Bangkok, day 4

First of all, from the deep of my heart I want to wish a happy 60th Anniversary to the People's Republic of China. I wish you 10,000 more years and I hope that your people will prosper and be happy, from Beijing to the most Western province, from Inner Mongolia to Tibet.

Ok, back to Bangkok.

Day 4... last night the monsoon rain caught me in the street while thirsty and hungry I was looking for something to eat because my hotel serves until 20:30 and it was past 21:00... I got on my skytrain and reached the closest civilised place.

By pure luck, after 15 minutes walk in the heavy rain I got to a fantastic Chinese/Thai restaurant. Guys, it was really great! I loved it...

Then I woke up and I realised that it was 21:30, it was raining heavily and I ended up eating sweet F A...

I got up this morning I was starving but I had to go to the gym and I realised that it was a bit late to have breakfast so... Gym for 1 hour, including some decent jog and then off to find some food.

If I should give a title to this day I would certainly call it Paragon Siam. the most beautiful Shopping Centre I have seen in ages (I could say ever but that might be too much). Ladies, if all Centres were like this one you would not have any problems dragging your lazy husbands away from the TV! Believe me! I have never seen such a wonderful and massive shopping mall... Despite that I didn't find anything suitable for my hunger... So I walked outside and I realised that I was in a little area dedicated to massages. I am not sure about all of them being proper parlours but the ladies trying to get you in and those sitting outside, unemployed, were things from a Playboy magazine! Beautiful young ladies. I found a Thai/Vietnamese restaurant and I ate divinely! then I kept going around and back to the Paragon Siam to see the second floor of the centre... I realised that the floors are 5! If you look at the picture you get an idea of the luxury of this place. I even went to the cinema, cheap and luxurious. Really an experience and I tell you why... I am not sure whether it's the national anthem played at the beginning of the show or it's a king's anthem but when it plays, all people in the cinema stand up! I knew about the love Thai have for their royals but I never expected to reach such level of veneration. It is nice to see it, means that they deserve it. I cannot even think of people standing up in Britain for Philip, unless you want to throw something at him! They told me that there are 3 things you shouldn't talk about in Thailand: King, Religion, Politics. I thought it was a bit like in England. Even there these 3 topics have been taboo for a long time, add sex to it. Well never had any problem discussing about it over there, but over here , I feel that talking about those 3 things IS a problem. Religion... As we have the signs in the public transportation asking, kindly, people to give up their seats to those in need, here there is a category added: "please give this seat to a monk" or "seats reserved to monks"... Imagine in Italy giving your seat to a priest...

Sorority... A horror movie... No, it's not what i went to see today. I watched the latest movie by Pedro Almodovar with Penelope Cruz. A good movie, a bit predictable but ok to watch. Not the best he ever did but, for sure, one of the most beautiful Penelope's ever.

Sorority... Can you believe that the trailer of this movie is broadcast during the day in the light railway system, full of kids going to school? A bloody horror movie trail, loaded with tension and blood being shown publicly like that! A-mazing!

this evening I had a nice meal... I must admit that today I really enjoyed Bangkok but tomorrow I will a bit less... with my 15/20 kgs backpack I will have to catch the night train to Chiang Mai. 14 hours, minimum, to reach the North of the country. I am not sure how long I will be staying there as I planed nothing. i might extend or move back south... I am not sure what I will do, and I will keep you informed about it.

So, how much did I spend today?

Gym 100 bath
Trains 70 baht
Lunch 220 (i left 24 baht tip, they were fighting on who had to keep the money! no more tippijng from now on!!)
Cinema 160
Coke and pistachios 85
Dinner 341
total in baht is 867 equals to 18 euro

Total so far 549 Euro "lavishing"!

Of course, tomorrow night I will not publish as I will be traveling in my berth, all night long.