Bangkok, Thailand

Friday 12th May

It was lucky we didn’t have anything planned for the morning as I didn’t wake up until 7.30 am. Albeit I had been awake for a couple of hours at 4am though.

We did the usual routine of gym, pool and then breakfast however, there were two funny incidents at the pool this morning. The first was when a young Asian girl, fully clothed, came and asked me, as I was sitting there wet and be draggled from my swim in the pool, if she could take a selfie with me in it. What could I do but smile and agree.

The second incident was much funnier though. A middle-aged Asian man was slowly doing laps of the pool when his swimming cap floated off and away unbeknownst to him but his extended family were sitting by the pool and were most amused. The man, once alerted of the situation, tried to drive and retrieve the cap but without success. They then got a friend to try and dive for it but they couldn’t retrieve it either. There was much consternation from the family by the pool at this stage. So Mark, ever the noble gentleman, offered to dive down and retrieveit for them. He did so easily and with just one duck dive and I only wish you could have heard the cheering that came from the family around the pool. It was a very, very funny moment.

It started to rain while we were having breakfast and so that changed our plans a bit. We waited for a break in the weather and then went for a walk down to buy two elephants. I had seen these at JJ markets last weekend and, also, in a shop down the road from our Hotel and was rather keen on them. Mark, much later on, piped up and said that maybe we should buy them as a memento of this trip. So, off we set. We walked to the shop down one side of the street and back the other as this part of the city is where all the Silver jewelry shops are located, although most don’t accept retail which was rather lucky for Mark.

It was still raining when we got back to the Hotel but headed to the pool anyway as the weather was still warm and we were able to snag a day bed under a large weather-proof umbrella. The plan for the rest of the day was to stay poolside for a few hours and then get ready for the hour commute out to the popular Rod Fai (Train) markets. These markets are meant to be rather alternative and with an eclectic mix of antiques, designer clothes, food stalls and bars that only open from 5 pm on Thursday through to Sunday.

We left for the new Rod Fai markets at 4 pm catching the Hotel Ferry down to the Sky Train and then transferring to the MRT train. Public transport is cheap here with the whole 45 min trip costing us each 55 Baht or about $2 AUD!

The Rod Fai markets were meant to open at 5 pm but only the food stalls seemed to be up and running by the time we arrived so we stopped at a bar to have a drink and kill some time. We were the first at the pub but it soon became busy with other like-minded people. A group of four beside us ordered this huge tower of beer and I’m sure Mark was wishing he was with them rather than just me 😕

There looked to be some signs of life in the stalls after a while and so we set off for a wander. It was an interesting mix of street food stalls, barbers, clothing, makeup and gadgets. We bought a few items but headed off home just as the place was ramping up. It’s open until 1 am and so there was a fair bit of ramping up still to do.

We eventually found a taxi driver who was prepared to take us back to the hotel as we’d decided our preference was to eat back at the Thai restaurant there for our last night. We had a lovely meal to celebrate out last Bangkok evening and I do declare this the best Thai restaurant in Bangkok!