Bittersweet (spicy, salty & sour)

We were both super excited to be heading back into Thailand and I was pondering the smaller aspects of this. Travelling across the 'Friendship Bridge' over the Mekong with one small detail to resolve - The Thais drive on the left on the Laotians the right. I was fascinated to see how that worked and wasn't overly surprised to see that the Thais had won that battle and all traffic was driving on the left. Laos traffic was funnelled into the immigration checkpoint, and once the official stuff had been done, you jumped back on the bus and headed down the one way road which put us onto the left side of the road. It was much simpler in reality that it was in my head!
Arriving in Nong Khai, a sleepy little border town in the Issan part of Thailand, we chose to stay a few nights to get a vibe of life here. We were staying at a brand new hotel called 'Park and Pool' which rocked our world. Gorgeous big swimming pool, huge gardens and lovely sweet Thais welcomed us back into our favourite country. Sabai, sabai.
Dumping our bags and eager to discover, we tuk tuk'ed our way back into town and found a heaving restaurant full of locals. 'Daeng' was a Vietnamese restaurant, overlooking Laos next to the Mekong on the Thai side....crazy crazy! It was bloody good food, and in true Robinson style, we came back the next day too to indulge our tastebuds. Loads of fresh Vietnamese herbs, seafood and the obligatory spring rolls, we wrapped our little deep fried friends up in lettuce and herbs, munching our way to culinary bliss.
Luckily, there was a market nearby and as everyone knows, Tony just loves to wander through them with me (!!!!!!!!) I made it as painless as I could before suddenly, wait for it, we found ourselves in front of another patisserie. Armed with chocolate cake and biscuits, we headed back to the Mekong to watch the world go by. Laos looks so little and undeveloped from the Thai side however what they lack in infrastructure they make up in pastries. Citron tart won hands down.
The next day we headed out of town a bit to find a 'Buddha Park' I'd heard about in Laos. A Laotian man had lived in Nong Khai and had built huge towering sculptures of Buddha/Hindu Gods in a massive garden before having to escape back to Laos during fighting between the two countries. He then went about setting up another in Laos so whilst we'd missed his Laos one, we had another opportunity here which we eagerly embraced.
The park was awesome! The structures were incredibly high and since they were so old would have been made by someone sitting precariously on the head of a 30 metre high Buddha. The gardens were lovingly tended to, surrounded by fishponds filled to the brim with heavingly fat koi and catfish. Whist unbelievably hot, it was a calm oasis and a meditative walk. The man had created an interesting fusion between the two religions and has also woven some humorous personal supernatural elements in (like having to bend/crawl into one area via the mouth of a devil) and the local Thai community have continued on in his honour, adding more and more Buddhist sculptures from wealthy donors.
We spent the afternoon by the pool being entertained by a model who was too shy to take off her dressing gown to model and local school boys bombing her as they threw themselves in, unaware of the torture this girl was enduring in order to look beautiful. Ahhhh, welcome back to Thailand!
One of the highlights of our second visit back to Thailand was going back to Bangkok to see old friends and stay at the Viengtai. Getting there however, was going to be the most fun. We had booked a ticket in Chiang Mai for our overnight train and even being two weeks in advance, we couldn't get 2nd class. Wanting to have two beds together for the sleeper train, we were forced into first class. We were pretty dirty about it at the time as it cost a lot of money however when we reached our train, we soon became very excited. Instead of having a middle aisle with beds on either side running the length of the train separated by flimsy curtains, first class gave one their very own cabin running across the width of the train with a very narrow walkway along the right hand side. We had a lockable door, little sink, areas to put our huge bags, glass cups and coat hangers-total

privacy! Whooooo hoooo! We did a little happy dance and settled in, utterly delighted at our last few moments of millionaire spending and lifestyle. Looking through the rest of the carriages (which were locked off from us 'privileged' people), we would've struggled to have fitted our big bags in and most likely would have had to have slept with them on our beds. Worth every cent for first class!
What was even better was we met another fabulous German couple who were travelling with us. We spent the night chatting away in our 'close' cabin (Just for you Jane!) sharing tales of travelling through Laos and Thailand. A lovely night except for some reason alcohol can't be sold onboard anymore...
Arriving at 6am into Bangkok, our comfy sleeper train saw us being woken up at 5am by the enthusiastic conductor eager to have his beds turned back into seats and his linen packed away neatly. Followed closely by the coffee lady shouting 'Gar-fay, Gar-fay' we reluctantly got up. Swapping my brain back into thai language, I managed to dodge past the exuberant tuk tuk

