Last day before alan leaves

Saturday October 12th - written by Alan:

Today is a sad day for me as it is my last day on the trip. Tomorrow morning I will be flying back to New York.

Priscilla and I started the day with a swim. I didn't quite make it to the pool by 9am as suggested the night before but it was not too much later.

Priscilla decided we should do 50 lengths of the pool to get some exercise. We made pretty slow progress at this as were constantly taking breaks to catch our breath and chat. In the end we did 40 lengths as we ran out of time.

Afterwards Priscilla and Steph spent some time on the internet researching and booking hotels and accommodation for the rest of their stay in Thailand, meanwhile I wrote the mammoth blog entry for the previous day.

It was around 1pm before we were done and ready to go out and explore Bangkok some more. We decided to grab some lunch first as we were all pretty famished by this stage. We had been recommended by a couple of people to try out the seafood restaurants in chinatown, so we decided to do that. The place we chose was pretty good, we had scallops and steamed fish. The fish was much better than the scallops, and it felt more chinese than thai.

We then headed off in search of a HSBC ATM. Priscilla has lost her other bank card with no fees and wanted to use her HSBC card at HSBC so she didn't get charged ATM fees. We were told there was a branch in MBK mall so we headed there. Unfortunately this was complete rubbish, we later found out that there is only one HSBC ATM in the whole of Thailand.

We decided to have a look around the malls. We wanted to buy t-shirts but everywhere was pretty expensive. It seems like the cheapest place to buy stuff in south east asia is cambodia and vietnam. It is funny that now we baulk at the idea of paying $5 for a t-shirt, but that is because they only cost $2 in vietnam.

We decided we would try the markets for cheaper souvenirs instead so gave up on the malls and headed back to the hotel. Then it was time to pack for me. I am also taking some of Priscilla's extra stuff back for her so she sorted out what to give me. Hopefully my $4 extra bag I got in vietnam will survive the trip.
 
For dinner we headed to a thai restaurant called le lys. Against our better judgment we picked it from the lonely planet. Of course this meant it wasn't there when we turned up. Fortunately Steph spotted a sign that gave the new address which wasn't too far away. We flagged down another taxi and on the way we managed to stop off at the HSBC ATM so Priscilla was able to withdraw money at last.
 
By this stage the heavens had opened and when we arrived at the restaurant we had to make a mad dash from the taxi to the door. The restaurant had a really nice setting. We were able to sit on the patio under cover while we ate. We ordered a few starters, including tom yum soup, spring rolls and a salad. For the entrees we shared two different curries and a pad thai. It was all really delicious, one of the best meals we have had since Cambodia. To accommodate our fabulous meals, I ordered a beer while the girls had diet coke. Priscilla finally decided to bring out the small bottles of vodka that we got on the flight from jo'burg to hk. It was a bit risky to throw it in the diets while the waiters were walking around, but her window of opportunity came about when there was a 20 second blackout.
 
After dinner we headed off to the nearby Banyan Tree hotel to check out the Vertigo bar on the roof. The bar is supposed to have amazing views of Bangkok. We headed up to the top floor, but unfortunately discovered that the roof was closed because of the rain. I was a bit disappointed about this but the hostess told us we could check out the other bar a couple of floors below. We headed there and were pleasantly surprised to discover another open air bar with amazing views. I guess the only difference was that the floor of the rooftop bar covered the bar, but still the sides were open. We grabbed a table by the side and ordered a round of cocktails. I had a long island ice tea, Priscilla had a martini and Steph ordered a special cocktail - the perfect couple. It was pretty pricey, but since it was my last night I wanted to go out in style! When Steph's drink arrived it was pretty amazing as it came in a bowl of dry ice and therefore had the appearance of a magic potion.
 
As it's pretty usual with pricey roof top bars (for me at least) it was a one drink stop, but we lingered for a while chatting and enjoying the views. Afterwards we headed back to the hotel for my last minute packing and a good nights sleep before my long trip home.