We have moved on and are right now in Bangkok after a short flight from Phuket. Well... we've already been in Bangkok for three days and if everything had gone to plan, we would be in Vietnam right now. However, due to a smaller mishap we are still in Thailand...

Not that Bangkok is a bad place to be; especially not when we have the luxury of staying at one of Robert's friend's house which is not a small little house but more like a mini palace. Large pool (Victoria was even tempted trying to do some more serious swimming in it, it must be at least 15 meters), fountain, nice garden and very spacious.

The pool

Robert practising his synchronised swimming routine

Both of us with the house in the background

During the three days we've been here we have done a little bit of sightseeing including a tuk tuk ride on the streets of Bangkok. Only for the brave!!!!! No shock absorbers and going down the streets in at least 60-70 km/h!!!! The tour also included the 'mandatory' stops at the silk tailors and being strong and firm about not buying anything we didn't want from the merchants that the tuk tuk driver got paid to stop at.

We visited a couple of night markets too but didn't really buy anything. We also went to the more exclusive shopping centre and explored a little.

Exclusive shopping is possible anywhere in the world!

Robert found a bench in the middle of a fountain

Victoria opted for the bench outside the fountain

Food of all kinds at the food court

A dinner cruise on the river was one of the highlights. It was arranged by the hotel Shangri-la, so it was very fancy but an excellent way to see some of the city at night when it was cooler.

Dinner cruise down the river

Happy Robert with two less lucky prawns...

Unfortunately, we didn't really see everything we wanted as it is too hot to walk around and the taxi and tuk tuk drivers are really trying to scam the tourists, so after trying to find a taxi to take us around (at a price that was about 10 higher than it should have been), we decided to cut the seightseeing a little short. Perhaps that was wise anyways, as many of the major buildings and government sites were heavily guarded with armed police and riot squads in anticipation of unrest once the court ruling against the former prime minister was going to be announced. Not the most relaxed atmosphere to linger around in....

So after almost ten days in Thailand we decided that it was time to see something else. Victoria has been to Vietnam a few years ago and really liked it so we decided to go to Ho Chi Minh City. We got cheap tickets with Air France and prepared for departure today Saturday.

Everything went well until we came to the check-in desk at the airport. It turned out that British nationals need to obtain a tourist visa before going to Vietnam and Air France therefore denied Robert boarding unless he could show a letter that he was pre-approved for a visa on arrival. It didn't occur to us to check that as Victoria knew that as a Swedish citizen she didn't need a visa and we couldn't imagine that it would be different for other Western EU countries..... After some arguing with the staff at the desk, there was nothing else to do but to cancel the flight and head back to Bangkok.

As it was Saturday, the visa would take at least a few days to get so after a bit of flapping around, we decided to cancel our trip to Ho Chi Minh city for now. Yes, we did lose a little bit of money by cancelling the flight tickets and the hotel, but unfortunately we didn't have much of a choice. Victoria could have gone by herself to Vietnam, but that wasn't a very appealing option either....

We went back at Robert's friend's house, trying to recuperate and re-assess what to do next. Since we do have those tourist visas for China that we worked so hard for (see blog entry for Hong-Kong about that story) we were thinking going to China instead. To think our situation over we decided to go for some food first. As if a bad day couldn't get any worse, we are terribly ashamed to admit that we ended up at Pizza Hut and McDonald's. In the state of mind we were we just wanted something quick to eat and thought pizza would be ok. Unfortunately, we regretted our choice as soon as the food came. You would think Pizza Hut tastes the same anywhere in the world...well... WRONG! Somehow even the pizza has a distinct 'Thai flavour' to it. While thai food in itself is delicious, Meat Lover's pizza with a thai flare to it is not! To top it all off, the waitress tipped a whole milkshake over Robert's trousers. Accidentally of course, but still.....

So after a bad day that turned even worse, the best thing we could do was to go to bed and sleep it off. Hopefully some rest and a fresh start on the next day would give us a new prospective. Story to be continued...

written by  Victoria & Robert on February 27, 2010 from Bangkok, Thailand
from the travel blog: The rest of the world
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Be aware, England is not a member of the Schengen agreement. I have learned it the hard way too. When we arranged visas to Sweden for the Serbs they were allowed to travel in the whole EU but were not let in to Britain. There may be differences for The Entrance to more countries.
Many hugs to you both
Maud and Gunnar

written by  Maud Naess on March 1, 2010

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