Transit in Bangkok

We've arrived home, but our journey involved a couple of hours transit time in Bangkok.   Our flight had left Delhi at 11.30 pm, and it took about 3½ hours to get to Bangkok, but with the time change, we arrived there something after 5.30 am local time.   Needless to say, we weren't in great shape.   This was the only occasion I can ever recall regretting not being able to stay on the plane for longer so as to continue sleeping!   And my state was such that I left a couple of insignificant items on the plane....annoying.

I glanced at a couple of the local newspapers while in Bangkok.  It's all about the forthcoming cremation of their late King.   The Thais are a bit obsessed about this.....very strange.

On a different note, I've got some more things I want to say about India, so some further posts on this blog are in the pipeline.

Farewell to Thailand

We've arrived in New Delhi, but before starting on my initial impressions of India - a matter on which I really do need to collect my thoughts - I'll record some final thoughts about Thailand.

Australians like Thailand, of course:    they drive on the left, and eat with a knife and fork!   English is widely spoken, especially by people with whom tourists are likely to have contact with (although perhaps not so much in the case of taxi drivers!).  And the traffic, although challenging at times, has the benefit of some reasonable roads (a contrast to Delhi, at least).
 

The Thai people are all charming, of course, although I do wonder if high levels of staffing sometimes leads to a loss of efficiency (or, at least, don't compensate for this).   It's come up on a couple of occasions, and while we don't have any complaints, the service on Thai Airlines so far hasn't had quite the edge that you find on at least some other airlines.

Nurses (on TV)

But right now, the Thai's respect for the monarchy is on full show.    13 October marked one year since the previous king's death.    At 3.52 pm (the time of his death), many places observed 89 seconds of silence (he was 89 when he died).  Several channels on the TV gave extensive coverage to 9 minute period of silence at the hospital where he died.   All the nurses were out in the street, and I read in the Bangkok Post that there were a number of memorial events around town, with people being turned away from some.

The Post also reported numerous people being in tears and "heartbroken".    Hmmmmm, I'm really not sure about this but I suppose I'd better be careful:  under the extremely strict lese majeste law, an 85 year old historian is currently under threat of prosecution for wondering aloud three years ago whether a 16th century story involving a king of that era prevailing in an elephant battle with the then king of Burma (taught, I read, in all Thai schools) actually happened.   Even the Post thinks this might be over the top.

A Day in Bangkok

What do you do if you have a single day in Bangkok?    Go shopping?   Explore the sights?   Well, actually, no.

For starters we had a leisurely breakfast.   It had been included in our pre-paid, advance, non-changeable hotel booking (advance purchase without breakfast was, by some quirk of the Accor system, actually more expensive).     So we availed ourselves of the extensive buffet and set ourselves up for the day.

Then we headed by airport train then the Skytrain (with a change at Siam) then a walk to the British Club.

 I had arranged an introduction, and we were warmly welcomed (once we produced a credit card!).    And indeed it has some of the characteristics of an oasis as described on the website - nice gardens, a pool, tennis court and an extensive menu, but it's clear that the membership is varied and in fact there were a lot of children in the pool!    I don't recall Somerset Maugham mentioning them.

We had a nice meal in the dining room (I'm told the duck l'orange, and the apple blueberry crumble which followed, were great), overlooking peaceful gardens before adjourning to the outdoor area, between the pool and tennis court with the gym behind, to enjoy a cappuccino and watch a little of the Shanghai Open on the TV.

Did I say that the Club isn't on a direct train route from the airport (where we're staying)?    The thought of retracing our journey in our by-now relaxed frame of mind late on a Friday afternoon when even more people would presumably be travelling was a little intimidating,and anyway the rain was starting. 

We knew we had to negotiate to get a good taxi fare, but on arrival back at our accommodation we gave back the amount we'd negotiated off the opening offer from the driver, thus reinforcing the impression that Westerners are a soft touch, but he was happy!.