Thailand

We departed Melbourne on 2 March, and arrived in Bangkok (via Singapore) around 8pm.  We were met at the arrivals gate by a man who whisked us through security and immigration, took us to collect our luggage and then found our driver for us.  Got to our hotel - the Mandarin Oriental Bangkok - and checked in very quickly.  If you are every going to stay in Bangkok, I highly recommend the Mandarin Oriental.  The rooms are lovely, the staff are friendly, and the service is excellent.

As we were only in Bangkok for one and a half days, the next morning we departed on a quick tour of the city.

Chinatown:


The Old Royal Palace:


One of many monuments with elephants:


The Chao Phraya river, which runs through Bangkok:


View of the river from our hotel room:


Bangkok was an interesting mix of old and new, rich and poor. It was extremely hot - about 38degC each day, and very humid. I swam every day in the pool, which you can see at the bottom of the last picture above.

On the night before we left, we decided to have dinner in the hotel's famous french restaurant, Le Normandie. It was extremely glamorous and the food was excellent. What was even more exciting, was that the Crown Prince of Thailand's first wife was also dining there that night, so we got to greet her as she arrived in the restaurant (with an entourage of about 20, and four security guards). Most exciting. My shoes were better than hers, though.