Goodbye, Chiang Mai - Hello Bangkok, Once Again!

Chiang Mai & Bangkok, Days 82-84

It's an early morning start for us as our Grab taxi to the airport is booked for 7.30 am, although he arrived just after 7 am!

So, a quick ride to the airport for our morning flight back to Bangkok. The flight itself was pretty quick and uneventful, and before we knew it, we had landed back in Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi Airport, and we had our own personal Thai tour guides waiting for us on arrival.

Now, the next part of our day is all due to the courtesy of our lovely adopted 'Thai daughters' Dr. K and Dr P (Note: they don't know this, but we have adopted them in our minds and hearts, whether they like it or not).

R had been one of their PhD supervisors while they were studying at Strathclyde. So, when R informed them originally that we were coming to Bangkok, he asked if they wanted to meet up for a coffee. Well, not only did they jump at the opportunity to meet with us, but they went out of their way to give us the most amazing welcome and introduction to their beautiful country. Honestly, it was so unexpected and totally exceeded our expectations, and we had the most wonderful and amazing day with them both.

We had been so overwhelmed by their generosity and hospitality that we asked if they were available we would like to try and reciprocate their hospitality before the end of our trip when we are back in Bangkok again, as we would also have so much to tell them by then.

Well, they were already on the case before we even got a chance to connect with them again. When were we back in Bangkok? They not only arranged to collect us from the airport, but they also booked a place to take us for something to eat. Now, we had already planned that we would be paying for the meal as this was to be our treat this time, so we were delighted when they suggested a restaurant chain called MK Restaurants. You see, we have seen these restaurants all over the place (they are in practically every mall), and they are very, very popular, BUT we had no idea how you were supposed to eat in them because they all had these hot pot plates at the table with numerous dishes and of course, everything is in Thai, so we were at a bit of a loss as to what you were supposed to do with it all. So what could possibly be better than having dinner in this restaurant with lovely Thai friends to help explain how it all works?

It was an amazing experience, and once again, they totally blew us away with the experience, which was awesome! The variety and amount of food, how to order, how to cook the food, what sauces to eat with what dishes - the food just kept coming, and before we knew it, we were once again full to bursting!

However, what we did not realise was that the sneaky little minxes had already sorted out and paid the bill, and they would not allow us to pay for this. Had we known this would have been the case, we would have made sure that we had sorted that aspect out right at the start.

We can now proudly say that we know how to make and how to eat a Thai hot pot meal, and we might even try and recreate something similar (but on a smaller scale!) once we are back home!

After our amazing hot pot, the girls took us to our hotel to get checked in, and as we were leaving and saying goodbye to them for all their kindness and hospitality, they then bestowed some more gifts on us. I mean, speechless doesn't even come near to how we felt. I hope they both know that they have a special place in our hearts and one day, we will repay their kindness and generosity, and we will get them back. "Thank you, K & P, you are both examples of everything we love about Thailand - the people and a country that we didn't know much about for most of our years!"

And talking about going from one surprise to another...let's talk about our next hotel accommodation. It was awesome!

Ahhh - this is the life!

For the end of our 3-month trip, we decided to stay at a very nice hotel on the Chao Phraya River. So we booked a two-night stay in a river-view one-bedroom executive suite at the Chatrium Hotel. Now, this was a little luxury, and it was quite expensive at the time we booked (though a top tip might be to keep an eye on the prices as we could have got it a lot cheaper if we had booked it nearer the time), but we were a little frightened that it would not be available if we did that, so we booked it. I should also add that the majority of this was covered by the generous retirement leaving gift that my lovely Strathclyde work colleagues and friends gave to me on my retirement.

Looking north from the balcony

Looking south from the balcony

Evening - looking south from the balcony

Oh my goodness, this was worth every penny! We absolutely loved our fabulous river view suite. Given that we had covered a lot of Bangkok previously and our whole trip had been quite busy and full on, this was our relaxation stop before the long journey back home to Glasgow. We enjoyed every minute of it, and other than a brief wander on our first evening (see photos below), we pretty much spent the rest of the time on our balcony watching the world go by on the river. The ever-changing skyline is just amazing, and for some reason, the evening views very much reminded me of New York (but this was much more affordable and warmer than NYC in February!).

After getting over the amazing suite with a view that we had, we decided to have a little wander around the local area. This was more to try and walk off some of the food we had eaten earlier with the girls, but we do like to get a little walk in, and as is quite the usual for Thailand, we quickly came across another market selling lots of food and other items. We could not even really look at the food as we were still so full, but it was interesting to see. There weren't many tourists at this market, and it had a much greater Thai customer base.

After such a busy day and evening, we had a thoroughly enjoyable sleep in the huge, comfortable bed (I've no idea what the bedding thread count was, but it was higher than we're used to!), and it was just gorgeous to sleep in. The breakfast buffet was amazing, too, and just sitting by the riverside, enjoying our breakfast with the beautiful view, will be another lifetime memory for us both.

Overall, it was absolute bliss and the perfect way to end our time in Thailand. It somehow seemed so fitting that we also started and ended our trip with the Strathclyde connection, and it feels like we have come full circle.

As we start to gear up for the journey home and look forward to catching up with our kids, family, and friends, we reflect on our time and experiences in Thailand and Vietnam, and we have to say, it has been amazing, and we could not have asked or wanted for anything more.

After our time at the Chatrium, we are headed to our last hotel accommodation, which is close to the airport, as we have an early morning flight back home. We also need to sort out our flight check-ins, etc., so it should be fairly relaxing.

We have some new projects that we will shortly begin to tackle once we are back home, but future travel will very much be on this list, too, and we will enjoy planning and organising for our next travel destinations as soon as it is possible.

I'm sure we will reflect some more once we are back home and fully recovered, and perhaps I will pull useful tips and lessons learned posts together. I've also tracked the total cost of the trip, along with some other facts and figures that might be of use to anyone thinking of doing something similar in the future.

My one piece of advice to anyone thinking about this is to do it as soon as you can. To fully enjoy travel, you need good mobility and reasonable health. These are the things that start to decline as we get older, so don't put it off too long...and if you have never thought about Thailand before - we'd highly recommend it!

Bangkok, Thailand

9-11th February 2025

Ps. For anyone wondering, our son was the first to message the special phrase to us for a £50 cash reward for reading our travel blog posts. However, I strongly suspect that if it had not been for his lovely girlfriend (A), then he would not have 'won' this prize at all - so I hope he has treated her with the winnings!