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| Pretty upscale hotel, with cloth napkins and everything |
I found it on Agoda, a place I've had pretty good luck with in the past. When I'm in the states, it's a little slow getting feedback, refunds and such, because they are in Bangkok (I think). I started to use services like Orbitz or Hotwire eventually because they have a toll-free number and it's nice to talk with someone at times. Anyway, I searched Agoda and found the Amari Atrium Bangkok Hotel for a very good price, about $60/night all told (did not choose breakfast included). It's rather fancy, and I suspect the price might be three times that if you walked in off the street, but I guess you can get pretty good last minute deals booking unsold units online right before a holiday. Very nice room, and the bed wasn't too hard. Very nice Jacuzzi here, that's appreciated. I just hung around the hotel, soaked in the hot tub for an hour and had a couple beers, went back to the room and took a nap.
Jeab (pronounced Chee-ob) called me in the evening and informed me that she and two of her friends from college would pack me up and take me with them to a wine buffet in the evening. I have never been to one of these and didn't know how it worked. You pay one price and drink all the wine you want. I might have drank a lot more wine if I understood that. The girls talked to me part of the time in English to be nice, but the more they drank the more, faster and louder they talked in Thai. I just took it all in. Some really nice appetizers.
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| Three very lovely and entertaining ladies: Moo, Tuk & Jeab. Jeab was by far the loudest. |
Moo informed me that speaking English was, for her, a sobriety test. They understood all too well exactly what a wine buffet is. It was hilarious being ignored and listening to them. Afterwards I was deposited back to my hotel stone sober and proceeded to watch television until I fell asleep. I probably would have slept well, if not for a few pesky mosquitoes in the room.
I went looking for breakfast this morning in the hotel, seated myself at the bar and asked the tender to make me an espresso. It was 110 baht, but she gave me some free cookies, the sweetheart. I asked if I could get some coffee and a croissant or something over in the breakfast area, and she quoted me a price of 640 baht for all you can eat breakfast. Wow, that's about $21! I told her it's too much, and she instantly (and inexplicably) changed the price to 320 baht. I asked the front desk if they had internet computers, and I was directed to the "business center", a room where you could rent a computer for 300 baht/hour ($10). I thanked them all, finished my coffee and set out on a walk.
Right around the corner in an alley I found what I was looking for. It is a tiny little building just past the 7-11 (they are everywhere) selling espresso for 30 baht, extra shot for 5 more baht. Right behind it was a little stand that made pretty yummy thai food for 30 baht. Across the street was an internet gaming cafe, but they weren't open yet.
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| I spent about an hour here tanking up on espresso and waiting for the internet cafe across the street to open |
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| It seemed to be a family run spot, auntie making flower necklaces at the front, watching a young child |
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| Some pretty yummy pork and greens with rice and my third espresso, all for about 120 baht. Got a bag of ripe, juicy papaya later for 10 baht. |
They told me the internet cafe across the street opens at 10:00 AM, but they opened late. It's a four day holiday here, kids were hanging around outside waiting for it to open so they could play games.
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| Kids playing games next to me. It's pretty noisy in here right now. |
It a coin operated thing, never saw that before. A five-baht coin buys 30 minutes, so I guess the kids can play all day for next to nothing.
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| I think I got 10 minutes for free |
I'm afraid I'm getting boring for you now, aren't I? There hasn't been any temples or museums or palaces for quite some time now, just boring little places. Sorry, just haven't been much interested in doing many exciting things lately. It seems all I want to do is walk around and take pics of everyday life, spend time talking to regular people and seeing how they live, try to imagine if I could live like that. I think if it was just me, I could live like the average Thai, though it would take me some time to acclimate to having much, much less.
I just saw a guy sitting under a walkway drinking a bag of coke. It was a thin, clear plastic bag that stood up by itself, sort of, and a straw. Why don't we have that in the US? A little less to throw away.
Well, the internet cafe has turned into a war zone, gamers everywhere putting body english on the mouse and shooting everything in sight. I suppose tonight I'll buy into the hotel's fancy party and countdown with the rest of the hotel people, or find something less expensive at a club somewhere. I probably should not spend New Year's Eve in Bangkok watching TV in my hotel room, eh? It's noon now, maybe go over and soak in the hot tub again, get a massage and take a nap, try to catch up on some sleep so I won't conk out too early tonight.
