Partying in Bangkok

My girlfriend Bec who will be travelling with me for the next months was to arrive in Bangkok late at night on the 21st, so as I had day before she arrived I decided it would be nice to do something romantic. I spent the day hunting out the flowermarkets, which ended up being around the bottom of Triphet road. Asking a gentleman how to say 'flowermarkets' in Thai, I went down streets demanding 'Bac Hong Dalat?' and getting pointed in various directions, each time getting closer to my destination. Finally reaching them, I was completely awed at the sheer mass of flowers covering every inch of space... and the markets were supposed to be closed! Fresh cut roses, gerberas, and chrysanthemums were     everywhere, for rock-bottom prices.

 I bought around a hundred roses and some candles from a store, and with some vases from my lovely hotel hostess, set up a candlelit hotel room with roses in seperate vases around the two-storey apartment and rose petals leading up the stairs. Naturally suspicious, she guessed that something was up by my excitement when she arrived. Bec was speechless when she saw the hotel room. I couldn't wait to give her my last surprise, an ice-cream cake I had bought as I had missed her birthday whilst travelling in India. Lighting the birthday candles, I sang happy birthday to her and presented her with the massive amount of chocolate ice-cream adorned with fresh strawberries I had found at the local market. I have so much fun organising things like this!

The next day, we were free to set upon Bangkok. It's easy to get used to life in Bangkok, with the street vendors selling all the fresh pineapple, watermelon, paw-paw and mango you could ever want in between meals, as well as sit-down places with fresh fruit salad, muesli and yoghurt, and for lunch and dinner delicious Thai stir fries with basil and soups with noodles - yum! But it's not only the daytime that has its upsides in Bangkok. The night-time seems to last even longer than the day, with Khao Sanh Road still as the main partying area for the young hooligan, but the nearby Soi Rambuttri rivaling Khao Sanh for partying flare, especially due to the much improved aesthetics of Soi Rambuttri. These take the form of beautiful lanterns lighting the streets and clubs, as well as fairy lights in the trees. We found a cool place selling apple Sheesha to smoke for 300baht per pipe, as well as cocktails - I had the best long island ice tea I've ever tried at an amazing looking bar halfway up Soi Rambuttri. That was a fun night, although I blew my 30 dollar-a-day budget on 3 dishes for dinner as well as a bucket of vodka and lemon.

The next day we explored the flower markets again, and this time when they weren't supposedly closed, there were even more flowers crammed into every inch of space. It was once again amazingly beautiful, with even amazingly coloured blue orchids adorning the pavement. I also got to check out a great cafe I had been itching to go to called Ethos. Whoever conceived this joint should be very proud of themselves - just behing the Burger King off Khao Sanh Rd, it has the most delicious fruit shakes I've ever tasted, perfectly spruced up with a fresh purple orchid flower atop the glass. I had a pineapple and coconut shake, while Bec had a couple of lemon and ginger shakes, both of which were superb. Looking at the menu, I was excited to try the apple crumble with coconut cream custard. It was the most delicious dessert I've had in months, with rolled oats in the crumble and the coconut cream custard the most ingenious idea I've heard of in a long while. I highly recommend Ethos to anyone, the atmosphere is also superb, with floor cushions or chairs and tables, as well as free wifi and electricity.