drivers (who has that much energy to barter so early in the morning????) and find a taxi with its meter on. Bless him, he was so nice and kind, we tipped him well for his honesty.
The Viengtai hotel's bellboy (man) eagerly took our bags and lugged them onto the trolley whilst in my best thai and widest smile tried desperately for them to check us in 6 hours early. No luck. I tried again, this time name dropping that I used to work for Intrepid. No luck. I tried asking for Khun Pichit and this met with more success, my fee of 800 baht for an early check in was reduced to 500. Still, no hot shower until I coughed up some money so being the tightwads we are, left our bags and went out in search of adventure. Eager to find some breakfast, we sauntered down Khao San road, amused to see the normally thumping street mostly abandoned. Pausing to watch the resident rats pick up tasty morsels that the rubbish men neglected, our attention was drawn to the few westerners that remained. A few were already up and about, waiting on the corners for pick ups to new destinations but most were in varying states of intoxication. Our favourites were the ones who'd befriended a group of locals and were all in a circle singing songs.....badly. Mixed in this heady brew were a few women of the night ( or maybe men, who knows in this country?) a few street dogs and us. We kept walking. Not lacking in time, we thought a long walk past the Grand Palace and Wat Po would be in order to get us to the ferry. A quick trip across the pretty Chao took us to one of my favourite temples- Wat Arun. I first came here on my own on my very first trip to Thailand and was utterly blown away by the intricate beauty and perseverance it would be taken to complete this stunning temple. Painted white with mosaic decoration, flowers had been constructed out of old plates, gargoyles held up corners and the temple shone in the bright sunlight. Tony enjoyed seeing it, despite the massive scaffolding and where it had been renovated, the temple stood proudly with beauty. Talk about meditation, these workers were using toothbrushes to carefully reattach tiles and repaint. If only everyone worked with such pride and diligence!
Wandering through the grounds, we heard snippets

of the chants we used to sing in our meditation retreat. Sitting down to dig out the (lyrics? Sanskrit words?) we realised we were sitting in front of an older fat monk. Unperturbed by us, he was busy checking his mobile until a smart man in a suit came over for a blessing. Putting his phone down (go Russell!) he quickly blessed the man, threw some holy water his way, took his presents of chippies and shampoo before resuming his text message. Yep, back in busy Bangkok!
With hours to go before our check in, we continued walking through the old streets of Bangkok. Having my trusty Nancy Chandler map in hand, I'd circled some of the few places I hadn't managed to explore when I lived in Bangers. The Golden Mount was one of those, so we tucked the map under our arms and went adventuring. Along the way we stumbled across something I'd really wanted to discover but didn't think I was in the right area for-making alms bowls. 'Baan Batt' is the only remaining community left that makes monks alms bowls by hand. Taking over a day to complete each alms bowl, that are welded, shaped and banged into shape by a

small group of men who live by the edge of the river. Seeing my interest in their ancient craft, I was quickly ushered over and found myself eagerly hammering away at a small bowl, desperately trying to make it smooth for the monks. It was meditation in itself and the guy who's bowl I took over from took the chance for a quick ciggie whilst delightedly looking on at the funny white skinned farang making the bowl. I was proud to see that the King, Rama IX himself had been there which made it feel even more special for me. I have done some good for the Buddhist community in a tiny way.
The Golden Mount was actually a really beautiful temple with amazing views at the top and insuring Buddha sculptures hidden amongst ferns and a misting machine along the long walk up the steps to the summit. Enjoying our new perspective on Bangkok, we took our time to spot known icons and plan the rest of our day. Sauntering back into Banglamphu we finally checked in, only to find a happy smiling familiar bellboy and a complimentary upgrade to their best room. I was also told that my dear Khun Pichit, the wonderful hotel manager that has worked there for over 30 years would be working from 2pm onwards.
Soaking up a deliciously hot (and hard to find) bath, I embraced the wonderful Viengtai Hotel once more. The Viengtai was the first hotel I ever stayed in overseas and also the hotel where I was a passenger on an Intrepid trip. It then became my home when I worked for Intrepid and also the place where I first met Tony. Coming back together was really special for us both as individuals and as a couple but most importantly, when we check out in a few days time, it will close its doors behind us for good. It has been bought out by Ibis and will shut for two years whilst they gut it for refurbishment. It is indeed an end to an era and we are feeling particularly nostalgic so are lapping up every inch of the hotel. Emerging out of my luxurious bath, I quickly ran downstairs to meet with my dear Khun Pichit. A gentleman, exceptional manager, fun loving, whisky drinking father to us little intrepid leaders, Khun Pichit has been a wonderful man to know. I'll always remember him with my dear Joey, (who has sadly now passed away) as both of them

