was hot, the queue was long and his price reasonable.
It was a hell of a squeeze with our two big suitcases and us but the guy hammered-it through the Bangkok rush-hour mayhem and we arrived at Omni Tower in good time at around 5pm.
Checking-in was simple enough and we were shown up to our room on the 31st floor. First off I was a little suspicious when we arrived at the door of 3105 as the "Please Service Room" tag was hanging on the door-handle. My suspicions were confirmed when entering the room we found it in disarray and no sign of housekeeping or service. I showed my disgust to the bell-hop and gave him a broadside (yes I know it wasn't his fault but he then yells at reception) saying we'd been on the road for 8 hours. It paid off as we were immediately up-graded to Room 3012 on the 30th floor, which I recognised as one of the more up-market apartments; they're not hotel rooms at Omni Tower they are serviced apartments.
So, here we are with that fantastic city skyline view [see pics].
TOP LEFT: Our bus; Pratas to Bangkok - 7.5 hours.
TOP RIGHT: Aboard said vehicle.
SECOND LEFT: Some lurking tuk-tuks. We didn't expect to be in one later.
SECOND RIGHT: We squeezed in... literally, 2 big suitcases and us and hurtled through Bangkok's crazy rush-hour.
THIRD LEFT: Aboard the tuk-tuk, flashing lights & all.
THIRD RIGHT: Note the driver in the rear-view mirror.
BOTTOM LEFT: Our champion driver got us to the apartment in record time.
BOTTOM RIGHT: Just a shot of the Omni Tower on arrival. We're on the 30th floor.
Below is a short movie of that crazy tuk-tuk trip across Bangkok:-
LEFT: Balcony view of Bangkok at 7pm.
RIGHT: Back in Bangkok... yet again.
BELOW: Panoramic photo from our balcony.
... and below is a movie of the apartmenet's interirior:-
THURSDAY 2nd APRIL: Up, showered and down for breakfast by 08:00.
Plan today was to do some touristy bits. All the times I've been to Bangkok, I've never seen the Bangkok Grand Palace. So, we decided on a taxi as opposed to the BTS or MRT (Skytrain & Underground) and this turned out to be a touch amusing. On Soi 4 200 metres down from our apartment we hailed a cab and got in. The driver set off and decided to to do a U-turn, presumably I thought to avoid heavy traffic on Sukhumvit Road. He then suddenly changed his mind and asked us to get out as he didn't want to go to our destination. The joke was he stopped right outside our apartment so we had to walk that 200 metres again.
Bangkok taxi drivers are like that. You stop a taxi and tell the driver where you want to go BEFORE getting in. Around 50% of the time they say no and you try and try again until you succeed. It's always been like that and one of the main reasons is if they know a certain road will be heavily congested (what roads aren't in Bangkok?) they'll simply refuse to take you.
Anyway, we walked down to the main road, Sukhumvit, and eventually got a taxi. As presumed the taxi spent more time 'square-wheeled' than moving but in the end we arrived at the Palace area at around 11:00am.
I made the mistake of not wearing my trousers with the zip-off leg sections and I really should have realised. basically, you're not allowed into temples with certain bits of your body bared, such as wearing shorts.
God it was HOT. We queued for ages to borrow some of the over trousers (pantaloons)so our legs were covered and off we went into the Grand Palace grounds. Photos of the Grand Palace are on the next page (19.)
The place was heaving with tourists, mainly south-east-Asians, but we battled around in the heat. I must say the place is absolutely spectacular. Beautiful. I took dozens of photos but by 2pm we were done and desperate for a soft drink or two. We found a cafe and had some cokes and soda water and then made our way through an old market and down to the river front. Amusingly, at one point we heard screams and load shouts as we were strolling down the walkway only to see this huge lizard thing legging about. It looked like a baby alligator but the poor thing was clearly terrified and was just trying to get away and hide somewhere whilst everyone wanted to take its picture (eg, like me).
Mooched about the riverside for a bit then hailed a taxi to take us to the massive MBK Center* which is a huge shopping mall. One thing we wanted was a new Thai keyboard so as Aom can write on the computer using her native alphabet.
Had some lunch in MBK then walked across to the Siam Center* and eventually boarded the BTS back to Nana. We popped into a bar for a swift Singha beer and decided we hadn't been for a foot massage for ages. As luck would have it, there was one just across the road to the bar we were in. It turned out to be a good one and we both had excellent foot, arm and hand massages.
Back to the apartment via a 7-Eleven to buy some beers to take back because we'd decided to go to Climax. Climax is a night-club with live bands and a very popular venue. The idea of buying beers in the 7-Eleven was simply to save a bit of cash as the drinks prices in Climax are horrendous
Left Climax at around 3am and after stopping off for some noodles at a street foodery we walked back to the apartment very hot and tired. * "Center" no, I haven't misspelt or gone corrupt American spelling; "centre", of course being correct. Thailand seemed obsessed by using the US corruption of the English language.
TOP: Example of Bangkok's concrete jungle. The BTS or Skytrain dominates and overshadows the streets below.
CENTRE LEFT: Elephant monument near to the Grand Palace.
CENTRE RIGHT: Aom buying popcorn 10 Baht a bag.
BOTTOM LEFT: Aboard one of Bangkok's bone-shaker buses. On this one I could see the road through gaps in the wooden floor.
