2 Nights in Bangkok

Once again I find myself writing this from a place of incredible beauty and inspiration. So watch out this might be a long one. I’m currently at the Le Meridien Nirwana Golf and Spa Resort in Bali (Indonesia for those that don’t know). Perched rail-side at the resort’s lounge about 3 stories above ground and ground happens to be about a 100 foot high cliff overlooking the Indian Ocean. As it is nighttime now I can only hear the thundering of the waves below and only see a slight reflection of the moonlight on water beyond. Before I get too carried away with my first impressions of Bali and this amazing resort, I’ll catch you up on my time in Bangkok.

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The flight from Phuket to Bangkok was uneventful and ordinary, as flights so often tend to be. The only excitement in fact was me having a little tizzy over them not stocking my preferred beverage. The one hour flight lasted a bit longer than scheduled due to air-traffic congestion and so we were treated to several panoramic flybys over Bangkok. Deplaning was by portable stairs, not the most dignified method of egress, but nonetheless I managed with my roll-aboard and backpack in tow. I collected my suitcase after a longish wait and headed out to get a taxi. Originally I was going to try the Sheraton Grande and Westin Grande hotels but changed my plans due to some last minute sleuthing by my friend who found me a nice triple points bonus at the Royal Orchid Sheraton. Being no stranger to the Royal Orchid as that’s where I stayed on my last pass through town and also in light of their recent renovation I found the change in lodging to be quite acceptable.

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After a bit of haggling with the front office manager I ended up being upgraded to a Deluxe Executive Suite with access to the exclusive Towers floor and Lounge on account of my Starwood Platinum status and high rate I was paying. The room was a wonderful suite with separate living and sleeping rooms as well as a fabulous marble clad bathroom with a walk-in shower and separate tub. Apparently the exclusive Towers lounge was very much that. In fact it was exclusive to the point of not allowing me entry for the happyhour cocktail reception because I had shorts and t-shirt on (which is something I have never ran into at another hotel executive club/lounge. Naturally I had the ‘oh no they just didn’t’ reaction and a battle royale ensued. I would not leave, forced them to give me my cocktail while I waited for the hotel manager to be summoned. Ultimately to no avail with a lot of back and forth in a loud voice to cause a scene and embarrassment for him (as well as me, I guess) we ended up with a compromise. I would not change my clothes, but instead I would be given free reign for drinks and appetizers in the hotel’s main lobby lounge and internet café. Which turned out to be ok as it was much livelier and interesting to hang out in the main lounge anyway. And I certainly made sure to get every bit of my happy hour cocktail and appetizer benefit. I did leave the waitress a nice tip as I had her running back and forth bringing me new drinks to sample (I think I went through trying about 7 or so on their menu and not finishing one) as well has had her bring me several plates of appetizers from the “Exclusive” Tower’s lounge. Hopefully the manager had to at least write up some kind of explanation for all of the revenue he had to write off.

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So, with a belly full of tasty appetizers and cocktails I headed out to the Patpong night market. Market, bazaar or hot mess, whatever you want to call it, it was miles of merchants lining the sidewalks and streets. They were hawking all manner of things from souvenirs, watches, clothes, jewelry, massage and ping pong shows. Yes, you read that right. About everycouple hundred feet a tout would approach me and tug on my arm showing me a menu of ping pong ball shows as well as other unsavory (at least to me) shows involving many women and some men. Ah, Bangkok, you gotta love it. I spent some time walking around and checking things out, tried on a couple fake Rolexes but ultimately decided there is no sense of accomplishment or reward in buying a garish $50 fake Rolex. Passing up on a dozen more offers for ping pong ball shows I made way to an available taxi and sped off to the quiet sanctuary of the hotel.

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The following morning with shorts and t-shirt on damn-it I went back to the Towers Lounge for my complimentary breakfast. I was received and served properly with no further hassles. After my English breakfast I spent some time with the hotel’s concierge lining up an itinerary for the day. I started out with a visit to Wat Arun (temple of the dawn) which is a beautiful Buddhist temple complex on the banks of Chao Praya River and it’s core, central structure happens to be the tallest such structure in south-east Asia. I very much enjoyed walking around and exploring the various nooks and buildings all with amazingly detailed tile inlays. Having had my fill of Buddhist temples I took a taxi over to Chinatown to explore the colorful chaos that is every Chinatown’s essence. Again, it was street after street of market / bazaar antics, little old lady’s cooking all manner of things from rickety carts and endless “mister, please look, look free, price good, how many would you like, I give good price, mister where you from”. Exhausted and pouring with sweat I determined that my next planned stop could not wait any longer.

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I took a taxi to the brand new Silom Paragon Complex and it’s inherent air-conditioned bliss. The Paragon is a five-level, high-end mall, entertainment complex and aquarium. I started my visit with a stroll through the basement level food hall to get an idea of my dining options for later and made my way to the Siam Aquarium. It is the largest aquarium in Asia and housed on the two sub-basement levels of the mall. It was a rather interesting experience and I got to see some really cool, exotic fish, numerous sharks and all of the other standard kind of aquarium fare. Seeing all the fish made me hungry and I headed upstairs to a restaurant outpost of the famed Mandarin Oriental Hotel. I had a few excellent Thai favorites and as expected the service was flawless. The mall also had a restaurant outpost of the equally venerable Peninsula Hotel. The choice was tough, but the Mandarin’s looked more elegant. Beside the usual Chanel, Dior, Gucci, Versace and every other imaginable designer’s stores what struck me as amazing were the presence of car showrooms on the 3rd floor of the mall for Ferrari, Porsche, Maserati and BMW. Wow, didn’t see that coming, it was rather impressive. After spending the next couple hours investigating the rest of the mall it was time for a break and I opted for a nice café for some delectable French pastries and coffee.

