Cooper and I flew back to Bangkok late last night...We were sad to say goodbye to Cambodia.
After a whopping 3 hours sleep, Cooper repacked her bags and was off at 5am to the airport for the long flight home...
After going back to sleep for a few hours, I decided to get over my loneliness with a foot massage at the Grand Convenient Hotel... For any of you that are picturing a soothing, relaxing message...you'd better head to Sweden for that...Here, the Thai massages are a cross between getting mugged and doing hot yoga without having to add any heat. I always go for the foot massage but it somehow becomes a full body one. (just ask David, he needed physio on his neck for days after his "foot massage")
Today's massage started out with a steaming hot foot soak. (without the piranhas...thank goodness or I could have had a pedicure and a boiled fish breakfast at the same time) It always takes me a minute to get over the ticklish feeling in my feet and by then, usually the painful part has started. At one point, my girl was pushing so hard on my stomach, I was sure a vital organ was going to pop out. I opened my eyes to watch her face. I wanted to see if she was a naturopath and had detected something wrong and that I only had days to live, but her stone face told me nothing... She only smiled a few minutes later when I grunted as she was trying to stick my big toe in my ear. (or at least, that's what it felt like) I guess I should have taken my wii fit plus out of the box before my trip or at least attended some yoga classes....
Off to downtown Bangkok now....
It took two taxis to get me into town. The first guy was insisting that he was taking me to the airport, so I made him take me back to the hotel...The second guy got halfway into town and then when I said the name of the hotel, he said the hotel bellman had told him a different one...You hear so many stories about being scammed by taxi drivers and tuktuks here, that you can never be sure if the guy is telling the truth or "taking you for a ride". But for the sake of $3, my guy and I made up and had a fun (and thankfully uneventful) ride into town... I had met an Italian couple at breakfast who where kind enough to give me their Bangkok map with all of the "bad" areas highlighted. (because of the red shirt demonstrations) So I check my map, and see that my guy is taking me right through the Siam Square area...(where the grenades were early this week) I saw some bamboo sticks with red flags on them and some riot police but made it safely to my hotel... Many thanks to Susan for recommending the Royal Orchid Sheraton...I have a beautiful view of the river and got upgraded...Living it up in Bangkok!!
When life gives you lemons...duck into the nearest spa... A rainy afternoon in Bangkok... So rather than run the 20 yards to the hotel, I decided to head to the nearest foot massage...( I know, I already had one today...but this one was reflexology...) Topped off the evening with some Tom Yum Goong soup...
