One Night in Bangkok

After a short morning flight from Siem Reap, we arrived in Bangkok, for what seems a bit more like an extended layover than an actual stop on our trip. We leave for Malta in a few hours at 1:05 a.m. For our last night of our Asian adventure we are staying at the Oriental Residence in Bangkok. We are on the 19th floor, and this is our view of the city.

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We had two very nice guides for yesterday afternoon and today. We visited the grand palace of the king, the summer palace, and a whole bunch of temples. The architecture of the Thai temples is different and interesting, and our guide yesterday filled in some gaps in our knowledge of Buddhism. In Bangkok, you can see temples built using a Thai architecture, Khmer architecture, and even a few Mosques. We saw temples within temples. We have lost count. I think it is safe to say that we are now “templed out.”

Bangkok itself is very different from anything we have seen in Vietnam and Cambodia. It is definitely a large modern city. Complete with massive traffic jams and loads of tourists. The food has been excellent. Green Curry, Massaman Curry, Tom Yum soup. Today out on the river we had the Tom Yum Goong (with prawns) and we told our guide to order it Thai style for us rather than “foreigner style.” Well, let me tell you, we like our food spicy but I lost my voice after a spoonful of this!! Oh My it was hot. We also had a chicken and basil stir fry that was absolutely delicious. How you can make something stir fried taste so spicy and like it just came off the grill, I don’t know. But I’m definitely going to be working on it. We have a few bags of spices in our luggage that I hope make it through immigration in Malta.

It is now time to start a new chapter of this journey and we are both looking forward to arriving in Malta in about 25 hours.

P.S. I hope the song gets stuck in your head for a day too. And just in case, you can’t remember, I’m not sure I ever really knew them all. But here are the lyrics:

Bangkok, Oriental setting And the city don’t know what the city is getting The creme de la creme of the chess world In a show with everything but Yul Brynner

Time flies, doesn’t seem a minute Since the Tirolean Spa had the chess boys in it All change, don’t you know that when you Play at this level, there’s no ordinary venue

It’s Iceland or the Philippines Or Hastings or, or this place

One night in Bangkok and the world’s your oyster The bars are temples but the pearls ain’t free You’ll find a God in every golden cloister And if you’re lucky then the God’s a she I can feel an angel sliding up to me

One town’s very like another When your head’s down over your pieces, Brother

It’s a drag, it’s a bore, it’s really such a pity To be looking at the board, not looking at the city

Whaddya mean? Ya seen one crowded, polluted, stinking town

Tea girls, warm and sweet, warm, sweet Some are set up in the Somerset Maugham Suite

“Get Thai’d”, you’re talking to a tourist Whose every move’s among the purest I get my kicks above the waistline, sunshine

One night in Bangkok makes a hard man humble Not much between despair and ecstasy One night in Bangkok and the tough guys tumble Can’t be too careful with your company I can feel the Devil walking next to me

Siam’s gonna be the witness To the ultimate test of cerebral fitness This grips me more than would A muddy old river or Reclining Buddha

But thank God, I’m only watching the game, controlling it

I don’t see you guys rating The kind of mate I’m contemplating I’d let you watch, I would invite you But the queens we use would not excite you

So you better go back to your bars, your temples Your massage parlors

One night in Bangkok and the world’s your oyster The bars are temples but the pearls ain’t free You’ll find a God in every golden cloister A little flesh, a little history I can feel an angel slidin’ up to me

One night in Bangkok makes a hard man humble Not much between despair and ecstasy One night in Bangkok and the tough guys tumble Can’t be too careful with your company I can feel the Devil walking next to me

-- Murray Head

Ok fun fact about this song: Along with the rest of the songs from Chess, the music was written by Björn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson of ABBA, and Tim Rice wrote the lyrics. Can you feel the love tonight?