I'm Back!!!!

It was FANTASTIC! I'll start at the end because of all the stuff that has been happening over there at the moment. I've been back for a week but I've been catching up with friends in the flesh and trying to work up the 25 hours of supervised driving hours for Bantam Boy to get his licence- we've done 15 hours of driving this week!!!
Fortunately we left Bangkok the day before they used tear gas on the red shirts because our hotel was literally around the corner from one of the areas where they were all the red shirts were gathering.

Our Bangkok hotel was right on the river in the older part of Bangkok- walking distance from many of the amazing must see temples, like the standing Buddha below. The picture above is the view from our hotel balcony. The umbrellas are the hotel restaurant and the blue flag is the jetty for the local ferry that takes you about the city. So it was a very convienient location, close to the busy Kohsan Rd shopping area and markets. We walked along this busy street on our first night there as we got to the end of the street we debated wether to go left or right- Lets go right we decided. As we turned we suddenly both said in unison "Perhaps we should go left!"

At the end of the street there were masses of the red shirts gathering. So we turned left, the street at this end was suddenly very quiet and shops shut. So we walked fairly briskly to an area that was more lively and decided to try the restaurant at our hotel that evening.

Fortunately the food was delecious there as it had been throughout Thailand.

We had plans to do more shopping there but we did not get back to because I was unwell the second day I was there and spent most of the day in bed. Then as so many streets were blocked off and the locals seemed a little edgy or nervous the next day after the red shirts managed to get guns from the military the day I was in bed- we didn't get back to the markets there. (Not that it really mattered to me as shopping was not my main goal)

Relaxation and new experiences were my main goal. We had plenty of that! We had a massage whenever we could. On the last day there we mannaged to squeeze in one more beautiful hour and a half aroma therapy oil and hot stone massage for 450 thai baat (about 15 auatralian dollars!!!!)

Despite the travel warnings and the obvious military and police pressence we actually felt quite relaxed and safe...until the very last day when there was a sense of tension about...

or perhaps it was because at about 4pm every day it became Pina Colada time.

A ritual that was established by the second day we were in Thailand. I'll get to that in my next post! I'll start at the beginning and will also tell you the story of Bantam Boy and the broken bathtub!