Once we had safely landed and waited for our bags, it was time to get a taxi to our hotel for our ‘one night in Bangkok’. As before we opted for the Shanghai Mansion in Chinatown, a bigger room this time though. After the usual check-in procedure and a cup of cold Chinese sweet tea the room concierge (‘butler’) came over and had our bags taken to the room. Service so far being 5*, yet we were paying less than a €100 for the night.
We put our passports and iPads in the safe and headed off to a supermarket we knew was up the road on the right; luckily it was still there. After drinking beer for the last few weeks we decided to go back to our usual tipple of white wine though I must say the price difference between the two was huge, but we made the exception as it was our last night. We put the bottle in the fridge, locked the door and made our way downstairs. We waved a tuk-tuk down outside to take us to the MBK shopping centre. If you've never been it's a shopper’s paradise: eight stories high and over 2000 shops and restaurants. After wandering around for a while we both said, almost simultaneously, I don't really need anything. We laughed and went off on a mission to get something to eat. Walking past an enormous array of fake t-shirts I noticed a man and a woman we'd seen in Kamala Beach in Phuket; we had seen him going into one of the tailor shops ,we guess for a ‘same same’ suit. They didn't recognise us but in a huge city like Bangkok it was still a big coincidence. We had something to eat then, decided to go back to the hotel and get ready for the night’s entertainment. For a few hundred baht we took a tuk-tuk back and 15 minutes later - through very busy traffic, we were back.
I added some water to the ice to almost cover the bottle to its neck and within minutes it was lovely and cold. Time for a wash and a brush up, and a sip of wine, as we slowly got ready to hit the town.
We had found a hip sounding restaurant down by the Chao Phraya river, it was called the Samsara Cafe and Meal. We asked the door man of our hotel if he knew the place, unfortunately a blank stare came back. He asked a taxi driver parked outside and the same shrug of the shoulders, not going to be put off that easily we decided to wave down our favourite form of transport, the tuk-tuk. We showed him the map and name on our phone and we were off. Hurtling through Chinatown, took a left somewhere and in about ten or so minutes we were deposited at the end of a small alley way, hoping to be led to the river. Of course, it was already pitch dark. We walked up and we walked back, this can't be it we said to each other. We headed up there again just as two people were coming out and they said are you looking for the Samsara and they steered us in the right direction. No wonder we couldn't find it it was just like someone's front door; well it was someone's front door. We passed the usual amount of stray cats and eventually walked into a shabby chic place, slap bang on the river. Bingo, we'd hit the jackpot with this one, a wonderful view and a bit cooler being right on the water. Back to the beers, I'm afraid, but icy cold just what the doctor ordered. A couple of cats appeared from nowhere and let us know they were definitely up for some grub. We perused through the menu but everything sounded wonderful, we ended up ordering Australian beef in spicy Thai sauce and pork done in chili and basil, all with fried veg and white rice. Another beer later the food arrived and it was one of the tastiest meals we had had since arriving in Thailand for this trip. I could have eaten it all again in a second helping but that would have just been greedy or..? I didn’t. The cats of course got their fair share and went off to have a nice wash after their meal as cats always do. We had a few more beers as we weren't in any hurry to leave, watching the myriad of colourful boats that passed in both directions. But like all good things it was time to pay and find another tuk-tuk. We noticed the difference in the bill at this place compared with Kamala Beach it was almost twice the price but for one night we didn't care, it was worth half of that for just the view. So back in a tuk-tuk, weaving our way through the hot busy streets that is Bangkok and back to the hotel. We finished the bottle of wine off before bed, seemed a waste to leave it and it was lights out on our one night in Bangkok.