Because we the Emirates flight from Bangkok to Dubai to Cape Town leaves at the rude hour of 2:40 am we decided to spend a night in the city so that we could enjoy a full day exploring instead of spending hours in an airport.  Of course we did not anticipate that The Earl would be unable to walk!

We checked into the Cha-Da Hotel in the late afternoon and had dinner at their restaurant.   It was not easy deciding exactly what to do with an entire day with Hop-Along-Harry.  We thought we might just spend the day at the hotel pool but it was on the roof and not easy for the Earl to get to.

My friend Peggy had once lived in Bangkok so I rang her and asked for some advice.  She suggested a cruise on the river – Perfect for a non-walking hubby.

The hotel tourist desk were superbly helpful.  They offered us a private transfer for 1000 baht.   Now this may sound a lot but it saved us having to get busses and trains to get to the starting point of said cruise.   Our driver was outstanding.  He was fluent in English and during the hour long drive chatted about the city and gave us lots of interesting information.  He was also very keen to know all about South Africa and was fascinated to hear about our lifestyle.  He was happy to wait for us at the River port  and drove us back to the hotel.  The Earl was still hobbling but could put weight on his foot and managed fairly well with one crutch.

The boat trip was lovely.   It was in a long tail boat and we were the only tourists on board with a guide and a sailor.   The guide could barely speak English but she pointed things out and was very friendly.  The water was choppy but we had a lovely trip nevertheless.

This took up most of our morning and we still needed to fill up our afternoon.  But the time we returned The Earl’s foot was much better and he felt he could manage a short walk.  We found a mall that had a Starbucks and had a snack and a coffee there before finding another mall that had a movie theatre that offered on English move which we sat through although it wasn’t very good!

The problem I have with Starbucks coffee is that the mugs are too big and the coffee too bitter.  Their duck wrap was pretty good though.

After the movie we strolled around the mall. Every inch was used up on markets and it was fascinating.    We had an early supper at a Japanese restaurant that did not allow photography.  Their sushi was excellent and inexpensive.  Our entire meal was less than 700 baht and included a 8 pieces of sushi each, a salad, a soup and a drink.    It was more than adequate.

Although we checked out of our room at midday the hotel kindly allowed us to leave our luggage with the concierge.  We had a coffee at the restaurant and sat there using the remainder of our free wifi until our transfer collected us at 10 pm.   We couldn’t have asked for better service.

The long flight home turned out not to be too bad as on the second leg of the journey the plane was half full and all the passengers were able to spread out, sleep across three or four seats and have plenty of leg room.  The perfect way to travel!

And so ended our very enjoyable Asian Adventure.