Saturday 16th December 2000 Day 4 4:50am, the alarm screamed at us. Time to get up as we have a full day of excursions today!! I feel somewhat better this morning. I'm still suffering from my ailments but I'm nowhere as pathetic as I was last night. |
Next stop was the floating markets of Damneon Saduak. Now this was well worth a visit, even if it only exists to entertain the tourists. We first boarded a long tail boat, (or 'James Bond' boat as the guide called it.) and were taken down several canals. It felt almost like one of those "Around the World in 80 Days" boat ride at an amusement park, only that the scenes along the riverbank were real! |
With this fresh in our minds, down one of the side canals, we pulled up to a stall where this man held a whopping big python in his hands and was intent on shoving it in Julie's face! He found it funny but the Thai humour was lost on us! |
She gave me the hard sell, and even ended up giving me a quick massage! I still refused to buy her 20 Baht balm. (Hey, I'm getting the hand of this 'turning people down' thing!) I felt guilty though. I should of given her the 20 Baht for the massage, even if I didn't want the tiger balm. |
Shortly afterwards I was so relieved when I had to go to the toilets because they were Western style! Which meant I could take it sitting down, relaxed and calm knowing that I could wipe myself clean with soft tissue paper. I must admit to dreading the moment I have to shit in an Eastern style loo where you have to straddle the purpose built porcelain pot in the ground, squatting precariously, pissing on your trouser leg, and only having the benefit of some water to clean yourself. |
My throat was getting very sore right now, despite demolishing a packet of Strepsils Plus that we bought from Boots on Silom Road yesterday. I hope this doesn't develop into tonsillitis. We returned to the hotel by 5pm very tired after an excellent day. The highlight being the floating market. We certainly got a sense of adventure whilst we were in amongst the traders. Later that evening we decided to go out for our supper to the Tandoori restaurant at the hotel. We booked a table for 8pm and then went down to the Cheers pub, just off the lobby. That was of course after a slight detour to the 26th floor after getting into a lift that said "going up" when we actually wanted it to say "going down"! The building swayed again! |
The cocktail I had was called a White Elephant which reminded me of some schoolboy joke, which I won't repeat here. It had coconut liqueur, triple sec and crème de Banané, Nice but sweet! We wouldn't allow Hannah to have one, which upset her! And Julie had a Mai Thai, which had several local ingredients? We then moved up to the 6th floor for the Tandoori restaurant. What happened next was beyond strange. Even with the benefit of hindsight I'm not sure I understand exactly why we were treated in this way. I like to believe that Julie and I are social chameleons, able to blend in with our environment, from the roughest biker's ball, to the elegance of high tea at the Ritz. But tonight we felt bemused and perhaps out of our depth in the social circles of Indian etiquette! We were greeted warmly and taken to our "very good seat, sir!" The headwaiter then welcomed us to the restaurant, handed out the wine list, and gave us a few minutes. He returned, holding his hands together, with an expectant look on his face, and asked "What shall it be tonight, sir, white or red?" I thought to myself, "You bastard, I was thinking of going for cheap Singha beer for everyone, to try and keep the bill down, now I'm going to have to go for a £20 bottle of wine! " And like the fool that I am, I ordered a bottle of white wine. When they brought the bottle out for me to taste the wine I studied the label intensely before giving my approval, if only to look as if I knew what I was doing but our un-sophistication was blatantly obvious when we all burst out laughing at this ridiculous tradition! The headwaiter soon returned but without any menus? He started asking us our likes and dislikes of Indian cuisine. Then looked at us, stroking his chin, tilting his head to one side, like an artist contemplating his masterpiece, and said "For you sir, I think we should start with a vegetable tandoori kebab, mmm, yes, and to follow a special spinach curry accompanied by gobi aloo and some naan bread." I didn't know what to say? Asking for the menu would of offended him! All I could say was "That sounds delicious" and smiled! Hannah had the same as I did. Julie also had her food chosen for her. Tandoori chicken and a curry to follow. (Which apparently is the traditional way to eat a tandoori?) Having his creative culinary talent at our disposal to conjure up an authentic Indian masterpiece was a huge compliment to us. It gave you the feeling of being a member of the Raj! We were then assigned a servant. He wasn't our waiter, oh no, he was our personal table boy. Whenever our glasses ran dry, he'd top them up from our chilled bottle of Chateau Pompidou. Whenever our stainless steel tumblers were less than half full of water, he was there in a flash! When our poppadums ran low, he fetched another plateful. He even placed our napkins on our knees? Did we seem that incapable! It was overly attentive, and at one point I thought he was going to spoon the food into my mouth! It was never irritating though, despite always being aware of his presence. Especially when he had nothing to do, because he would just hover nearby, waiting for the next opportunity to serve us.The evening was made perfect when I realised that the excellent lively Indian music I'd been enjoying all night was actually a four piece classical Indian band performing on cushions on the floor behind us. Could you get any more authentic? We rolled out of the restaurant stuffed to the gills, and went back down to the Cheers pub because Hannah still wanted a cocktail. She'd been in a sulky mood since being refused one during our earlier visit. At times the atmosphere was not one of 'happy holidays'! Anyway, she got her own way in the end, and had a Bangkok Blue, which had an extremely strong alcoholic taste, and content with Tequila and Blue Curacao! We finally made it to our room at 11:30pm, and I fell asleep almost immediately.
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