One of the amazing delights of serving a tour in Rangoon is its proximity — via a one-hour flight — to Bangkok. Similarly to how we viewed the southern Kazakh city of Shymkent (located within driving distance of my first posting in Tashkent, Uzbekistan), Bangkok offers shopping, international cuisine, real banking and medical care. It’s also a genuine reprieve from the stresses of Rangoon, such as burning garbage and electrical outages.
On our prior trips to Bangkok, we have been most interested in what it offers that isn’t otherwise available to us. With that said, Bangkok is a world city with plenty of things that make it special and worth visiting, not just in comparison to Rangoon but independently. In February we finally took that kind of trip to Bangkok.
When we came to Bangkok earlier in our tour (for my birthday in October and then for our respective medevacs in November), we were more preoccupied with errands and care than sightseeing. Indeed, while I was hospitalized any tourist activities would have been out of the question. With seven broken bones and heavily concussed, I wasn’t even able to roll over in bed, let alone walk by myself.
But V’s birthday in late February provided us another opportunity to go back and indulge in more of what Bangkok offers tourists.
We did all the things we wanted — grocery shopping, my hair appointment, swimming in our fabulous hotel’s pool. We even went to a shopping mall, where I found a Sephora, and tried a Mediterranean restaurant.
And then there was the Grand Palace, which we had tried and failed multiple times previously to visit. But it’s not to be missed.
On my first visit to Bangkok in 2016, I had come to the Grand Palace to pay my respects to the then-recently deceased Thai king. The Grand Palace is a historic royal complex and the country’s most revered landmark. Built in 1782 as the official residence of the Kings of Siam, it remains a ceremonial and spiritual heart of Thailand, drawing millions of visitors annually.
Even though the Thai royal family no longer lives there full-time, the palace remains a site of major state ceremonies and a representation of Thailand’s monarchy, religion, and artistic heritage.
I wanted V to have the opportunity to see it too, and on this trip we finally did. I can’t think of anywhere else I’ve been featuring this much gold in one place!
On balance, the February Bangkok weekend was the perfect combination of sightseeing, errands, and relaxation. And fortunately, it wouldn’t be the last trip to Bangkok during this tour.
Collecting Postcards 