Hello Bangkok!

It’s been over a week since we made it to Bangkok. Our flight landed around 1:30 AM Friday, October 17.  We stayed that night in a hotel by the airport. We did not fly into the big airport in Bangkok (BKK); we flew into Don Mueang International Airport.  When we leave Bangkok, we will fly out of the regular BKK airport.

Osaka to Bangkok Flight

The flight from Osaka to Bangkok was over 5 hours and left at 9 PM Thursday.  Leaving that late was our saving grace in that we were tired enough to sleep on the plane way more than we usually do.  We were in coach on AirAsia but the leg room was so much better than any US domestic flight so that also made things better.  The airline was fine. It was one of those where you have to buy everything that is not the ticket to get on the plane - seat selection, food, wifi, any luggage more than a personal item weighing more than 7 kilograms. I sure do miss the days when you paid for the ticket and you got to check a bag and they would feed you a meal for no extra cost.  That type of flight is hard to find in this part of the world so we went with it.

We did find such a flight when we were booking our flight out of Chiang Mai, Thailand to Da Nang, Vietnam in December.  Then we will be flying Emirates - a first for us.

We both probably slept 3-3 ½ hours on the way to Bangkok which is SO much more than either of us usually sleep on flights. Yay!

12 The Residence Hotel

Since we got in so early in the morning, we stayed at a hotel near the airport - “12 The Residence Hotel.” Not sure why “12” is in the name but it is.  The hotel was nothing fancy but it was clean and safe and the bed was comfortable. We spent about $40 on it.  I am sure some people will freak out thinking we were in some kind of seedy, dirty dive motel, but you would be wrong.  Prices are different here. I would actually have no issues staying there for several days.  The location wasn’t that great since it is not really near any of the sites we want to see, but maybe that is part of why it was cheap.  Don’t get me wrong, it was no Penisula Hotel, but it was just fine.

The hotel had a 10 AM checkout time, which I thought was a bit too early.  Not sure I have been in a place with such an early checkout. After we woke up and got ready, we took a Grab to The Peninsula Hotel.  Woo Hoo! (Grab is like Uber and used widely in this part of the world.)  It was a 45 minute drive and cost us a little less than $7.00.  You can’t beat that!  We have taken Grab several times since we have been here and not one trip cost more than that.  We haven’t tried public transportation yet, but that is more a function of my getting the flu than anything else.

The Peninsula Hotel

Staying at The Peninsula was a splurge for us.  I hesitate to say how much it cost because it was A LOT!  We have never stayed at a hotel as nice as this.  We probably got close with La Fonda in Sante Fe, New Mexico and the Shangri La in Sydney Australia but they really don’t come close to the level of service we experienced at The Peninsula.  It is clearly a 5-star hotel. We figured if we were going to spend that kind of money, we better do it right, so we got a room with a balcony overlooking the Chao Phraya river.  We were there for a whole week and spent hours over the course of that week sitting on the balcony watching the boat traffic. The service was nearly impeccable.  I say nearly because on one day, they did not service our room until after 3:00 PM, and another, it was after 2 PM.  Not a big deal, but if you are going to use “impeccable” to describe something, things had better be perfect.

The Flu

While I would have rather not spent my time at the Peninsula fighting illness, if you are going to be sick, it is a lovely place to be laid up in bed. About that illness…

On Monday of our stay (remember, we got there on Friday), I decided to go see the doctor for the cough I had had since before we got off the cruise ship.  Having a chronic cough is nothing new to me.  Anytime I get a cold or some sort of bug, I get a cough that lingers for weeks and weeks.  But I had gone to a pharmacy Saturday morning and got some meds for the cough but by Monday it was no better, maybe slightly worse.  The doctor gave me meds and offered a combo flu/covid/RSV test but I declined thinking it was likely just another cough I could not shake.  But by Tuesday, I was achy, had chills, and the cough was worse.  So Wednesday, we went back to the doctor.  I had a fever of 101.6 so they recommended, not just offered, the flu/covid/RSV test.  The test came back positive for Flu A.  I was given Tamiflu and an anti-inflammatory and told to go back Friday so the doctore could listen to my chest again. The nurse gave me her WhatsApp and told me to text her my updates. In hindsight, perhaps I should have gotten the flu shot when I got the pneumonia vaccine back in August.  I can report that today, I am on the mend.  My fever broke Thursday morning. When I texted the nurse she told me to come Monday instead of Friday (yesterday) so that is what I am going to do.  I still tire fairly easily and we are taking it easy until I go back to the doctor.  Blaise is being very thoughtful and understanding but I am sure he is growing weary of my getting sick when we travel.  I hope this is it for a while.

