Arriving in Bangkok
By Lauren Gerzina & Justin Hayes
Fast Cars, More Massages, and Rooftop Cocktails
We woke up early, finished packing and got an early start for the Phnom Penh airport. We got a Grab and were at the airport in 30 minutes. We checked in for our ThaiSmiles flight (which was now being operated by Thai Airways?) and got through passport control and security. We found a Starbucks and ordered some oat milk drinks while Lauren found a Krispy Kreme and bought a Boston crème (which was definitely not called that). Ahh the comforts of American fast food. Lol
We wandered up to the Priority Pass lounge and grabbed a table near the buffet. Lauren got some breakfast soup and Justin ordered some eggs. While chilling in the club (talking on the phone), we saw some very important looking military/government officials come in and sit down a few feet away form us. And about 30 minutes later, a VERY wealthy looking older woman was escorted into the club and shown around. We were both very confused who these people were, so naturally Lauren had to ask on our way out. Turns out, a ton of Cambodian government officials were in the club that day (no idea where they were all going) and the woman was some billionaire businesswoman that we couldn’t find online after some searching. Oh well.
We finally boarded our flight to Bangkok. Justin sat in a middle seat next to a very chatty man form India. He said he had been traveling for over a week and hand’t really had a full conversation with anyone since he didn’t speak Khmer. He also said he liked talking to Westerners, particularly Americans. They talked the entire flight about all manner of things while Lauren read her book. They served us a small hot rice dish meal on this super short flight. It was actually pretty good. We wish US airlines would go back to serving food for people on shorter flights.
After about a one-hour flight, we landed in Bangkok! The line for passport control was long and by the time we got through, our bags were already on the side of the baggage claim carousel. We grabbed the bags and made our way out of the airport to get a Grab. We decided to order an SUV since it was difficult to get our bags into the trunk of the tiny car earlier that morning. Lauren made a remark to Justin about hoping that cars drive a bit faster in Thailand, since they drive REALLY slow in Vietnam and Cambodia.
Her hopes came true. Once we got in the SUV, we jumped on the highway and were FLYING towards the city (going over 150km/hour – 2x our max in Cambodia). Even with the fast highway ride, we hit tons of traffic in the city, so it ended up taking us 45 minutes to get to the hotel.
Upon arrival, we checked in, but no rooms were ready, so they escorted us up to the executive lounge on the 27th floor to relax and get some refreshments. After about an hour, the room was ready, and they gave us keys. The bags were already in the room when we got there. We dropped off our backpacks and wandered down the street to get some Thai food for lunch since we were both starving!
Justin found a cute café called “Flower Café” which had great reviews. The café was inside someone’s townhouse (on the first floor) and the owner chatted us up as we ordered food. Lauren got a Pad Thai and Justin got Massaman Curry. The food was very good, although both of our meals had peanuts in them. Pad Thai is traditionally made with nuts and Justin forgot that they were also in Massaman and Panang curries. While Justin can’t eat nuts, Lauren does like peanuts in her food. Still, the food was very good. We also didn’t realize upon entering that it was cash only – so Justin had to run down the street to the nearest ATM to get some Thai Baht.
Once we paid, Lauren wanted to try out a Thai foot massage. Shocking. We walked a few blocks to a highly rated massage place, but they did not have availability when we got there. We made a reservation to come back for the foot massage in an hour. Lauren was feeling very tired (she had stayed up late to finish her book) so she decided to sit down in a Starbucks (in the A/C) and continue reading the 2nd book in the series. Justin decided that while Lauren was reading, he would wander around getting a lay of the land around our hotel.
Side note: Lauren is reading the “Court of Thorns and Roses” series and is captivating. If you are looking for a good romance fantasy, check it out.
For some reason, Justin missed the part (although Lauren was aware) where Thailand had legalized medical marijuana and decriminalized it for recreational use. There were pot stores every block, sometimes multiple ones. There were also stores that sold food infused with cannabis/THC. It was very unexpected seeing stores with large marijuana plants displayed in the windows.
Justin stopped by a pharmacy to pick up more bug spray and headed back to the Starbucks to meet Lauren for the massage. The massage place and Starbucks were located in a pseudo/mini-shopping mall with multiple shops and several levels. We would come to learn that these were very common in Bangkok. The massage was very nice, although Justin was a bit surprised that his masseuse (masseur) was male since we had only seen female massage therapists throughout our travels so far. He was also surprised at how soft the masseur’s hands were.
After the massage, we headed back to the hotel to check out dinner in the executive lounge. That night they were serving Pad Thai and a bunch of other Thai/Indian/Chinese dishes like Dim Sum and Samosas. What was really nice was that everything had allergens clearly labeled, so we were both able to comfortably enjoy dinner without worrying about ingredients.
At dinner, we sat nearby two loud, middle-aged German gentlemen. One of them was with a much younger Thai woman. The woman remarked that she and her date had met online and were meeting for the first time in Thailand. Meanwhile, the other man was asking repeatedly about this Thai woman’s sister, who she said was an introvert and spoke no English. It was all very odd – well, until we later realized a popular activity at this hotel (more on this below).
We didn’t really feel like going out again after dinner, so we decided to check out the swanky rooftop bar at the hotel. Justin ordered a cocktail and Lauren ordered a mocktail, and we quickly noticed something strange – there were a lot of white men on “dates” with Thai women. They surrounded us, engaging in the most awkward broken conversations. The men mostly talked about how good they were at a particular thing. *eye roll* We snickered through text conversations to each other joking about the weird conversations we were overhearing. Honestly had no idea the sheer number of people who seemed to partake. After 2 drinks, we decided to call it a night.
