Live and Let Thai

With cheap flights and a complimentary hotel room, I think that 36 hours in Bangkok might actually be cheaper than a weekend of fine dining and entertainment at home in Hong Kong. Which is exactly how I rationalize my travels these days, I guess I'm actually making a profit off of them? The first signs of a serious travel disease... but I like to think in terms of opportunity costs.

I convinced T to accompany me on this weekend excursion, and it just so happened that our trip overlapped with Bryndee and Holly's Thai excursion, so we combined forces to fill our Bangkok fun bags as full as possible in a quick day and a half. After a late night and an accidental 4am wakeup call, we got an early start on the Chao Phraya river headed by long boat to the famed Grand Palace. After filling up on some delicious $1 pad thai from the street market, we outfitted ourselves in the loaner sarongs (no shorts allowed), and explored all of the opulent wats of the Grand Palace. When the oppressive humidity + extra layer of clothing became too much to bear, we set off across the river to the nearby Wat Arun.

All the hype around the Grand Palace is well deserved, but Wat Arun was much more my style - peaceful, intricately detailed, scenic, yet a little less flashy. Made out of small pieces of hand painted porcelain, the craftsmanship and artistry was especially impressive. A steep and potentially dangerous climb to the top was well worth it and afforded some stunning views of the whole city.

We wandered over to Khao San Road set on re-energizing with some Thai massages. After the venue was identified, we were soon coaxed into having what some might classify as a group massage...definitely questionable. The blissful post-massage rejuvenation made us immediately forget any initial doubts, although we quickly learned that it might be worth the $1 premium to ensure that the facilities meet minimal hygiene standards.

My dear friend from college Maura happened to be on a consulting job in Bangkok at the time, and I couldn't have been more thrilled to see her. It was like a breath of fresh air seeing someone who knew me from my past life in California. We exchanged stories and quickly realized we were living parallel expat lives (she lives in Dubai) - finally someone who could almost 100% understand this crazy life I have been living over the past year.

After a delicious traditional Thai dinner, we headed over to the Suan Lum Night Bazaar to test out our negotiating skills and clad ourselves in the ever-so-comfortable-and-classy Thai fisherman pants. Our last morning in Bangkok consisted of a visit to the famous Jim Thompson Silk House, filling up on glorious Thai massages, coconut smoothies, and a last minute fix of mango sticky rice at the airport.

ThaiLAND of perfect weekend getaways.