Hello Bangkok: Take Two

On the BTS

At Cabbages & Condoms- I never thought I'd be at a condom themed restaurant

At The Nest until we got sleepy

Love the look Joshua's giving

About 5% of Joshua's dinosaur collection

Lady Gaga inspired video art

At IceDEA, possibly the coolest ice-cream place on earth. A must visit!

Berin

Calypso Cabaret- super dramatic & over the top & awesome

Caption contest!

Yes, really, YOU'D be fooled.

Proof we were young and carefree

This is an Australian sugar glider. Apparently not endangered but still pretty confronting.

A frozen banana dipped in chocolate & coated nuts was always going to be awesome

I've said it before, and I'll say it again- I Love Bangkok. In sentence capitals no less. The BTS is amazing as always, processes for things are clear and stress free (you need to live in Vietnam to appreciate that) and everywhere I look there's girls looking so damn cool.

This time was a little different to the other times we've been, though the same in that it never feels like long enough.

We flew over for a couple of days to meet Ben and Erin, or who I like to call Berin (I often try to think of my & Johnny's celebrity name but it just never works), as well as hang out with the Terricani's and make sure the kids still knew who we were.  Baby Maddie was sick the whole time poor thing and the boys were crazy as always.  We cooked them pancakes and have decided here on it would be "our thing" so they have fond memories of us in case we're old and need them to carry things up stairs.

We did lots of cool things on this trip I'm putting down on the list of essential "to dos" if you're ever in Bangkok- Calypso Cabaret (SO good, over the top and doesn't take itself too seriously), the fish section of Chatuchak Markets (like an aquarium you'd pay to see, the pet section is a bit scary though) and a visit to the Bangkok Art and Culture Center (how did this ever escape my list before?).

So- on to how it was different. I realise that every time we're there, we're very very lucky in that we get to stay with Aimee and co in a very cool apartment right in Sukhumvit where it's all happening, are right on the BTS line, and have truckloads of helpful advice and recommendations. It's awesome and easy and means we've never had to battle the things other tourists have to go through.

With Ben and Erin in staying Chinatown it meant going off in uncharted non-BTS territory. Nothing bad happened really, except getting into a taxi and the driver not taking us to the club we wanted to go to (basically just ignored just) but took us to another one instead where he would get kick-backs. Wait, that does sound bad. Well it was bad, but in the moment with other people who aren't cynical and don't live in South-East Asia it wasn't. He told us that the club we wanted to go to would be closed at the 2am curfew time and this one wouldn't. We go in, pay lots of money for entry fee, it's really shit and loud and than TA DAA it gets shuts down at 2am. Not a surprise at all really.

So it just makes me appreciate that fact we're spoilt in Bangkok and never have to go through situations like that regularly. I still love the city but know it probably shares a lot of the things we hate about Vietnam. But I'm okay with rose coloured glasses for now. And if the opportunity comes up to move there I'm all in. As long as we're on the BTS.