Day 22: Back to Bangkok

This morning at 8am, Greg and I got in a taxi and left Siem Reap to head back to Bangkok.  As Greg was checking out, he filled out a survey, and since he gave a glowing review, he was asked to choose a staff member to take a picture with along with his survey.  He said, “I want my picture with her, she’s the pretty one,” picking one of the receptionists.  At this, the staff responded, saying he had won the prize of t-shirts and a free lunch for being smart enough to pick the pretty one.  Unfortunately, I was up in the room at the time, and didn’t get to take part in the fun.

Our journey back to Bangkok went very smoothly.  Other than stopping for fuel on both the Cambodian and Thai sides of the border, we rolled down the highway at a good pace.  The border crossing was our fastest time through immigrations yet.  The Cambodian departures had only a short line of a few people, while Thai arrivals had no one, we simply walked up to the counter and got through right away.  We had estimated an arrival time of about 2pm, and at 2:05pm we were standing in the hotel lobby, checking in.

This truck was going about 60mph.

After lunch, Greg’s friend and coworker, Mark, came over to meet us.  He took us to the Skytrain station, a raised subway-style car, and showed us how to easily get around town.  We then went to a pub, where Mark gave me some great suggestions for things to see and to watch out for while he and Greg went to a dinner meeting.  We also discussed leaving for Pattaya tomorrow.  He and Greg have several meetings down there, so I am going to be forced to come along and sit at the beach, or go scuba driving, or something terrible like that.

This evening Greg and Mark headed off to their meeting, and I headed down to the main shopping district to check things out.  There are at least four massive malls within a block of one another, but I only went in two.  Siam Paragon was massive just looking up at the six or so floors, but not only that, each floor extended way out and contained tons of stuff.  I didn’t really do much shopping, though the Lamborghini and Lotus showrooms on the third floor were cool, as I was mainly concerned with finding dinner.  The mall has an entire floor dedicated to food, and there must have been sixty different places to eat sprawled out across the floor.  I saw a Japanese burger place, and thought I may try that, but continued looking.  When I decided to go back and eat there, it took me quite a while to find it again.  I was a bit underwhelmed by the place, because though the burger was good, there didn’t seem to be anything especially “Japanese” about it.  I also went across the street to MBK, which is basically a market full of stalled turned into a mall.  It too had around six floors, but a total of 2500 stalls.

Looking up at Siam Paragon.

I couldn't resist a "Hot Now" Krispy Kreme.

The MBK Mall, with more of a market style.

Once I got tired of that area, I took the Skytrain down to the Patpong Night Market.  We had walked through here earlier with Mark, but there had been nothing to buy, as the vendors where still building the stalls.  Every day, the stalls are built up, and then taken down again when the night is through, so that the road is usable throughout the day.  The market sold all kinds of things, but Mark had told me to mostly watch out for ladyboys.  The buildings along the market are lined with bars and go-go bars, where girls and transgender “ladyboys” dance and entertain.  I didn’t see anyone that was obviously a ladyboy, but my understanding is that in that area, you can never be sure if a girl you see is actually a girl.

The night market under construction.

The Patpong market in action.

It went the length of a block.

I got back to the hotel fairly late, but Greg got back from his dinner even later, after 12:30.  Apparently Thai dinners take a very long time, with “dinner” beginning at 7, but no food coming until 8.  Different courses then keep coming for the next several hours, practically making it time for the next meal before the current one even finishes.