This post covers 3 days in Bangkok. Wednesday was a golf day for me, playing at Dynasty golf club in Nakhon Pathom with my old work colleague Thanit and a friend John. The golf was up to its usual low standard but was, in any event, very enjoyable. Ann spent the day shopping!
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| Golf at Dynasty |
On Thursday Ann went to Chinatown to brave Sampeng Lane, a very narrow and very crowded (almost) pedestrianised street running parallel with the main thoroughfare Yaowarat Road. I say almost pedestrianised, as scooters often carrying goods and porters transporting their wares, career through the street. There are hundreds of small shops selling almost everything and we are firm believers that if you looked hard enough, you could buy almost anything in Chinatown. Ann went in search of her pearls. As for me, I went to Pak Khlong Talat, the main flower market that also sells vegetables by the Chao Phraya River and then on past Wat Pho and the Grand Palace to Wat Ratchabophit. If Wat Pho is my very favourite temple in Bangkok, then Wat Ratchabophit runs it a close second. Both are incredibly beautiful and the latter houses the Royal Cemetery.
Sampeng Lane
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| Sampeng Lane, Chinatown, Bangkok |
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| Sampeng Lane, Chinatown, Bangkok |
Pak Khlong Talat
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| Pak Khlong Talat Flower and Veg Market |
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| Pak Khlong Talat Flower and Veg Market |
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| Aptly named cafe, Pak Khlong Talat |
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| Pak Khlong Talat Flower and Veg Market |
Wat Ratchabophit |
| Wat Ratchabophit, Bangkok |
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| Wat Ratchabophit, Bangkok |
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| Wat Ratchabophit, Bangkok |
Thursday was also Curry Night!. This Bangkok institution has been going on for 27 years and the founder is still attending at 81 years old. It is held every 2 months in an Indian restaurant (of course!) and we all dress up in dinner suits to attend. It has been affectionately christened as "Old Fart's Night" by the wife of one of the regular attendees and it is true that many of us are now in our seventies. It is, however, a great night with lots of beer, jokes and general camaraderie.
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| Dressed to kill |
Friday is Ann's lunch day which entails meeting up with friends at a local hostelry, in this case, O'Shea's which happens to have featured in our itinerary several times on this trip! I went off to the Khlong Toei market which is Bangkok's biggest wet market, booked appointments for our booster jabs at Medpark Hospital and then ended up strolling through Lumpini Park, Bangkok's "Green Lung" where I met a couple of the local residents.
Khlong Toei Wet Market
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| Khlong Toei Wet Market |
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| Khlong Toei Wet Market |
Lumphini Park |
| Monitor Lizards, Lumphini Park |
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| Lumphini Park, Bangkok |
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