For all those eagle-eyed people who spotted that I said “Emirates flight to Hong Kong” in the previous blog entry, it’s just to let you know that the flight did actually land at Bangkok on the way! 🙂
Although this second flight was actually an hour shorter than the first one, it seemed to be longer. We found ourselves in the middle four seats of an Airbus A380, with two ladies seated to the right of us. We were tired and grubby and baulked at the thought of another six hours at 37,000 feet. However, long-haul flights are a fact of life if we want to go to all of these far-flung, exotic places, so we just had to put up with it.
It was just the same old, same old. Aircraft took off. Seatbelt sign went off. We flicked through the AVOD screen in front of us to see if there was anything we wanted to watch: nope. A cabin crew member said that our first meal would only be a snack (it was the middle of the night after all!) but that, about an hour before landing, we would be served a hot breakfast.
The trolley then came around with drinks; Trevor and I decided on a screwdriver each. It breaks up the monotony and I hoped the shot of vodka would help me doze off, as I can never sleep properly unless I am lying down.
We set the screen in front of us to display the sky map and the flight statistics, then just sat it out. Time continued to pass and, while it seemed painfully slow during this flight, we knew we’d get there eventually. A couple of times I got up and walked the length of the aircraft and back, just to stretch my legs and relieve some of the absolute boredom.
As we were travelling east, we enjoyed an early sunrise, spotting the glowing pink and orange sky through any windows that didn’t have their shades down. Then we saw signs that cabin crew were on the move once again with the breakfasts, so we perked up a bit. The two ladies sitting on our right (who were being served from the right-hand aisle) received their breakfasts; there was a choice of beef noodles or cheese omelette as the hot dish.
On our side of the plane, we couldn’t see the trolley anywhere. In fact, those on the right-hand side had finished their breakfasts before the trolley was anywhere near us. Eventually it appeared, and we both asked for omelette; Trevor chose tea and I selected coffee.
A loaded tray was placed before each of us, but they’d run out of omelettes by the time Trevor was served, so the stewardess disappeared off to get one for him. In the meantime, I noticed there was no milk for the tea or coffee, so I looked around for someone to ask for the milk.
We made a start on our breakfasts; orange juice, then a delicious, thick creamy yoghurt with granola. Trevor still hadn’t received his omelette, nor had we any milk. There was also fresh fruit and croissant with butter and jam, and we tucked in. Still no milk and still no omelette, in fact; they never did turn up. This was disappointing, and far below the standard we have usually come to expect from Emirates.
Still, we were only about 30 minutes away from landing by now, and we could see land out of the windows. The gigantic aircraft slowed her speed and began her descent, my ears popping slightly at the change in cabin pressure. We were nearly here! It was just on 12.00 noon; we were ahead of schedule.
Soon the wheels touched down at Suvarnabhumi International Airport, Bangkok, and we sped along the runway towards the terminal building. We had arrived! ☺
It was great to be back on terra firma again and we were pleased to be able to walk and stretch our muscles after over 13 hours of flying and another five or so hours of sitting around at the airport. We hoped it wouldn’t take too long to get through security, immigration and customs.
As it happened, it wasn’t bad at all. The queues moved very quickly and efficiently, and soon we found ourselves at the carousel waiting for our suitcases. It took quite a while; the A380 is a giant of an aircraft and you could potentially have over 500 pieces of checked luggage on board. I always have that moment, as we watch the cases and holdalls going round and round, whether our cases will appear amongst them, or whether we’ll be one of those unfortunate passengers whose luggage goes AWOL (it’s happened!!)
It was soon with relief that we spotted our bags, then we looked at our instructions from the tour company that told us we were to make our way to Exit B, Gate 6, to meet the Newmarket Holidays rep, and that’s just what we did.
A very pleasant Thai lady called Aoi ticked our names off the list before we waited for the others in our party to arrive. It didn’t really take that long, and no-one’s baggage had got lost, so once we were all present and correct we followed Aoi to the waiting coach outside, and loaded our cases into its hold. The weather was hot, around 35 degrees, and very humid. As we boarded the air-conditioned vehicle, we were each given a steel water bottle which would be ours to keep. We took our seats in the coach and Aoi told us it would take 45 minutes to an hour to reach our hotel, depending on the traffic. I unscrewed the lid of the very cold water bottle and took a long, long drink.
We spent the time looking out of the coach window at the frenetic early afternoon activity on the streets of Bangkok. Despite that slightly disoriented, spaced-out feeling that typically accompanies the after-effects of ong-haul flights, we were just so excited to be here, finally, in this bustling and colourful city. ☺
As the coach neared our hotel, we spotted many restaurants, shops and bars, including a sports bar with a large board outside displaying all the club badges of the English Premier League football teams, including our own team Sunderland. ☺
A few minutes later, Aoi announced that we had arrived at the Solitaire Hotel, Bangkok, and we thankfully stood up, stretched and retrieved our rucksacks from the overhead racks before alighting from the coach into the sultry afternoon air. As our driver offloaded all the luggage, we stepped into the cool interior of the hotel and made our way to the check-in desk. A large sculpture of a glittering mosaic elephant called “Lazy Elephant” caught my eye, and our first impressions of the Solitaire were certainly favourable.
