Hello Bangkok

So gorgeous

Baby Maddie! Such a smiley gorgeous baby (though she's not smiling here....)

Pin the tail on the donkey gets intense

Compulsory pool time

All the girls in Bangkok are supercute

Muay Thai Kickboxing

This is the most rumbutans I've seen in my LIFE. You can imagine my excitement. $1 a kilo!

The boys making pancakes

How to get the kids onside

View from the Banyan Hotel's rooftop bar

Fat westerners

EAT ME. My new favourite restaurant ever.

Bow tie optional

If you could see me, you'd see the terror

Hey! that's us!

It was hot. Really awkwardly hot.

Wat Po

Size matters

Luck?

I’d only been in Hanoi for 4 days when Johnny and I were off to Bangkok.

The ride to the airport included seeing dead cooked dogs on the back of a bike. That’s all I’m going to say about that.

Loved Bangkok this time around as it was the first trip we had anytime to do anything!

Highlights included:
:: Hanging out with all the Herridge/Terricani’s and meeting Baby Maddie for the first time. We didn’t hear her cry once she smiled and laughed for us the whole time! We were there for Joshua’s 3rd birthday party which was crazy and seeing them in their dinosaur and surgeon outfits was beyond cuteness.

:: The kickboxing is something to be seen to be believed and I found myself getting into it. It was just like Saget from Streetfighter. The blood and the “crack” we heard at the end just before a guy was rushed off in a wheelchair brought us back to reality though.

:: Public transport. It was so efficient and clean I felt like I was going to burst. You always know exactly where you are, it tells you which side the doors are going to open, it’s air-conditioned like hell, trains come often, it’s fast, it’s cheap and the stations have clear information. German engineering you are my friend.

:: What could only be described as one of my most perfect nights ever. It started with drinks on the Vertigo rooftop bar on the 61st floor of the Banyan Tree Hotel watching the sunset and the city slowly light up.

Then we headed to Eat Me which is no doubt my favourite restaurant in the world now (I gave it proper thought too). The food, service, music, lighting & even bathrooms- all perfect. There’s even beautiful art on the walls. Dessert is worth a mention too: lemongrass infused soft crème brule and sticky date pudding with butterscotch sauce and vanilla ice-cream. Out of this world noms! It ended with a complimentary homemade shot of chocolate vodka- and when Johnny told them I didn’t drink (I was in the bathroom), they brought over a Mars Bar in a shotglass!

After we walked it all off in a red light district, and Johnny bought me the Thai Vivi magazine, we headed back and ended the night with a massage. Whoo- beat that for a perfect night.

:: Walking around a red light district was fascinating because you hear about it so much. It was awkward though. Walking down the bit where the gay bars was INTENSE. It was as if the worldwide gay community was in the smallest possible space and they had 30 seconds to party/get it on with anyone they wanted to before the world ended. Intense.

:: The next day we went to Wat Po to see the giant lying down Buddha. I’m glad we did, even if it was almost suffocatingly hot. Part of a trip there was by boat down up the river. It was a bit of a traumatising experience and the smell can only be described as if someone had eaten durian, then shit on you. Aimee told us how she got some water in her eye once and had to go to hospital once. I’d believe it!

:: Shopping. If I had more money, I would have spent it all. ALL I SAY. Mostly at Zara. I almost started hyperventilating in the Hello Kitty section of a department store too. It was this point I thought to myself for the 600th time the irony of my fear of cats. In the end I got some shorts from Zara with a lama-maybe-zebra print (I’m still pining over these pants but I didn’t try them on- I didn’t want to ruin the dream), and Hello Kitty shoes. Whoo!

More photos over at Jodeska.