Hello everybody, unfortunately I have not had internet for the last few days, (which I was suffering withdrawals from) however I am back up and running now! Phew.
So our time in Vietnam came to an end on Monday, 14 December. We were both a little sad to be leaving however we’d love to come back again someday. So our flight which we had booked way back in September was scheduled for 12.35pm on Monday afternoon. We arrived in to Bangkok around 1.50pm and made our way to Khao San Road (again!) for around 3pm. The taxi man tried to do a deal with us, in that he would pay the tolls on the highway and there would be a flat fee of 500 baht for the journey. We had done this journey before and the total came in around 500 however I reckon the traffic would have been quieter this time round so we refused his “kind” offer and agreed on using the meter and paying the tolls ourselves, which you are advised upon reading any do’s & don’ts when arriving in Thailand.
Jamie and I on our flight from Ho Chi Minh City to Bangkok
Once we were dropped off the total came to 415 baht, woohoo saving us 85 baht (or €2.16, every little helps! – I swear I did not mean to use the Tesco slogan!) Once we got out of the taxi, we were approached almost immediately by a Tourist Police, which I had heard about but nearly didn’t think they we real. He questioned how much we were paying for the taxi, we told him 415 baht, he exchanged some heavy words with the taxi man, back and forth and he agreed this was a fair price. I couldn’t believe it. So often we have been approached by vendors and tuk tuk drivers alike trying to cut deals with us and now we know the Tourist Police are in fact real and they got your back! Pretty cool eh?
This time round while visiting Khao San Road I wanted to get a massage, a Thai massage and see what all the fuss was about. With just 18 hours this time round in Bangkok Jamie and I agreed on getting a Thai back, neck & shoulder massage for 150 baht (€3.80 each). Boy oh boy, did I regret it, I thought to myself “did I do something wrong here like?”, “why is she hurting me and trying to crack every bone in my back?”, but I guess that’s how it’s done. I mean, I’ve heard they can be sore but this was something else altogether! But anyway, we did it; we got a Thai massage in Thailand.
Next up, my nails, I got a manicure and pedicure while Jamie went off for a few beers. For just 400 baht (€10.14) I got the full treatment, cleaned, filed, scrubbed and painted. I also decided to get my eyebrows done for just 60 baht (€1.50 imagine) although I was a little fearful as to how they’d turn out but they were grand. Better than before anyway!
One nail painted different to the rest is still in, right?!
Finally we finished off the day with some street food. Pad Thai and a cold Chang beer, my favourite! Back to the hotel which was just a 3 minute stroll from Khao San Road. We had an early start Tuesday morning. Up at 5am with the view to leaving our hotel at 5.15am and up to Lomprayah for 5.30am to check in for the bus taking us to Chumphon Pier and finally by high speed boat to Koh Tao.
Pad Thai and a cold Chang beer, my absolute fave these days!