For New Year's Eve we headed back to Bangkok. We took a boat from Vongduern beach to Ban Phe port on the mainland. The boat looked like a 70 year old fishing trawler and was so slow that it was overtaken by pretty much every other boat on the ocean. Eventually, we got to the port only to find that Ric had left his flip flops on the island and we had to get him a new pair. Typical.
In Bangkok we got a taxi and headed over to our hotel. The taxi pulled into the side of the road and slowed down, as I was wondering why, my door was opened and somebody grabbed by backpack. I panicked, tried to grab it back. I'd heard so many stories about bags being stolen like that. It took a few moments for me to realised that the taxi had slowed to a stop because we had arrived at our hotel, and that the guy "stealing" my backpack was in fact the concierge trying to carry it for me.
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| Grande Ville Hotel lobby |
After offending the concierge we checked into the Grande Ville Hotel. This was extremely exciting for me as it was a) a real hotel, and b) a nice hotel. The only hotels in Korea are "love hotels"; no matter how up-market the hotel, there is always a pack of condoms and a bottle of lube on the dressing table, I guess that's what Korean hotel guests want, but for me it just takes away the niceness. Other than that the only other places Ric and I have stayed together have been a shoddy pink tent and in South American hostels in various states of decay, so for me, Grande Ville was a very special treat. It was LUSH. There was a huge Christmas tree in the marbled lobby, carpets in the room and A SWIMMING POOL ON THE ROOF!!!!
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| The view from our room. |
The roof pool, on the 24th floor, had stunning views of Bangkok. When we got up there on New Year's Eve, a nearby building had caught on fire and was covering the city in a thick black smoke. We never found out anything about the fire as it wasn't reported in any English press, it's a tragic way to end the year for somebody though.
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| From the roof. |
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| Nice pool, nice view. Shame about the burning building. |
After a nap, shower and an array for energy drinks that are illegal in England, we set out to celebrate on Khao San Road. The road is known for its backpacker and professional hippy crowd as well as its many bars, restaurants and shops. On the one hand it is perhaps a tacky choice (I'm sure there are much more refined things to do in Bangkok), but on the other hand we only had one night there, and we wanted to party.
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| Khao San Rd. |
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| Khao San Rd. |
Khao San Road did not disappoint. The entire area was buzzing with excitement and energy, there were hundreds of people there and so much going on. There was a countdown stage with singers and dancers, elaborately dressed ladyboys prancing around, people selling everything under the sun. We were even offer a ping pong show. Every establishment on the road, whether it be a chemist or a bank by day, had been turned into a roadside bar. We sat and had cocktails outside a travel agency. We ordered a mojito and strawberry daiquiri that both tasted suspiciously like Smirnoff Ice.
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| Smirnoff Ice cocktails. |
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| Bucket of vodka. |
We bought beers from a shop and just walked around in awe of the place. Paradoxically, across the road from all the drinking and rowdiness, we found a temple with a ceremony going on. People were chanting and praying and lighting incense sticks. We went to get a closer look and it was so strange that such a peaceful and calm ceremony was taking place so close to the road were thousands of tourists were celebrating the New Year.
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| Buddhist ceremony taking place opposite the madness. |
We saw in the New Year in a relatively quiet spot, away from the crowds, wrapped up in our own world as usual, and then sat down to smoke a shisha pipe in a bar where I had fun popping some balloons that some people were playing keepy uppy with. I'm a terrible person.
Finally we soaked up the booze with some street food and headed back to our hotel to admire the city by night, from our 18th floor hotel room.
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| The end of our night. |
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| Phat Thai. |
