My Bangkok 2

It was at quite a convenient time for my friends from Malaysia to visit. My schedule at work has been erratic to say the least, in part due to the many Thai holidays which have fallen this year on weekends. They arrived Wednesday morning and my commitments were reasonably free for the first few days. I worked until lunchtime for the Wednesday to Friday, had a full day on the Saturday and finished by lunchtime again on the Sunday. The following week I took off from work and had a further fortnight's holiday from my own office .

Ying had booked my friends into the Conrad Hotel on their first day here. They had a special offer of $89 per night as the hotel had just opened. I was working when they arrived so they had to get there from the airport without me. I went to met them around 1pm after I had finished work.

It's a strange hotel. Perhaps a little too modern for my taste. My friends room had a nice bathroom yet with a transparent glass screen whereby you could see the bath, toilet etc. from the bedroom area. Granted there was a slightly-too-small remote-controlled curtain to allow some privacy but it seems a little excessive for the privilege of watching TV in the bath.

The tropical-looking swimming pool was huge, very pleasant to look at but bloody freezing. The large surrounding buildings do not put it into any direct sunlight and the entire floor was swept up in icy blasts of wind. Although it was fantastic to admire the pool, eye candy can be it's only use.

Usually updating my dairy is easy because, as many of you'll know I'm online 12 hours a day and always end up chatting to somebody. When I update my diaries it really can be as straightforward as picking up a saved chat and rephrasing it. When my friends were over I had a good fortnight without the internet and therefore please forgive me if i'm inaccurate with much of my details.

We made the traditional trip to MK the first night, a wonderful (although getting monotonous now) restaurant where one can sample a large variety of exotic foods by adding them to a communal pan of boiling water. I have grown fond of their chrysanthemum tea and I relish the challenge of picking up chunks of their uncooked tofu with my chopsticks.

I got a kick out of taking them to 'enjoy' the foot massages at the Night Bazaar. Joanne was in hysterics when the pain got too much. I noted that although parts were a little painful for me it was significantly less painful than before christmas. It seems to work on the premise that one cannot appreciate please until one can appreciate pain!

Another enjoyable evening was reuniting them with Pukky and Apple. It was the first time I had coordinated a group of us to meet together. Pukky was immediately in her element with Apple's baby and we all had a great night out.

My friends and myself escaped from Bangkok once my work commitments were over. We headed up to Chiang Mai -Thailand's second largest city (but, compared to the vastness of Bangkok, merely a tickle at an orgy). A parent of one of my staffs who is a well connected businessman suggested a well-located hotel and booked us in for the first few nights.

Not wishing to take any chances I telephone to confirm the booking;

Hello, I would like to confirm my booking please

Yes, sir that is fine, that is no problem

You mean I have a booking?

Yes that's correct sir

But, who am I?

I sorry sir, I not understand.

You do not know who I am! You cannot have confirmed I have booked a room. My friend has booked a room for me, can you tell me the room number please

Oh we not know the room numbers sir until the same day.

Well can you check to make sure he has made the booking

Yes sir, you have a booking

For what date?

Any date, no problem

Can you tell me if Mr Harvey is staying at the hotel on the 8th February?

No, I sorry he not stay here.

Right ....

Keeping very careful not to wrench my hand through the telephone connection to strangle the guy I explained how I had a corporate account with them and that I wanted to book a room for 700 baht a night. Amazingly, with very few questions I managed to book it. On arrival it was wonderful to note their rack-rate was nearly double this.

I'd been to Chiang Mai before. It's a quiet city with many temples and parks to see. The weather was great and I was both impressed yet dismayed by my friends enthusiasm and constant energy. It was wonderful to see them so lively and positive, however they out-paced me. I would have delighted in a few hours extra in bed every day although it was nice to get that prod up the backside.

The most memorable episodes were a dramatic F1-style tuk-tuk journey which, in my worldly innocence I thought was great fun. In my parent's more experienced opinions the guy was a lunatic and they were not enjoying the ride as much as me. Only when the guy smashed into a 4x4 truck and then sped up through a busy market did I note that something was a little unconventional - even for Thailand. Turned out, after this 4x4 gave chase that we were being driven around by a drunk driver who, most likely wouldn't have given a damn about smashing us into a wall.

We traveled to Chiang Rai and to Pai and to Mai Sai in Myanmar for some quick DVD shopping. We stayed a few days and nights, staying in a nicer hotel with a fantastic pool and quiet surroundings. We did an elephant trek, bamboo rafting and visited some of the hill tribe settlements. As part of our excitement, Kelly was thrown in too, she was a fun American girl who had the pleasure of sharing an elephant's bump with me.

The final nights we returned to Chiang Mai again. I learnt the valuable lesson that ATM machines close here after 11pm. That was after excitedly selecting numerous items to purchase, feeling mortally embarrassed when I couldn't pay for them. The last few days were back in Bangkok where we visited the largest restaurant in the world and watched Joanne and Ying volunteer at Thai dancing.

It was a great break from my near-routine back in Bangkok and whilst I enjoyed every second of being with my friends I was delighted to have a few days in bed after they'd left to recuperate! I fact it took me a good fortnight to mentally get back into life. I suffered one day of extreme dehydration which clouded my memory a little bit but I'm still doing great.