When I said I was moving to China, everyone from home said they'd come visit me, IF we went to Thailand together. It's funny, because my first visitor, my dear friend Katy, met me in Thailand at the start of her Asian exploration. I guess my friends weren't kidding about that trip being a must.
After the wonderful weekend I had in Hong Kong, Katy and I met in Bangkok at our adorable hotel, the Villa Phra Sumen. She had arrived just shortly before I had, and was already resting in the hotel. She opened the door and we exchanged a big hug. It had only been a few months since we'd last seen each other as I had visited her in New York over the summer, but it was so good to have a friend on "my turf"!
The hotel was precious. It was something straight out of Pier One Imports, only everything was authentic to Thailand. There were exposed wooden beams on the ceiling, cement floors, a cute little sofa with great pillows in vibrant colors and designs...even the box of tissues was encased in a red basket to add another splash of color. I loved it. I was sad we'd only be there one night.
That first night in Bangkok became known as "One Night in Bangkok" to us, because it sounded like the start of a crazy story, which is what it is. I kept thinking back to the movie "The Hangover" and quickly realized that what I thought might have been movie magic, actually was true to this city.
Katy and I met her friend who lives in Bangkok and he took us to dinner at his hotel, the Anantara. We popped up to the roof for an amazing view over the city, but it began to rain so we ate in another one of the hotel's restaurants down on the second or third floor. It was lovely.
After dinner we decided to go to the W hotel for drinks. We were only there long enough for two drinks and a few rounds of Jenga before we all started feeling sleepy and decided we needed something more lively, so Katy's friend took us to Patpong with a warning of "don't make eye contact." Lordy, Lordy. The things I saw and heard during that brief walk up and down the market! I had to look at the ground the majority of the time, as I couldn't keep a straight face. The center aisles are for stalls selling trinkets, pashminas, sunglasses, you name it. That part wasn't so bad, except that they hound you to buy things. The side of the road, however, is lined with nudie bars. I'm sorry I can't call them anything else; I certainly can't call them by their actual names.
The bars were all open so that you could see inside...no front wall on any of them. There were people in the street trying to get us to come into each of the "fine establishments" with an enticing menu of what one might see...things that made me feel dirty just hearing. I made the mistake of mumbling under my breath, "wonder what they can do with that ping pong ball," and was quickly answered. Holy moly. If you want to know more, if you're curious, google it, but I'm not repeating the things I heard. I'll just leave you with this thought, certain body parts of these "talented young women" can do much more than you'd ever imagine, or care to. I'm not going to lie, I am baffled too by how these people can make their "hooha" smoke cigarettes. I'm thankful I didn't look up to see this, however. I'd have nightmares I'm sure. I said a prayer for the girls and a prayer for my own soul after leaving that place. One night in Bangkok...that's all I needed.
The next day was much more my speed as Katy and I got up to visit a few temples. We actually only made it to one, the temple of the giant, reclining Buddha. It was hot, we were sweaty, and there were tons of other people at the temple, but it was really wonderful to see this massive statue. I got some great photos from the grounds of the temple, but even they don't do it justice.
Prior to our trip, we had heard that massages were super cheap and very good in Thailand, so after the morning hustle and bustle at Wat Pho, we went to Healthland for some relaxation. We had a two hour massage for 500 Baht, the equivalent of $15 and change. Katy and I were escorted into a room where three mats lie on the floor. We were given a cotton pair of pants and shirt, much like scrubs, and told to change and lie down. That sounds a lot easier than it was, because neither of us could figure out how to put the things on and both showed a bit more of ourselves than we'd like when the therapists came in the room to help us! The two massage therapists worked on us diligently, trying to de-stress the two of us. I get worried about my back and not speaking the language, so when I saw what the woman was doing to Katy (stretching and twisting in ways I knew I couldn't) I sat up and said "no," and tried to show her my scar. I just don't bend and am scared the therapists here in Asia will try to do something that physically, could really hurt me. I guess because I was nervous, I didn't really enjoy my massage. Katy, however, said hers was amazing.
It was POURING rain when we came out of the spa and the taxi situation was insane, but we were able to get a guy to take us to the hotel so we could quickly grab our things and head to the airport for our flight to Phuket. That would be the most amazing part of our Thai adventure, but that's for part two of this series of posts. Stay tuned...
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