Thursday, 12th January 2023
As usual, all the preparations for this trip fell on my shoulders but of course I do not mind that – after 3 years I’ve found once again pleasure in planning a trip. However this time I worked together with a Dutch travel agency specialized in local in country travel organizations and thus offering very unique cornerstones to putting a trip together; the purpose of our travelling to Thailand is twofold: to meet up with my ex colleague and a very good friend for a number of years, Pintuwan, who had finally returned to her birth country with her Dutch husband, Jan, and to escape the cold, grey and wet weather that’s typical to the Netherlands at this time of the year. So we’ve got some Dutch goodies for Pintuwan and Jan !
As we are pensioners, I had to look up economical flights to Bangkok – it’s high season in Thailand so flights are sky high – anyway I managed to get Thai Airways with a changeover in Frankfurt; from there it’s a 10 hour flight and we should arrive in Bangkok by 13:45 local time. Also as we are pensioners, I wanted to avoid the hassle of public transport or getting a taxi from the airport and have ordered a car to pick us up. Our hotel, Silom Serene Hotel is located down town on Silom Road and close to where Pintuwan and Jan stay when they are in town.
We will be staying in Bangkok till Tuesday morning when we have planned a trip to Kanchaburi – visiting the railway over River Kwai and as a contrast to all those terrible atrocities that took place during WW2, we will enjoy the waterfalls close by.
Well back to our flight right now – initially our flight map showed that we would be flying over Kiev and Crimea and actually were quite shocked – both Gerry and I watched the screen intently and as we approached the war zone, we gave a sigh of relief when we saw that the flight steered southwards of the Crimea; hence only flying over the most south west tip of the Black Sea.
It’s early morning European time and we’ve just had breakfast on board – estimated arrival time Bangkok time is 13:40; we’ve got some 880km flight distance still to go before we arrive in Bangkok airport . While watching the flight screen during breakfast, I’ve discovered that my topography needed some refreshing! Now I know where Chittagong, Mandalay and Cox’s Bazar lie; also that The Philippines are way above the Equator…….
Friday, 13th January
Finally landed at Bangkok International Airport and after passport control soon collected our baggage, bought a local SIM card and made our way out to be met by our chauffeur who within 45 minutes drove us to our hotel, Silom Serene Hotel, in downtown Bangkok.
Although we hadn’t slept much on the plane, we had enough energy after having a shower to visit with our friends Pintuwan and Jan and deliver the Dutch goodies we had brought for them.
This time it was Jan who was in hospital as he was recovering from surgery so we walked over to the hospital where he is staying and had a pleasant visit. Our dinner date for the follow evening was still on as Jan would be dismissed the following morning from hospital.
We left the hospital to face the chaotic traffic as we made our way to our dinner reservation at Seen Restaurant situated on the 26th floor across the river. We soon forgot our frustration and most probably also our tiredness when we saw the magnificent view. We had made a reservation for a premium table meaning outdoors and the first row overlooking the river. At first we just sat there and admired the view and it became even better with a glass of an exquisite New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc – Sileni for me and a gin tonic for Gerry. The music was great – a female Dj accompanied by another female saxophonist and our meal was just heavenly.
Our meal was just exquisite and we finished it off with a dessert called “Tell me I’m not drunk” – a thick dark chocolate parfait with a hot chocolate sauce. Luckily we shared this dessert but forgot to take a picture of it! Everything was perfect this evening – ambiance, scenery, music, food, service and most of all Gerry and I were having a fantastic first evening together in Bangkok.
Our taxi ride back to the hotel was only 15 minutes and when we arrived at the hotel, we were certainly dead tired and needed a good night’s sleep. Tomorrow we have to be up early as we are attending a cooking class at 8.30 a.m.!