Last Day in Thailand

My last day in Thailand was a "fly by the seat of my pants" kind of of day in that I had no plan except catching a cab to the airport in the late evening for my midnight flight to Tokyo.

I slept in until 8:00 which was great, ate my usual complimentary breakfast at the guest house, and then spent the next hour in my room sorting and weighing my two pieces of luggage. It was 11:30 by the time I checked out of my hotel. They kindly stored my luggage in a locked room and provided me a chit as confirmation that they were holding my luggage until later in the day.

The Jim Thompson House is a famous tourist destination in Bangkok. Jim Thompson was an American architect. In the early-1940's he volunteered for the US Army which took him overseas. He fell in love with Asia and specifically Thailand. In 1946 when he was discharged from the Army, he returned to Thailand and started The Thai Silk Company which basically, single handedly, revived what was becoming the lost art of weaving Thai silk. Well as luck would have it, the Jim Thompson House was one Soi (street) over from my guesthouse. I went on the guided 45 minute tour and learned all about Thompson, his house which was pallatial (for the era) and filled with antiques from his personal collection, some dating as far back as the 15th century. There is a nice store on the property selling silk scarves, blouses, purses etc., under the Jim Thompson label but it was all very expensive and I didn't buy anything.

Spirit House outside the Jim Thompson House

After the tour, I took a canal boat to the Palladium shopping centre. 
No clue why I went there except that I had read about it on Trip Advisor, because I have found that Thai shopping centres really had nothing much that interested me. Anyways, as it turned out, the trip to the shopping centre was worth it solely for the boat ride. The canal is not all that wide and these boats are wide, long, and fast. I had no clue where to actually catch the boat as it wasn't obvious from my vantage point. Eventually someone came along whom I could ask. I walked about a block to a platform on the river. There was a small easily missed sign indicating the name of the pier. Within a few minutes I could hear a very noisy boat approaching. The sides are covered in tarps from the railing to about 3/4 the way up to the roof of the boat. When the boat got to the ramp, the patrons pulled the tarp down to the railing, hopped over the side of the boat onto the platform. Hmmm... this looked tricky. I watched patrons hop on the boat in the same manner, hold down the tarp and hop on over the side of the boat and find a seat. This change over of departing and boarding passengers was done in less than two minutes. Speediness was a definite requirement. The real shocking thing was that they collected the fare once the boat was in motion: two women collect fares by walking along the ledge on the outside of the boat, holding on to the roof section. The ride between platforms only takes a couple of minutes so my guess is it's hit and miss as to whether they actually collect from every passenger. I get off the boat and have no clue where the shopping centre is as it looks like I'm dropped off in a sketchy sort of area with "shacks" along the river. I hear someone speaking English. She's Thai and is giving directions to some tourists. I ask her for directions too, thinking that the poor woman probably gets stopped so many times on her way to her destination because her English is very good.

Trash in the river.

I come across Starbucks and order a grande iced Americano. Not cheap at about $5.00 Cdn, same price as at home.

The Palladium shopping centre is nothing to write home about. No clue why I came here... I wander around for about an hour, don't buy anything, and then I risk my life trying to cross the road to head back towards the canal. The interesting thing is there are no pedestrian crosswalks in Thailand. You just cross when you think it's safe to do so. Pedestrians have zero rights. Cross at your own risk. My method has always been to wait for the Thais to make a break for it and I cross with them and that's what I did in this instance too. Next thing I know I'm standing in the middle of a 4-lane road, with cars going both directions and vehicles are passing mere inches from my toes. At that moment I'm thinking, "what the hell !" Oh geez, it was an experience to say the least just trying to safely cross the road.

I get back on the canal boat and am happy that I discovered this mode of transportation on my last day in Thailand and that I got to ride the boats.

I head over to the MBK Centre and decide to have a pedicure in a hair salon. The pedicure was advertised for 250 BHT ($7.00), but once I'm in the chair she asks if I want a foot scrub for an additional 200 BHT. Well yah I want a foot scrub which is normally part of a "pedicure" back home. Really, for 250 BHT they are only offering a polish change. Whatever, I go for the whole enchilada. She pulls out this foot scrubber thing and it's obvious it has been used previously. I mutter about the lack of disinfectant and how it doesn't look sterile and she asks me what it is that I had said. I said "nothing, I'm just talking to myself. The santitization looks a bit sketchy" to which the lady next to me nods her head and say "I think so too". Oh well... too late to back out now. The nail file and all the utensils had all been used previously, no autoclave in sight, no disinfectant in sight. Crossing my fingers hoping I don't get a fungus and have to chop my toes off when I return home.

I go to Hanako Tokyo for a facial. The place had intrigued me the first time I saw it. It's in the MBK Centre, an actual glass-walled store wherein the patrons lay on spa beds in full view of the walkers-by. All the patrons had gold masks on their faces. It looks pretty neat as the entire store is wall-to-wall white, the estheticians wear white, the chairs are white, the patrons are dressed in white, but all the faces wear gold masks. It kinda looks like something out of a sci-fi movie. They're offering a deal today... 20% off. Awesome! I presume it's because it's not busy in there unlike every chair being full the first time I saw the place. The facial ends up being 90 minutes of the most amazing facial I have ever received. So many products, a great steam, extractions, excellent finger strokes from the technician and then this very cold gold mask. I really enjoyed this experience.

I decide I don't have quite enough scarves yet so I find a stall and buy another 8-10 scarves.

It's now almost 6:00 PM and I'm panicking slightly as my taxi is coming at 8:30 and I still have to pick up my laundry, eat and change my clothes. I stop in at a small Italian bistro on my Soi. Run by an Italian, he has a brick oven outside and it's fired up baking pizzas. I order a pizza. It was fairly good. I pick up my laundry and get myself ready. My taxi arrives an hour early! I told the hotel receptionist that my flight wasn't going to leave until after midnight and I wasn't going to the airport at 7:30 PM. She said no problem, the taxi driver would wait until 8:30 and he did!

Freshly laundered & neatly packaged.

Uneventful ride to the airport. 350 BHT and I tip him 50 BHT. It's always a relief when I'm checked in with the boarding pass in hand. I get through security and customs and then cash out my Thai Bhat and exchange it for Japanese Yen. 

Next stop, Tokyo!

Goodbye Thailand