Given the recent death of King Bhumibol Adulyadej, I was expecting the mood in Bangkok to be more sombre than on my past visits.
Indeed, many people are wearing black and dark colours, and many of the billboards on the road from the airport were black, with pictures of the King and plainly written, heartfelt, tributes from companies and government bodies.
However, Thai hospitality persists, and both the taxi driver — who, regrettably tried the old “meter broken” trick (which I handled by offering him the fare I knew was correct) — and the hotel staff were friendly.
I stayed near Siam, at the Marriott Courtyard (more about that in another post) in Ratchadamri near Central World, which is well located for the BTS (Sky Train) and taxis (although the roads are impossibly clogged most of the day and night).
The purpose of trip was to catch up with some of my former colleagues, from Thailand, the UAE and Australia, one of whom is a very longtime friend. The original plan was to go to Hemingway’s, an indoor-outdoor bar/restaurant in Sukhumvit Soi 14, but it was already heaving by the time I arrived at 6pm. I was told is was the venue’s last night of operation before its demolition to make way for something new (an inevitable occurrence in thriving downtown Bangkok).
We ended up at the Queen Victoria, an English-style pub near the well-known (notorious?) Soi Cowboy, which was still open but with its neon lights and loud music toned down. Many of the bar girls outside the venues were wearing black.
At the Queen Vic, there were a few beers and an all-day breakfast.
The next two days — a little shopping and some bed rest before the big event: my annual pilgrimage to Australia.