I was glad it didn’t take long to get our room key, because I was really flagging by now and decided that the order of events would be a long-awaited power nap followed by a refreshing dip in the pool. We therefore identfied our luggage to the bell-boy and he tied a label with our room number to the handle of each case; these would be delivered to our seventh-floor room shortly.
We took the lift to floor seven and made our way to room 717, which would be our home for the next three nights. We were very happy with our room; it was situated on a corner which meant we had large windows on two sides of the room, giving it a light and airy appearance. The room contained a king-sized bed, large sofa, 55” TV screen and spacious ensuite bathroom.
Crashing out on the bed, I set the alarm to go off at 5.30pm and sank into a blissful sleep. When the alarm did eventually go off, we could have stayed in bed a little longer, but the swimming pool beckoned, and we decided a cool dip would wake us up and wash off the day’s grime.
Quickly changing into our swimming things, over which I wore my matching sarong, we took the lift to the ground floor and followed the signs to the spa and swimming pool. A freezing cold beer would also go down very well. ☺
Sliding into the water was sheer bliss; the temperature was just right. We swam and splashed around and soon we were joined by another couple who we remembered seeing at Newcastle Airport. They heard our accents and came over to introduce themselves; Brian and Clare from Barlow, near Newcastle.
After swimming and chatting for a while, we decided a beer was in order, particularly since there was a special offer on from 5.00 – 7.00pm – buy two local beers and get a third one free!
Getting dried off and donning my sarong once again, we found a table in the small poolside bar and ordered our drinks. After a couple of rounds Brian suggested that we meet in the hotel foyer at 7.45pm and go out together to explore our immediate vicinity and enjoy something to eat.
It sounded like a good idea, so after getting washed and changed and smartened up a little bit, we went back downstairs and within minutes we were joined by Brian and Clare and we made our way outside. After the chill of the air-conditioning in the hotel, the heat and humidity of the tropical evening came as something of a shock.
We walked along the lively, colourful streets which thronged with people of all nationalities. Disco, trance and rap music blared forth from a number of bars, all blending together in a cacophany of discordant sounds. The “ladies of the night” were out in force, standing in small groups on the street corners, strutting their stuff and looking for lone males to whom they would unashamedly offer their services. This is Bangkok! ☺
After perusing the menus on display outside several eateries, we decided on a Jamaican-themed restaurant/bar we liked the look of. As well as the appetising scents of the aromatic spices and ever-present hints of lime and jasmine, we could smell the distinctive, all-pervading smell of pot. Cannabis was either legal here, or was at least tolerated.
Inside the bar, we took our seats and ordered three large beers, one each for me, Trevor and Brian, and a glass of white wine for Clare who isn’t a beer drinker. The local beer was either Singha or Chang. ‘Chang’ is the Thai word for elephant, as this is their national animal. The beer, when it came, was cold, foamy and refreshing. 🙂
Looking at the menu, Trevor and I decided we fancied the stir-fried chicken with cashew nuts, so we placed our order. It took a while for the food to come, but this was no hardship as there was certainly no shortage of conversation, or indeed entertainment with the people-watching. As we sat there in a sort of jet-lagged semi-somnolence, we marvelled that here we were, in Bangkok, and our great South East Asia adventure was only just beginning. 🙂
Our meal was delicious; savoury and tasty and a decent-sized portion. We each ordered another drink and, once we’d eaten and drank our fill and used the restroom, we decided it was time to move on – the nightlife of Bangkok awaited us. 🙂
As we strolled through the bustling streets, we came to another bar called “Hillary 3” which featured a live band. There were a number of these “Hillary” bars; Hillary 1, Hillary 2 etc. I don’t know what the difference or the significance was, but we received a warm welcome as we entered the bar and were shown to a table for four. We noticed that the bar had an upstairs as well, and it was certainly doing a roaring trade. Once again, we ordered the inevitable beers then watched the live entertainment, which consisted of a group of musicians and a female singer, performing their versions of well-known British pop songs. They were very good, too.
By around 10.30pm, the jet-lag was starting to to get to us, so we decided to finish our drinks and head back to the hotel for a nightcap.
Clare and I enjoyed a glass of wine each and Trevor and Brian decided to have a whisky. The drinks came accompanied by a dish of roasted peanuts upon which rested a couple of lime wedges, and when we tasted the nuts they were delicious. They had some sort of dried, salted kaffir lime leaves in with them that imparted a unique and very more-ish flavour. I decided I’d have to find out where to get them, so I bring several packets home.
After we’d finished our drinks, we said our goodnights and headed back up to the room 717. We got washed and changed and into our ‘jamas, ready to settle down in the large and comfortable bed with its rustly clean sheets. We drew the curtains, but not all the way so the early morning light would infiltrate our room, and herald the start tomorrow – a new, exciting day. 🙂
We both slept very well.