Panthip Plaza and Anna's Cafe - Bangkok

Marc wanted to check out the famous Panthip Plaza. This is the famous electronic mall where you can get anything and everything that you need for your computer. As with everything in Thailand, every price is negotiable and you never pay the initial asking price unless you are a sucker. You are expected to bargain and negotiate. They also have bootleg copies of programs, games and movies. Sometimes they will tell you to wait for a half hour and you can get your bootleg copy of a computer program for a few dollars instead of a few hundred dollars. Good place to load up your PC or notebook.

We took the train and I had my first cheap massage in Thailand. We had dinner nearby at Anna's Cafe. The owner pretended that it was my birthday and sent out a cake and had the waiter's sing "Happy Birthday" to me. He said it was his way of welcoming us to his beautiful restaurant. There is a picture he took of me and Marc, then Marc took one of me and the owner.

First Day in Bangkok

I didn't sleep much last night. I was up in the middle of the night with the 12 hour time difference.

In the first picture, Marc is eating breakfast at our hotel, which is actually a very nice, one-bedroom corporate apartment. It doesn't even feel like a hotel and is our home away from home. We stayed here 5 years ago and loved it. We are going to spend our first week here because there is so much to do in this city. Plus, hopefully we can get over jetlag sooner than later.

Our new tailor picked us up personally from our hotel at 9:00 am. We were very surprised to see them because they said they would send a taxi to take us to their shop. It was very nice and typical of the Thai service where they go above and beyond their customers. Their shops are located in the basement of the Landmark Hotel in Central Bangkok.

After our morning at the tailors, we went to the large Central Department store to have lunch upstairs at FoodLoft. They have food stations with open kitchens so you can see everything that they prepare for you: pizza, Japanese, Thai, Chinese, Italian, etc. The last two pictures show Marc eating lunch and the upstairs portion of the eating area at FoodLoft.

Breakfast at our hotel

Every morning our hotel has a breakfast buffet. We always make sure we get up early so we don't miss it. Yum!

Our apartment in Bangkok

This is our favorite place to stay in Bangkok. It's a one-bedroom serviced apartment just south of central Bangkok.

First Night in Bangkok

We flew Thai Airways for almost 18 hours nonstop from JFK. Unfortunately, there were two screaming kids in the same row who were fussy for the entire flight. We didn't sleep much. Marc watched many movies on his personal TV screen. I napped once and read half of my book. We left JFK on Saturday, October 29 at 12:00 noon and arrived in Bangkok at 4:45 pm on Sunday, October 30. When we used to connect in Tokyo, we would arrive two days later. Flying nonstop shaves off about 6+ hours of travel time, but it is one long flight. Thai Airways just started this new nonstop service in May.

Upon landing in Bangkok, we looked out the window and couldn't believe that there was a golf course adjacent to the runway. It was perfectly manicured and people were driving around in their golf carts. You can see our plane's wing in the left part of the bottom picture.

In the top two photos, you can see us eating at the local Thai-German beer garden restaurant called, Tawandang. It is conveniently located near our hotel so we went over to have dinner before coming back to try and sleep off the jetlag.

JFK to Bangkok

Excellent flight on Thai Airways. Flying the 18 hours nonstop was worth it. Lots of meals, snacks, movies, sleep. Check out the Coke can with Thai writing.