It was our last day in Bangkok, and Southeast Asia for that matter. We wanted to show the girls the modern side of Bangkok, as we'd spent most of our time around the budget tourist area that is close to many older tourist spots. It was a late morning as the girls tried to catch up on sleep from a late night last night. They slept so long we missed breakfast so we had to fend on our own.
The closest pier was an easy twenty minute walk, but since we went via Khaosan Road, shopping added another 20 minutes to that tally. Eventually, we made it to the pier and got tickets for the public water bus. The boat was a great way to see the Chao Phraya, as we zipped from side to side about 5km down to the downtown area. The number of boats all trying to navigate around each other, combined with the swift pace of the river, really makes the river churn and bump quite a bit. The on/off process at each stop is pretty quick, so I'm glad we weren't riding at rush hour, as it may have been a bit of a challenge.
We took the sky train to the National Stadium - we were to start our exploration from there. Then it was sidewalk, mall, sidewalk, mall, repeat. Bangkok has so many huge modern malls, all right in a row and all smack in the middle of the downtown core. Strolling through the various malls, all with their own unique architecture, layout and store mix, really shows you that Bangkok is trying to make a run at Singapore. The street we were on was kind of an uglier, steam punk version of Orchard Row or Harajuku.
By the afternoon, we were ready for a distraction, so we went to the theater in the Siam Paragon Mall to see the Man From U.N.C.L.E. We could not believe how fancy the theater was - the bathrooms alone looked like very high end bathrooms that you might see in a five star hotel. The hallways had twenty foot ceilings and were so elegantly decorated that we kind of felt out of place in our self named line of clothing: "reflections of a backpacker".
After the movie, I asked if Robin understood everything. She said "oh yeah, no problem!". I asked it she had any questions, and she said "yeah, what was the point of whole thing?"... Just the one minor question then?
We wandered around some more and hung out for a while until it started to get dark. It was pissing rain, but it was time to head towards the river to visit one of the many skybars for a view of the city. Skybars are all the rage in Bangkok - basically they are upscale bars or clubs that offer a high up view of the city lights, mostly found along the Chao Phraya. We negotiated with a Tuk Tuk driver to take us across the river to the Hilton Milenium hotel. After weaving through traffic and side streets for a long time (still brutal traffic at 7:30!), he dumped us just across the river from the hotel. That wasn't the deal, and the kids were starting to panic a bit (hey, I thought they were trying to get scammed yesterday... This was pretty close!), but the driver was saying we needed to take the ferry across. I argued a bit, but knowing the ferry was 3 baht each (12 cents) and having checked my GPS and confirming we WERE right across the river, we coldly bid adieu to the driver.
The view from the 360 bar on the 34th floor of the Hilton Milenium was very cool. We got our drinks and enjoyed the sights.
Too bad they had blue lights in the interior of the bar as they reflected off the observation glass windows.
Well, it's going to be an early wake up tomorrow, followed by a long day of travel. We have had a bunch of comeback feelings for Bangkok, especially from Beth, as she had been pretty down on it after the "troubles". Thailand overall has been fantastic - it's a very easy place to travel, with affordable food, really nice people and lots to see. We could have easily spent a couple of months here with plenty of beach and trekking opportunities, but we see it as mission accomplished: a good introduction for the kids, and a refresher course for the adults.
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