used to play games, sing songs and have such a wonderful close relationship. They were always a welcoming team, holding my hand whilst I shared stories of farang keenok (or annoying passengers in English) helping out and making things right and just good old fun and kind men. It just doesn't seem right that this hotel won't exist anymore and Khun Pichit won't be here.....still, he's at retirement age so is moving down south to be with his extended family so my image of him now has to change from a smiling man behind the reception counter to a smiling man gardening in the sun. Anyway, as soon as he saw me, he gave me a big hug, took a quick selfie and then promptly organised buffet breakfast for us both for the week. He is divine.
Bangkok also saw me reunite with two other dear ex Intrepid leaders, Brighde and Tash. Catching up with them both was wonderful and listening to their very different lives in the craziness of Bangkok, did make me wonder for just a moment (or perhaps longer....) about whether Tony and I could make this never sleeping city our home. We have too much adventuring yet to decide anyway. Don't we??!! They both are very happy and have built up a great home around them so it's wonderful to see them flourishing. There were some wonderful times with those ladies!
The rest of the time in Bangkok, we walked for hours checking out old haunts and searching for favourite restaurants. May Kaidee is still kicking around serving great veggie food so we ate quite a few of her meals and did the obligatory walk down Khao San at night to soak up the flashing neon signs and watch the newly arrived farang be smacked in the head with 'Thainess' and cheap beer. There have been a lot of changes. What was flophouses and a few good nightclubs has become much more flashier, bigger, upmarket and dominating. It also seems a lot more expensive and some of the more colourful characters seem to have been replaced by row after row of exactly the same products. We retreated to Phra Ahtit road which is still the arty sanctuary it always was and I was delighted to find 'Hemlock' still making some cracking thai food served with good wine. Happy days. I went back to my favourite massage place where Nok still remembered me, unable to choose between a foot and a thai massage, I had one in the morning and another in the evening. Bliss. I stocked up on second hand books, lying in the delicious white sheets with endless cups of tea or lying by the pool reminiscing about my old life living here.
One story that Tony has always found funny is my meditation school dropout story. A local temple, Wat Mahatat is also an important meditation teaching temple for farang. I went there once with Lien to find out more and ended up booking myself in for a week long meditation retreat. Sound familiar? When I arrived the next day with my white meditation clothes in hand, there was no one to be found. Making myself at home and awkwardly joining in with the people who were there meditating, I watched them do walking meditation and gave it a go for about 30 minutes before I realised that no one was coming to talk to me or help, I had no idea what I was doing, where I should be staying or what the plan was so hightailed it back out again. Tony has teased me endlessly about this ever since so I was incredibly proud to have lasted the whole week in Chiang Mai and also wanted to bring him to the place that first planted the seed.
Wandering into the wrong section of the temple, we asked a cheery monk where the meditation centre was. Pointing us in the vague direction, we went off again, Tony feeling more and more uncomfortable about our rights to just walk wherever we wanted in a temple. Reassuring him we were fine, I poked my head into a hall. Seeing that it was full of nuns chanting, I came back out but not before a nun followed me and beckoned us in. Without a word, she pointed to our shoes and then pointed to the exact spot she wanted them placed, then marched us THROUGH THE FULL HALL! Yes, all the way to the very front below the massive Buddha where she pointed for us to sit. Pleased to see we were sitting politely, she taught us how to show respect to the Buddha by pointing at us repeatedly until we'd done what she wanted. Thinking that she was being very sweet and helpful, we kept following her every demand, even when she introduced us to her friend, made us wai (this old lady looked at us quite quizzically!) then she made us donate some money, headed us a mint, then shoo'd us back out of the temple as quickly as we had just gone through it.
Laughing stifled giggles at this unusual yet helpful behaviour, we once again attempted to find the meditation centre. Clocking a man with a massive mo' and carefully twisted ends (not a common sight in Thailand!) he kindly pointed us in the right direction. Spotting some signs, we made it in time for the meditation session held in English. Immediately as I walked in I was taken back 10 years to when I had first signed up, although this time I was actually going to finish the class!!!
The monk was very sweet and also very thorough in his instruction-watching how we walked, making suggestions and timing us. He told us about the two different classes that were on each week and we'd somehow found ourselves in the longest one. I wasn't fussed but I could see Tony's attempts to make eye contact with me so when the monk left, he pointed towards an imaginary watch and I knew we'd be leaving early. I was SO close to achieving my goal of finishing my meditation class here!
Still, we got to hang out with lovely Tash so it was all worth it.
As our time in Bangkok drew to an end, I took myself on a last local haunt walk, sneaky massage and when we finally left the beloved Viengtai on their closing down day, Khun Pichit handed us both little bags of takeaway breakfast complete with orange juice, freshly boiled eggs and a cute sandwich and two Viengtai branded umbrellas. Unable to hide our sadness, we wai'd and waved our way out of our special hotel, knowing that he'd just given us the best gift ever for our next adventure. Brollys for England.