Stern-faced Helios was driving his chariot in full regalia over the cloudless firmament, and the temperature in Bangkok was 32 ℃ when we stepped out of the air-conditioned airport hall. Sawastikrab, Hello. If it was a woman greeting you, she would have said Sawastikra. Thai is a difficult language to learn, and I know of non-Thais who have lived for years in Thailand without being able to say more than a few rudimentary phrases in Thai. Sawastikrab;  hello; kropkhoonkrab, (or kropkhoonkra) thank you. That’s it.

We had just flown in from Hanoi. We had spent 10 days in Vietnam and Khoon had invited us to spend a few days in Bangkok, where he would show us some of his favorite places. That usually means where to shop and where to eat. No standard tourist sites.

Right: View of the Chao Phraya River from our hotel room. The building to the right is the Oriental Hotel.

A van and driver were waiting for us; it has been thoughtfully supplied by one of Khoon’s many business connections. Off we went to the Shangri-La hotel, very nicely situated on the banks of the Chao Phraya, the main river in Bangkok. The hotel has a 5 star rating and was very nicely appointed.

    As we arrived at the front entrance, there were of course the porters to help us with our luggage. There also was security guard with a mirror on a pole. He would slide the mirror under all cars coming up the hotel driveway to look at the underside of all cars. No he wasn’t looking for leaks from the coffee you spilled.  He was looking for something more serious. Well, you really don’t want a car with a bomb underneath driving up when you are there, would you.

We had a standard room for US$175/night, which seems to be the standard rate they charge everybody. We would have gone to the Marriott a bit further down the river and used our Marriott points, but since everybody in our group was staying in the Shangri-La, we did too.  But by purchasing the rooms from the USA through Avia Travel, we did not have to pay the occupancy + city tax, which was around 20 %. The hotel was also close to a Skytrain station, the rapid transit system suspended over a large area of Bangkok. With the many traffic jams, the air-conditioned Skytrain can bring you rapidly to many places in comfort and at reasonable rates.