Kathleen
Bangkok – February 13-16, 2016
Ah, the Sukhothai….we stayed here 14 years ago on our honeymoon on a last-minute hotels.com deal, and it set the bar for what a truly luxurious hotel is like. We actually were able to pick up another deal on hotels.com this time and we found the hotel expanded, but the room just as comfy as we remembered, with a large, wonderful bed and exotic bathroom with separate tub, shower, washroom and toilet! Ah, the life. The city itself seems to have multiplied exponentially since our last visit and there are new glassy buildings in every direction as far as the eye could see. Traffic is horrible during three hours of rush hour both in the morning and the evening. Last night we spent an hour going about 3 miles from our hotel.
Our most important order of business was to hit the week-end market, by far the most extensive market anywhere, every Satruday and Sunday there are stalls upon stalls of every possible thing imaginable to buy, from bean sprouts to gigantic electric fountains, to the largest St. Bernard I have ever seen and several types of pet(??) owls… you name it, you can find it here. If we found it amazing in 2002, it was even more so this time, potentially doubling in size with a mall at the outskirts. It is really difficult to explain, something to see for yourself if you ever get to Bangkok.
After the market we washed up at the hotel and headed next door to the Banyan tree’s 60th floor Vertigo lounge, a restaurant and bar on the rooftop of this large hotel and office building. What a view!! We just don’t seem to do/allow this sort of thing in the states and it is truly a wonderful experience to watch the sunset from outside way up above the city. This was an excellent Valentine’s Day treat, and we followed it up with a lovely poolside meal at a boutique hotel in a different neighboorhood, enjoying a great Thai meal, the highlight of which was the spicy green papaya salad….delightful!
Next day we had a bit of a rest and catch-up. We decided Bagkok was a good place to take a day off with the 98 degree heat and the fact that we had done most of the big tourist list items the first time we were there. I enjoyed getting a pedicure at the mall down the street, using the excellent wi-fi speed to do some catching up on planning and blogging, and relaxing by the pool…..another good Thai meal, and a small dose of local live music, and time for bed, looking for a new destination, Chiang Rai, the next day.