Monday 19th March – Return to Bangkok

T Villa looked even better in the morning sun, a shame we didn't have time to stay and enjoy it...

After diving it is safe practise to leave it at least 24 hours before flying due to the effects of the difference in air pressure on your body.  We had a 1255pm flight booked to Bangkok today, so 24-hours…ish!  We’d discussed our transfer to the airport on arrival last night and the lady at reception had convinced us that leaving at 1130am would be more than enough time for a domestic flight.  However, we were still queueing to check our bags in at 1220pm, still with security to get through before even finding our gate!  I prefer things a little more relaxed than that… Maybe NOK air aren’t the most professional outfit available in Thailand? But, we made it through security easily and by the time everyone was boarded and ready to go we were running about half an hour late anyway.

Our arrival at Bangkok was exciting.  I don’t know what went wrong with the approach, but the sudden swing just before we touched down and seeing the left wing dip scarily close to the tarmac was a little dramatic.  There was no time for anyone to make a fuss as we were on the ground a second later, but several of us looked around and sighed with relief in unison!

We had landed at a different airport than when we briefly visited on our way to Chiang Mai.  Don Mueang Airport doesn’t have the same efficient rail links into the city that we enjoyed before.  We made our lives easy by waiting half an hour for a taxi to take us directly to the Grand Diamond Suites hotel (right).  Another great accommodation deal that Simon had discovered on-line.  We found ourselves in the largest suite we have experienced this trip on the 19^th floor overlooking the city. We even had cooking facilities for the first time in ages.  Not that we’re intending on using them or anything!

We took some time to relax before heading out to find some street food locally.  We’ll save further exploration for the next couple of days.  Neither of us have particularly been looking forward to the hustle and bustle of Bangkok, it’s more that we feel it is something we should experience for ourselves.  We appear to be well positioned for shopping at least, something that we intend to make the most of.  We found a BBQ restaurant with a varied menu but specialising in seafood.  I felt bad after spending some quality time with the fishes over the last few days, but the barbecued tilapia fish cooked in salt with lemon grass, onion and coriander was amazing. Sorry Mr Tilapia…

The future is bleak for these tilapia...

..... but it tasted so good!

We perused some of the cheap shopping opportunities locally before calling it a night.