Following an uneventful van ride back to Bangkok – in Cambodia there would be no such thing as an uneventful ride anywhere – we settled back in to The Davis. We spent the afternoon relaxing before a fancy dinner at the Banyan Tree, a sixty-two store hotel with an outdoor restaurant on the roof.
I dressed in the nicest clothes I brought: linen pants, a polo shirt, and leather sandals. Unfortunately, it was not nice enough. When we arrived at the restaurant I was informed that men had to wear closed-toed shoes. Instead of kicking me out, however, I was provided with a hideous pair of black, backless loafers that were at least three sizes too large. As I slipped the loafers on, my sandals were courted off via tongs. I have a hard time recalling any other moment in which I felt so insulted – my feet and sandals were (and are) clean and certainly did not need to be carted off with tongs in the same manner one might expect a butler to dispose of a dirty diaper.
As I trudged upstairs to the roof, almost falling several times, all of Bangkok lay before me. The view was absolutely incredible, reminding me of being atop The Empire Building in New York. Bangkok’s skyscrapers were all lit up, the roads were lined with miniature cars, and, despite the lights, the stars were our roof for the evening. We were showed to our table and sat down to what was perhaps the fanciest meal I’ve ever had. A beer, which on the street would cost about $0.50 was $8 and the dinner menu featured, get this, a $200 steak. We started with drinks, cocktails for the ladies, a beer for my dad, and a glass of wine for me. Shanti’s drink, one of the house specialties, came in its own bowl of dry ice. Unbelievable. Our salads and appetizers were fantastic and were separated from the main course by a delicious raspberry intermezzo. The main courses were equally scrumptious; my steak (not the $200 one) was, unsurprisingly, the best I’d had in months, and Shanti’s chicken, my mom’s pasta, and my dad’s steak were all equally tasty. As we looked at the dessert menu, a tasting platter of desserts came out – apparently the five or six minutes we waited for our drinks was too long for their rigorous service standards, so dessert was on them. Despite the sandal/tong incident, I’d have to give the food and service a solid two thumbs up, though I don’t think I’ll be going back any time soon on my budget.
After a good night’s sleep, we were up and, unfortunately, it was time to say goodbye to the fam. With their bags packed, they checked out of the hotel and with a tear-filled farewell, set off for the airport. Though it was certainly hard to see them go, it was a fantastic trip with them – and hopefully for them.
With the parents off, Shanti and I still had almost the whole day to do what expats from Cambodia normally do in Bangkok: see a movie and get a massage. We wandered down to The Emporium, a ritzy shopping mall with designer stores and a movie theater, looking to see our first English-language movie in the theaters since arriving in Cambodia. Having no idea what was playing, we decided to get tickets for “I Am Legend,” the Will Smith movie because I vaguely remembered hearing that it got decent reviews. For the movie we had assigned seats which we chose from a computer screen upon purchasing our tickets, which were only about $4. On our way into the theater, we stopped for popcorn and a soda, getting a large of each for only $2 total; it’s amazing what they can get away with charging for the same thing in the U.S. After a series of mediocre previews and a return trip to the concession stand to get more popcorn, an announcement came on to pay respects to His Excellency, the King of Thailand. About ten seconds into the announcement, Shanti and I realized that we were the only ones in the theater still seated. We hopped to our feet and I tore of my hat to appropriately show my respect. (More on the King of Thailand in my next entry…). The movie ended up being awful, but it didn’t matter. We got to see a movie in the theaters.
Immediately following the movie, we strolled into a massage parlor for a Thai style massage. What better way to end a mostly relaxing vacation with a movie and a massage? With the massage over and feeling like lumps of jello, we managed to make it back to the hotel to pick up our bags and catch a taxi to the airport. Except for a few additional antennas on the trunk, the cab looked like any other in Thailand: a bright pink Toyota Corolla. As soon as we were inside, however, we knew it was no ordinary cab. On the sun visor was a small video screen. In the dash was a DVD player as well as what looked like a soundboard. The next thing we knew, a DVD was popped in, a microphone was tossed to the back seat and we were singing karaoke to the likes of Elvis and Christina Aguillera. Let me just recap here: dvd video karaoke, complete with a mic system, in the back of a taxi on the way to the airport. I think Shanti and I were even more entertained than the driver of the cab, who looked pretty entertained. The only disappointing thing about the ride was that the driver was too good at the driving part of his job. He navigated traffic so well that it took a mere thirty minutes to get to the airport, thus limiting our karaoke time. The cost of the ride was also nearly half of what we were told to expect, so we gave him a generous tip before embarking on a trip back home to Phnom Penh.
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