Final days นสุดท้าย
16-18 January
Souvenir Shopping * ช้อปปิ้งของที่ระลึก
* Yes, I know… but we like holiday tat.
Our plans for some further sight-seeing in Bangkok on the day of our return from Sakon Nakhon didn’t really evolve – by the time we had flown back and dealt with the bedlam in the exit hall of Suvarnabhumi for a second time (we had a decent sized vehicle on this occasion!), time was getting on a bit, so we just chilled and planned for the next day – our final full day in Thailand.
Our driver on the transfer in from the airport had pointed out a shopping mall – Terminal 21 – and recommended it – 7 floors, with the top two given over to restaurants.
“Very nice to shop”
Ok, that’ll do for our end-of-holiday souvenir hunt, we thought.
After tackling another hotel breakfast – a freshly made to order omelette ‘with everything’ (peppers, cheese, onions, ham), baked beans and another handful of cold bacon – we planned our day.
The hotel had their own tuk-tuk and, as a guest, a member of staff would drive you to the end of the road where there were some shops and where other transport could more easily be picked up.
The rather fetching Hotel Tuk-Tuk
Once there, we quickly found a tuk-tuk and asked the driver if he would take us to Terminal 21 shopping mall.
“You wan shop?”
“..err, yes”
“So you wan souvenir type shop, yes?”
“errr, yes.”
“Ah. No Terminal 21. Very expensive. (this snippet of information was accompanied with the universal indicator of ‘much money’ by the rubbing together of thumb & index/middle fingers)
“Designer. Not Thailand nice. I know place we go. Very nice Thailand souvenir”
“Umm. Ok, then”
So, we climbed in and were taken across Bangkok in a BMW-engined Tuk-tuk.
Honest…
The trip took about 30 minutes although with all the weaving around stationary traffic and avoiding vehicles turning across our path it seemed much longer.
This gave us the time to ponder about what we had just done – i.e. agreed to being driven into a city we didn’t know by a stranger who knew we were going shopping and so were therefore probably carrying a large amount of cash.
We laughed it off – I mean, there were lots of people around and any moment now, we’d pull up in front of a large store, right? We’d really have to be driven away from the main road and all the crowds and into a narrow alleyway before we needed to worry.
We turned right off the main road, into a narrow road away from the crowds.. and then left into a narrow alley.
However, you can relax Dear Reader, as all was fine.
The alley led to a rear entrance (behave!) of a very impressive ground floor jewellery store – where we got the inevitable hard sell – before we went upstairs to a rather comprehensive souvenir shop.
We got everything we needed, and as tourists received a 15% discount.
We spent over an hour there and our driver, as he had promised (although I don’t think we believed him when he said it) was still waiting outside for us… No doubt some of that 15% made its way into his wallet.
After another fun trip through manic Bangkok traffic, back at the hotel we made a start on the packing. After just 10 minutes of this Mrs ABS decided her time would be much better spent sipping a glass or three of Prosecco and sitting by the hotel pool for the afternoon.
I’m not much of a sit-by-the-pool type, so I left the wife to soak up the Prosecco and the rays (it was around 33c) and went for a little stroll.
Walking to the end of the hotel road, I turned onto the main road and walked for maybe 20 minutes just absorbing the noise and sounds of a very busy capital city.
Of course, being a lone male European out walking in Bangkok I received attention from groups of young ladies stood in shop doors offering to ..err.. rub my back or something.
They do like their massages in Thailand….
… and just in case anyone reading this is getting ready to shout ‘สกปรก!’ I politely declined their advances!
The tailors are perhaps optimistically ambitious.
There were some rather neat road signs
Their street wiring could do with a little finesse
As I had my ‘tourist photographers’ hat on, once back in our room I decided that, as we were on the 20th floor of the hotel, the view from our room into Bangkok was worth capturing.
But then I thought that having a night time picture would put a nice twist on things.
This meant, that a few hours later, I had to persuade Mrs ABS to sit in a darkened room while I fumbled with my little tripod for 15 mins or so
(You may shout ‘สกปรก!’ at this point if you wish).
I think the end result was worth all the fumbling…
The small ‘flower’ of lights in the centre of the picture is a drone display for the [well-illuminated] hotel behind it – I just caught the end of it.
Fumbling over and with my little tripod tucked away, we went out for our last evening meal in Thailand.
Mrs ABS was just not up to walking any sort of distance, so we decided to eat in one of the hotel restaurants.
Their top floor restaurant was closed for renovations, so there was only the one other which was in a Thai hotel; Mexican. However, the food on offer was varied and plentiful and we enjoyed the evening.
Last Day วันสุดท้าย
Our flight wasn’t until late afternoon so we had a few hours to kill although we couldn’t really go far.
After our final hotel breakfast of cereal and another ‘Thaiglish’ – I still couldn’t bring myself to have the rice & noodles – Mrs ABS made her way for one last stint of ‘Prosecco by the pool’.
I went off and did another short stroll to the main road.
Spreading the GP word to the Bangkok Massive!
Further offers of massages from various groups of ladies were, once more, politely refused and I eventually made my back to the hotel to finish packing and join the wife by the pool for the few hours we had remaining.
Came our check-out & departure, our transfer arrived in good time with another large car for the chair and cases and off we set for the airport where, as it was getting toward evening, the small Buddha statues lining the central reservation of the main highway to the airport were lit up.
The road to the airport
The flight home was uneventful, although arriving in England at 7.30am in January with an air temperature of 4c, was a bit of a wake up after two weeks in 30oc sunshine.
(We hadn’t taken any coats with us; we knew we wouldn’t need them and didn’t want the hassle of their bulk – we did miss them on arrival though!)
Would we go again? เราจะไปอีกครั้งไหม?
Absolutely, there was a lot more to see that we didn’t get around to; the main reason for going – the family reunion – took up the bulk of the trip, so when we go next time, we’ll make it more for ‘us’ although existing commitments mean it’ll be a year or two before we can go.
… and we’ll book our own flights and hotels!
The Thais are lovely, friendly people and nothing seemed too much trouble for them even if they do have a slightly laid-back approach to things like timetables and flight schedules! J
The trip has left us with some wonderful memories; we have made new friends and now have a liking for the occasional bowl of Pad Thai.
.. and after those bouncy roads, I will never complain about the state of the M4 on my daily commute again.
If there was one downside, it would be that wheelchair accessibility is somewhat thin once one heads off the tourist tracks; Bangkok was OK, although some of the pavements in the narrower streets were poorly maintained with high kerb drops and were also uneven with tree root damage; in the more urban areas that we visited, aside from large shopping malls and regional capitals, reduced mobility seemed to be a low priority.
If you have taken the time to read all this I/we hope you enjoyed it and:
ขอบคุณครับ! (Khop-khun-krap)
Thank you!
© Afghanistan Banana Stand 2025
