24 hours in Bangkok

Quote of the day: "Get up stand up. Stand up for your rights. Get up, stand up, don't give up the fight"

A few friends were both going to be in Bangkok on the same weekend so I decided to bus down to the city for the night. I live about 150 miles from Bangkok, a journey that should take no more then 3 hours. Zach has full days of classes on the weekends so I would be making the trip solo. I was excitied about my journey of figuring out bus and train schedules, it's good for the mind. I plotted my course, all I had to do was take a songtheow to the bus station in Korat, hop on the bus to Bangkok, hail a cab to Mochit BTS line, change to the MRT at Phaya Thai, get off at Ratchaprasong and walk to my hotel. Easy .

Things went south from the start. I hopped on the wrong songthaew and had to change at the mall. Once I got to the bus station, I told them "vip" (which is the express to Bangkok) and was ushered onto a departing bus. It made multiple stops before we even left Korat. I should have gotten off right then and there, but I figured once we were out of the city it would become an express. Oh how wrong I was. The bus offered local service the entire way. We must have stopped to either drop off or pick up randoms on the side of the road over 50 times. The bus was a revolving door of farmers coming on holding chickens, women carrying their screaming babies, street vendors trying to hawk their goods. I was the only one on the entire bus that made the complete journey from Korat to Bangkok. Oh whet a fool they must have thought I was. Stupid Falang. The journey in total ended up taking me 7 hours! The express bus is between 2.5 and 3 hours depending on traffic. What a day.

Needless to say, when I finally arrived in Bangkok I needed a drink. I dumped my backpack in my hotel room and walked to meet Keebs and Danielle at their hotel pool for some late afternoon cocktails.

Drinks at the Novotel pool

I don't think I've seen them since college so it was a nice reunion. We had some drinks relaxing by their hotels infinity pool listening to the live bands playing at the Ratchaprasong protest site right below. I have to admit I'm intrigued by the Bangkok shut down and protests. Even though the government advises to stay away, I want to experience them. It's an interesting thing to see how other countries rebel. Thailand's protests right now are much more peaceful then those in the Ukraine or Venezuela, in fact they have been described as "carnival like". Comrade is high and the rallies are littered with food and merchandise vendors while the people are entertained with live music, chants, and parades. After experiencing them first hand, I can indeed confirm the sites to be carnival like.

Peaceful protests

We decided to cab it to Silom and have dinner followed by drinks at the sky bar at Lebeu State Tower, more famously featured in Hangover 2. Since I went right from the bus to meet up with my friends, I must admit I looked a bit disheveled. I also had on my token flip flops. The lobby of the hotel was filled with beautiful people fresh and dressed to the nines. I instantly felt self conscious and once we reached the elevators to go up, the door girl refused to let me in because of my flip flops. She rudely explained that all footwear must be "fashionable". Excuse me for not being fashionable.

Keebs and Danielle went up and devised a brilliant plan to bring me down Danielle's shoes. Keebs came down a few minutes later, shoes hidden in his pocket. I put them on, threw my unfashionable flip flops in my purse, and cleared security no problem. Mission successful!
We met up with barefoot Danielle hiding in the corner. I returned her shoes and was faced with the dilemma of staying barefoot or putting my flip flops on and risking someone seeing them and kicking us out. I choose to stay barefoot. If approached, I was ready to explain that my heel broke so I had to take my shoes off. That's a thing that happens to girls I think, I wouldn't know because I don't wear fashionable shoes such as heels.

So back to being suspended on a precipice 830 feet in the air, fucking trippy! Sky bar is the highest bar of its kind in the world and boasts itself to be "the most stunning rooftop bar you will ever see". Apparently I've developed a massive fear of heights. I instantly got dizzy and anxious and froze in one position too scared to move. I downed my $20 cocktail (yes you read that right) in one gulp praying it would ease my anxiety but it didn't help. It was also windy as hell being so high in the sky, I could literally picture myself falling over. The Sky bar was a fairly small circle suspended over nothing. It felt like we were just hanging there. Once my nerves calmed down a bit, I had to admit the views were spectacular. You could see the entire city. They even had a live band playing that classy type music you would expect to be playing while drinking a $20 cocktail on a roof top bar.

Scene from Hangover

Creepy photo bomber

Bar

Long lost friends

Band in the sky

Danielle and I

After the Lebau, we had drinks at the bus bar in Pratanum. It's a pretty neat concept and they even had a lady set up playing a guitar. It was a fun night and was really nice to see some familiar faces.

Bus bar

Sunday morning I woke up and had breakfast on the rooftop of my hotel.

Breakfast with a view

The views were stunning, and right there while looking over the city I decided that I actually like Bangkok. If you read through my blog, you will find such statements written like "Bangkok is the city of devils" or "I would be happy to never step foot in that awful place again". I am now eating those words. Bangkok is one of those cities that grows on you. It has become one of my favorite cities and I already can't wait to go back. I spent Sunday shopping and eating western food because my town has a serious shortage. I also walked around the protest sites taking in the atmosphere. I caught the correct VIP bus back to Korat and made it home in 2 and half hours. All in all a great weekend! Batteries recharged for the final weeks of school!