A Weekend in Bangkok

Sunday morning finds us in the Aspen Suites in Sukhumwit Soi 2, Bangkok for our second night .2000b gets you a really elegant, comfortable and well equipped room, plasma TV, DVD & CD player, unlimited internet connection ( very fast) included in the room rate, decent buffet breakfast and a small swimming pool. The staff are really helpful and smile a lot. They also provide a complementary tuktuk shuttle to the main road about 1 km away. Only complaint about the experience is that Saturday morning at 0300h we were wakened by a lady ringing our door bell, presumably thinking she was coming to her customer's room!

Yesterday I bought a car at Union Auctions in the north of Bangkok. We'd been previously and saw how it worked. So I successfully bidded for a black Mitsubishi Triton Mega Cab GL, a manual pickup, diesel, and paid about 3/5 of what it would cost new; very low mileage, under 5,000, and its interior still smelled new, just over a year old; some minor blemishes on the body work.

My instinct is I might have gone a little high and I am a little anxious that the car may be defective; the truth is I don't really know. However I was looking for a Mitsubishi pickup and after sitting in it with the engine running for a few minutes I was really pleased with it. I'll probably stick it into the local Mitsubishi dealer and get them to check it out. Next up comes the paper chase, registration, taxation and insurance, and of course I have to transfer the funds. Then I have to go collect the beast and drive it back here. So I'll know fairly soon if I have bought a heep of shit! I have been planning this purchase since my employment was confirmed in May but my first visit to the auctions was unsuccessful.

I suppose the auction route may also seem precarious but I reckon I would have been much more likely to get ripped off on a forecourt dealer sale or on a private sale. Unfortunately when some types see me in Thailand, as a buyer that is, caveat emptor truly applies, they can behave very ruthlessly, seeing me as a great opportunity. Always a good idea to take your time here when it comes to major purchases.

An auction is far more democratic and much more of a level playing field. To be blunt cash is king.By virtue of having work permits and the like we can own a car and can bid in auctions and thanks to our prior visit we knew how to register. Moreover I doubt whether I would have been able to access this type of late registered vehicle on the second hand market. However having checked out the auction previously and talked things over with a car professional who regularily buys at these auctions I felt this was as good a way of buying a vehicle as any in Thailand.

I have to say I enjoyed driving around Bangkok. I guess you have to condition yourself to it and expect the worst. I can do this easily thanks to driving around London for years. Wrong turnings, unexpected closures and long delays were very much the order of the day. However I successfully drove us from Ploenchit/Sukhumvit to the Boromratchonnani elevated highway. This is an amazing stretch of highway running straight for almost 20 km - a real boy racer's dream! It runs from Nonthaburi to Putthamonthon, due west on the road ultimately leading to Nakhon Pathom & Ratchaburi. I have been trying to access this highway since moving here last year and believe me, my attempts have involved some grim detours! I did so notwithstanding a westbound closure of Petchaburi Road which meant I had to go back down to Ploenchit and onto the freeway, doing all manner of illegal turns and managing to avoid the attention of the traffic cops!

Today we went shopping for baby things in Siam Paragon. I have to say this was the first moment I realised the little fella is going to cost us a lot of money; we bought a crib and a baby bouncer, various items of clothing, changing mats, blankets, nasal aspirator, thermometer, cotton nappies and so on. I have just assembled the baby bouncer, I really can't believe I have done this and Luna has just volunteered she doesn't know how to put a cotton nappy on a baby!!! Wow, we are going to have fun!

It was good to catch up with a few friends for a chat and a drink over the weekend. We also went to mass in Holy Redeemer Church in Ruam Ruedee. Great to be able to hear a good sermon preached in intelligible English. I like going to mass in Bangkok, I get a spiritual uplift and I get a very real and powerful sense of being part of a huge international community. It really was like the United Nations with people from virtually every corner of the planet present.

Sukhumwit is pretty seedy and always has been. There have always been beer bars and so called night spots like Nana Plaza but on this trip I was surprised by the number of prostitutes working the main drag as opposed to being in bars. The numbers on the street suggested business was slow! I am so pleased my interest in such matters is curiosity!

Bangkok is poised for greatness surely. The high speed airport link is scheduled to begin operating in August and Bangkok really offers an amazing range of hotels, restaurants and shopping experiences. I hope Bangkok booms because Thailand badly needs it. The country has suffered very badly.

Finally having successfully navigated our way on to the highway we were able to get to Phuttamonthon Park in record time and we spent a couple of hours looking at the birds. All familiar friends but I must say I don't believe I will ever tire of looking at black-crowned night heron.

A great weekend I am happy to say.