One last thing about the flu - the doctor said right now there is a TON of flu in this part of the world - Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia.

Laundry

Because we were considered an “extended stay” at The Peninsula, they gave us 50% off their laundry services.  You would think “Wow! What a bargain!”  But you would be wrong.  On Tuesday (before I found out I had the flu), we decided to do the laundry.  I did the math and it was still going to cost us around $100 at 50% off.  I get, we were splurging staying there, but I am sorry, I am NOT going to spend $100 for fancy laundry service.  I would much rather spend $100 getting some sort of experience.  We were not going to get any cool experience out of a posh hotel doing our laundry.  I guess maybe they might have smelled really lovely.  Maybe.

Since Blaise and I both decided that is not how we wanted to spend our money, I found a laundromat a 7-minute walk from The Peninsula. We loaded our dirty laundry in our Celebrity Cruises tote and headed out the front door of the 5-star Peninsula Hotel to the laundromat.

It might not have been 5-star service, but the charming owner of the cleanest laundromat we had ever been to, came out and gave us a tutorial on how to use the machines.  It was as close to 5-star as you could get in a laundromat.  Chatting with him, we learned he spent 2 years with a host family in his teens in California, later living in Houston, working at Astroworld.  He was so excited we were from the United States and even more so when he found out we were from Texas. We enjoyed visiting with him.  Small world.

Cleanest laundromat you ever did see

Leaving The Peninsula

Yesterday, Friday, we said farewell to The Peninsula Hotel, as we headed out to our AirBnB for the next three weeks.  I am really going to miss the special treatment of The Peninsula but how special would a place like that be if you did it all the time?  We certainly would not be able to be gone for 8 months if we did that the whole time we are gone. As we got into the Grab to head to AirBnB, I told Blaise “We had a good run at The Peninsula.”

The New AirBnB

The AirBnB we checked into yesterday is small, but clean and safe.  The air conditioner works well, the shower is hot, and the bed is comfy. And it is about 20% the price we paid at The Peninsula for the 3 weeks we will be here.  The host met us in the lobby and showed us around.  The place has a gym and a swimming pool.  We found a place for breakfast this morning near the condo, but have spend the rest of the day relaxing as I continue to recover from the flu.  I hope by Monday, we will be able to start seeing the sites.

Our AirBnB for the next 3 weeks

The kitchen

Thoughts on Thailand

Thailand is much different from Japan and Osaka.  Thailand is grittier and not near as clean as Japan but Bangkok has been much cleaner than I expected.  It is not filthy by any stretch.

While the people were nice and helpful in Japan, it felt different than the kindness displayed by the Thai people.  I think the best way to describe the difference is the people of Japan are helpful and polite because that is what is expected of them; that is how the Japanese society operates.  They were taught from a very young age that polite society does very specific things and does NOT do very specific other things - a very strict set of rules.  Whereas in Thailand, it all feels like the kindness comes from the heart.  They are thoughtful because they want to be thoughtful, not necessarily because society demands it.  I am not even sure if that makes sense.  The end result is roughly the same; it just feels a bit different.

All that to say that thus far, we LOVE both countries!

One last observation of Thailand before I call it quits so we can have dinner.  While the Thai people are big bowers too, they add what I call the “prayer hands.”  It is called the “wai” - the placing of the palms together in a prayer-like pose and slightly bowing.  I find it a wonderful way to greet people but I love the whole bowing thing anyway.