Day 1 - Touchdown in Bangkok

Arrived around 6am at the Suvarnabhumi airport and the first thing I needed was a cup of coffee, badly. I was glad to find a 7/11 nearby where they had 3-4 different brands of coffee each in their own disposable cup with added creamer and sugar. A hot water kettle was of course available next to the stand. The Monocca coffee I bought costs 26 baht, and a pork bun was 19 baht. Ridiculously cheap, especially when I exchanged my $10 (Aus) money and still had lots of change left over from the purchase. This trip was going to last 6 days in accordance to the tour schedule that we joined back home, so the first day was supposed to be "free time" as the rest of the tour members arrived in Bangkok. We stayed at a hotel or suite nearby, which was conveniently located near the airport but unfortunately pretty far from the city center. The place is called Crystal Suites, a nice modern looking apartment structure located in a small suburb street. I found the rooms very clean, with sparkling white tile floors and a decent size bedroom and bathroom for 2 people. There's a balcony but sadly our room view looked over a construction site (although you do get to see how the locals live right in your backyard).

The bathroom came with most necessities, except no toothbrushes so luckily I brought my own. There aren't a lot of stores around the area, and like I mentioned before being away from the city there isn't a lot to sight see. There is however a Family Mart next door so you can stock up a few things and grab some snacks. We bought a sim card there as well, which costs 49 baht with 15 baht added credit for 1.25 baht / min (website details)

Besides the lobby is a cafe and small restaurant where guests have a included buffet breakfast. We had lunch in the cafe, and with no one else there at the time we had the place all to ourselves! As our first opportunity to try authentic Thai food, we ordered Pad Thai with shrimp wrapped in an omelet, pineapple fried rice with shrimps and raisins, and vegetarian noodles that needed to be directly order to the chef. The noodles seem to be quite nice here, low in oil and not too high in salt. The Pad Thai was amazing for me, I loved the chewy texture of the noodles mixed in with the typical Thai herbs and flavour. Apparently the pineapple rice was low in the meat side, otherwise the flavour was nice. The spicy seafood salad with fish sauce that we ordered later was indeed very spicy, so take heed in ordering it. At first we were surprised by the small sizes of the dishes, but as we were told later by our tour guide Thai people tend to eat less due to the heat and also because they like to eat a variety of other snacks and dishes other than just one. 

As for the weather, we came during the wet season even though the temperature was an average 35. Yeesh can't imagine what the dry season would be like...

So before I thought the day was made up of just sleeping and hanging out in the hotel room, we were informed that there was a night performance at Siam Niramit, which boasts having the largest and highest stage in the world according to Guinness World Records. Prior the show there's an area where they recreated the 'old country' days of Thailand and as you tour around you can catch a glimpse of what the country life was like. By entering in the evening, the night lanterns and candles added an extra beauty to the tour.

Also be aware that you're not allowed to bring cameras inside, so they have to be surrendered and placed in a storage area where you can collect them after the show (don't worry it's safe, so don't be like me and worry about my little previous baby being stolen through the performance).

Before the performance started, everyone had to stand up for the national anthem as pictures of the current king appeared on screen. It strikes me how Thai people treat the royal family with so much respect, and throughout the trip it wasn't hard to miss photos of the king and queen hung up in shops, houses and billboards. Buddhism is the main religion of the country and just like portraits of king, shrines dedicated to Buddha, in particular the 4-faced Buddha, is found everywhere, even on construction sites.

As for the performance itself, the dancing was average but what amazed me was 1. the size of the stage and 2. the size of the props and the speed the stage changed from scene to scene. The performance depicted different parts and cultures of Thailand, from the countryside with rice-crops to the famous riverside market and imperial palace. The second part of the performance depicted 3 worlds: hell, the mystical animal land, and heaven. I admit the 'hell scene' was pretty graphic as they depicted what the sins were and the punishments associated with them (apparently being an alcoholic would be punished by drinking boiling hot water and bathing in it, criminals would turn into demons, and those who tell lies get their tongues cut out (watch out kids)). But it quickly transitioned to a much nicer world of mystical creatures and heaven, with people flying across the stage as fairies. The highlight of the performance was the way they made a real life river in front of the stage so that performers can row their boats across from one side to another, and during the rain scene water poured from the roof into the 'river' on stage.