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That evening, dressed in pants and nice shirt as I was going to dinner at Sirocco, I stopped at the Towers Lounge in the hopes of partaking in the evening cocktail hour. Alas, it was not meant to be as I got there 5 minutes after they stopped serving and were already breaking things down. Needless to say, I was not a happy camper but decided to enjoy my evening out and chalk it up to a never ending list of things not meant to happen. Hopped into a taxi and off I went to the State Tower where I would take an express elevator to the 64th floor where I would dine outside on the Tower’s rooftop terrace. Sirocco claims to be the highest al fresco restaurant in the world. The unobstructed views of nighttime Bangkok were awesome and cool breeze at that altitude was quite welcome. Dinner prices were high and especially so given how cheap Thailand can be, however definitely worth it for the singular view and experience of eating on a roof of a skyscraper, mind you with very low railings.

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Seeing as my 4 hour flight to Bali was leaving at 8:40 the following morning I chose to go back to the hotel early, pack up my things and get a proper night’s rest ahead of my 6am wake up call. The following morning came soon enough and was I anxious and excited to move on to the next big leg of my trip and also to add a new country to my ever growing list of destinations. Completed checkout formalities and got in a taxi for the airport. The driver offers me a special toll-inclusive deal to the airport for 500 Baht, being the seasoned traveler I politely declined and insisted on the use of the meter, which by law they are compelled to use. A relatively traffic free dive got me to Bangkok international in about 20 minutes. The final cost of the ride? It came to a whopping 240 Baht. The driver didn’t even blink an eye or act ashamed for having tried to rip me off and the bugger dropped me off at the opposite end of the terminal from where I needed to check-in. All checked in, I headed to the Thai Business class lounge to enjoy some beverages and a continental breakfast. Still having some time to kill ahead of my flight, I proceeded on to discover the offerings on hand in the extensive duty free stores. Made a couple new acquisitions and off I went to the gate to await boarding.

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The Thai business class flight to Bali was nice. With decent but not impressive service provided by the Thai Airlines crew. Perhaps I have been spoiled by the first class service I’ve come to love on airlines like Singapore and Cathay Pacific. Nonetheless a nice American style breakfast was served and drinks were free flowing. Shortly after takeoff the crew passed out the Indonesia immigration and customs declaration forms. Upon review of the customs form, I noticed one box you have to check if you are carrying any video disks, tapes etc. as they need to be censored before being allowing into the country. So I was at a bit of a crossroads here, thinking maybe it wasn’t such a great idea to buy 13 pirated DVD movies. The more I thought about it the more I became freaked out by it. I started to think that even if the Indonesian customs’ folks won’t have a problem with these, I’ll still have to reimport them back into Thailand at the end of my trip and then finally into the US of A. Though the US doesn’t explicitly ask you to list movies as an item on the customs declaration form, sure enough with my luck with US customs they will choose me for a random search. If they did so and realized the movies were pirated copies, they would likely just confiscate them but they could also levy a fine. So, deciding not to take my chances with the Indonesian or US customs officials I decided it would be prudent to unload my unwise purchase of $65 worth of DVDs. What I did… while everyone was napping and the lights were out, I took them out of my carry-on and distributed them in the seatback pockets of several empty seats around me. Whew, with the evidence disposed of I had a clear conscience to leave the Indonesian declaration form blank and didn’t leave anything to chance with US officials. Yes Mom, lesson learned – no more buying of pirated DVDs.

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With smooth and uneventful processing through Indonesian immigration I was off to reunite with my checked luggage and went through customs with no problems or questions. Stepped outside and saw that the Le Meridien had sent a driver who was waiting with a sign with my name on it. He helped me with the bags and off we went on a 45 minute drive to the resort.

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Ok, time to wrap this one up here.

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On arriving at the resort I was awestruck at how incredibly beautiful this place was. The grand open lobby entrance with a view to the ocean beyond, the Balinese style architecture and stonework detailing and of course the always smiling people. Check-in was a painless affair, while waiting for all of the formalities to be finalized I was presented with a floral leigh (sp?), a cold towel and a glass of fresh squeezed tropical mixed fruit juice. I was also pleasantly surprised to learn that the hotel had already upgraded me to an executive suite. Great, I love it when the hotels are on the ball and I don’t have remind them of my upgrade privileges or fight for them. A bellman escorted me to my comfortably appointed and large suite, complete with two balconies from which I could enjoy the wonderful views.

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I picked up the hotel map, got my bearings and off I went to have a look around and snap some pictures. Simply and succinctly put, this is one of the most gorgeous resorts I have been to. It even smells nice here, the air is sweetly perfumed from the frangipane flowering trees. Whether it was it’s dramatic perch on a cliff overlooking the Indian Ocean or it’s incredible Balinese style (think a set out of a Lara Croft Tomb Raider movie) multi-tier swimming complex with waterslides and spouting fountains or it’s well manicured and lush golf course or it’s commanding view of the nearby Tanah Loh (Earth and Water) Temple I simply don’t know. I do know that the combination of it all had me walking around dumb-founded wondering how can one place be so breathtakingly beautiful. This will definitely be a resort that I will return to. Phuket was very beautiful in a tropical getaway sort of way, but this resort on Bali is even more inspiring and satisfying to look at and to be at. Its beauty resonates on a much higher level.

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This is going on 5 pages now, yikes :)

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I spent the first night at the resort going for a fresh grilled seafood dinner at the poolside restaurant, took some beverages in the lounge and wrote this. For my next full day in Bali I have reserved a tour guide who will take me around to the central mountain region to enjoy the views and see some non-beach sites. Can’t wait, I’ll tell you all about it next time.

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Till next time,

Gene