Marbled Halls and Rustic Teak Dining Rooms

After 9 months of being in the Philippines we left for the first time; we went to Thailand. After a short flight across the South China Sea, we landed in Bangkok. A hotel cab picked us up in the spacious airport and we were off. 

The first thing we noticed on the drive away from the airport was the way cars all stayed in their lanes! It was phenomenal! We forgot that the lines had a purpose during our time in Manila…

We found our hotel on a discount booking site online and were pleasantly surprised when the driver dropped us off in front of the Centre Pointe’s glass lobby with polished white and black marble walls and a large chandelier hanging from the ceiling. As we opened our room door we were greeted with sleek marble walls and a contemporary furnishing. Lady Hiva declared it was the best rooms we have ever stayed in. The view in the evening at in the morning from the large picture windows were amazing. In the mornings the breakfast buffet included plenty of fruit and vegetables (I was so happy to see so many fresh vegetables I had a green salad for breakfast everyday) and we spent the evenings relaxing in the rooftop infinity pool admiring the view of the city. 

Our View from the Room

The pool at night

Bangkok was a fascinating city, full of signs we could not read, neon colored taxis, temples decorated with hand-painted tiles and so many intricate details it makes your eyes hurt, and great food.

The streets were pleasantly clean, when we asked about why it was so clean, we were told because forty years ago they decided to clean the city up and mandated that people would be fined for littering. Bangkok is still a city with concrete buildings, traffic, and power lines; but it also has a charm of history running through it and everywhere you look, flags and photos remind you there is a channel of national pride that rallies around their King. We loved it. 

We soaked in the colors, the smells, and the stories. For example how the steepled roofs that are now iconic of Thailand were originally built to shade and cool buildings during the hot days or how canals and boats were used to travel from house to house. 

One evening we went to eat at the Face—a quaint teak set of buildings with koi ponds nestled in between, weathered wooden statues of all sizes, tall plant arrangements and mood lighting. It was romantic and the food was delicious! We both loved it, a place that was so peaceful and beautiful you could not help but smile. (corny I know…but true)

On the recommendation of a colleague, we also went to Chatuchak weekend market one day and were there several hours. It was full of stall after stall of anything you could every think of buying. We bought some hand-painted plates (A while ago Lady Hiva decided to decorate our dining table with plates from different countries we visit together as conversation pieces when we have guests.) It was so hard to choose which we liked best. We settled on a teal blue plate and a gold and crimson plate. 

Selling Popsicles

IT WAS SO HOT!!! YUCK

Hand Painted pottery

We ate all the Thai food that we could, the only thing we ate that was not Thai was some Daim toffee candy From Sweden that we found (why it was sold in Thailand we will never know) and I bought a Subway sandwich as we left because in Manila we don’t have a Subway that tastes the same as it does in the States. We ate coconut sticky rice with fresh mango (Lady’s favorite), Pad Thai, Cashew chicken, fresh fruit shakes, coconut ice cream from the street vendor, and little punch flavored popsicles cute old ladies were selling out of a tin tub broke the heat wave in the afternoon. 

Mango Sticky rice

The road outside Chatuchak

The Hand-painted plates we bought

We thoroughly enjoyed our time in Thailand. In the next few posts we will include photos of us swimming with elephants, walking with tigers, taking a Thai cooking class, and kneeling with monks…stay posted.