No, I didn’t do anything I couldn’t write home about. But I pretty much lived it up in Bangkok this weekend. Going to Bangkok this time around was a decidedly different experience backpacking with my boyfriend last November. Having done the tourist/cultural stuff on my previous trip, I allowed myself to unabashedly indulge in a purely chick-trip with a girl friend, and have nothing but (a) replenish my supply of cheap Thai tops and sun-dresses (those loose flowery types I wear all the time); (b) get massages; (c) get my nails done; (d) eat good Thai food on my to-do list for the weekend. This time, I trotted with Mun Chen, a collegue who sits right next to me at work, who turned out to be an excellent companion for traveling. Her ex-boss, now in UOB Thailand, offered us his 2 guest rooms in his serviced apartment and personal driver for our beck-and-call for the weekend while he was away.
Oh boy! And what a chick-trip it was! We got to live the life of indulgent Tai-Tai, filled with shopping and massages, manicure and pedicure, driven around everywhere, and being taken out to nice places for dinner. ‘Tis only nice just because it’s a holiday. It would be unimaginably insufferable
for me if that was truly my life.
Bangkok beckons! I see my calling on the way into the city from the airport on Thursday evening.
On our first night, we were taken out to Sirocco, probably the most stunning bar I have ever been to in my life. I pulled this picture out from a website cos it’s the clearest. But even the picture does no justice to this spectacular place.
With an outstanding live jazz band and singer on a raised platform…
On the 2nd night, we went for dinner and karaoke with a bunch of Thai people in UOB Thailand. They all had great hair (we noticed)! ;p
Some funny sights: awkward looking farangs in a tuk-tuk…
…the coolest pink helmet…
…white trash at Chatuchak Weekend Market…
…Mun Chen with her porn star T-shirt shopping around Chatuchak. For some odd reason, I thought the picture showed the guy laying face down with the girl straddling him on his behind. And I was wondering where the strap-on was. Until Mun Chen told me the guy was face up. Which is obviously more likely.
We had a massage all of the 3 days we were there. The first Thai massage was wonderful wonderful wonderful. The 2nd one was a foot massage which was disappointing. The 3rd one we decided to go back to the same place (Healthland Spa), and both of us ended up with a BRUTAL masseuse each. After I pointed out my special spot in my neck (the 2 points which is the root of my aching neck, but when pressed will release an orgasmically painful shot exploding through my body. It’s both a curse and a blessed button.), my matronly masseuse muttered "ahh, steef neck, steeef neck", and proceeded to jam her fists into my neck for a good 20 minutes. Most of it was actually good, as I was left gasping and moaning as my special spots were kneaded. But as she pounded harder, and did that thing where she squeezed my head, I thought my head would explode. By the third and last round, I had enough of Thai massages for a while.
A more gentle experience was our manicure/pedicure session, with the guy who greeted us spending an hour blowdrying and ironing his own hair. He ended up finishing our perfect french manicure when our female manicure/pedicure-rists (what do we call them?) failed to do a good job. Good to know he puts that meticulous vanity to good use. Lovely boy he was. We spent the rest of the day admiring our hands and feet.
And not to forget the outstanding food. Thai food is probably my favorite food next to Japanese. Our last meal was recommended to us by our driver. The waiters spoke no English and the menu barely had English, so we knew it had to be authentic. And it was! Even though the pineapple rice we tried to order came out (pine-ap-ple…pine-ap-ple…you know? The fruit? How you say?) as Pattaya rice. This yum yum tom yum was the best we had in the trip.
And here’s our lovely driver, Nathapon, who allowed us to get a taste of the Tai Tai life. It was fun…just for the weekend. It does feel great to return to a job I love on a Monday. I have 2 new cases on my desk! Whoo hoo!=) (that whoop of joy is not sacarsm. I really love my job that much.)
