Paris to get the ball rolling…..but first ~ One night in Bangkok

Well, it’s been a while since we’ve been away and bored you with these inane updates of our wanderlust – exactly a year in fact, since we were in Italy for Rachel & Giuseppe’s wedding; a fantastic trip.

On the back of that trip, darling daughter Erin decided to stay and has since set up camp in London – so the day we said goodbye to her at 5.30am in Montevarchi Railway station deep in the Tuscan hills was the day we decided we’d be here again now.

We managed to secure pretty good flights about six months ago, then set about actually thinking what we wanted to do….as is generally the case, a lot of the fun of a holiday is in the planning; the Unknown, the changes made on the spur of the moment and the excitement of putting yourself a little out side of your comfort zone preparing for things a little differently, a little quirky.

So the early plans were set in place to do a good old fashioned “road trip” around France, with Erin joining us for some or all of it, then heading back to London to hang out and do things we’d not had time to do before.

Plans in your mind can often end up quite differently when you put them on paper, in this case a map and the Viamichelin website.  To do what we thought was achievable in a couple of weeks realistically would have taken us six weeks.

Time for plan B.   And so it went.  Even when we thought we had it all sorted, random events along the way have seen us change out plans definitely for the better; but we’ll get to that in a week or so….we’ve decided to try and get to some lesser known and off the beaten track locations with some of the more popular spots thrown in for good measure.  Who could resist visiting and staying in a place called Gresy, right?

Anyway, on with the show.

I had been planning a lengthy holiday for a couple of our very good friends Cath and Greg so Karen and I went to their place for dinner one night to take them their tickets etc, when everyone except me realised we were going to be on the same flight departing Sydney, overnight in Bangkok then they headed to Helsinki while we head to Paris.  How did I not pick up on that beforehand? Maybe I need to get a better travel agent.

So we taxi shared to the airport with them early Friday morning, and had a lovely surprise after a seamless and very friendly Qantas check in, when Cath and Greg pulled the old double double mawatchy and before we knew it BAZINGA! They had gotten us Into the Qantas Business lounge. Winning.

This was our first experience on a Qantas long haul flight and business class lounge so didn’t really know what to expect.  It’s bizarre with all the travelling we’ve done that we’ve never flown the Flying Kangaroo, so we were looking forward to the experience.

But first there was some serious breakfast, champagne, Bloody Mary, pastries, real coffee to be devoured.  Now I know why the whole business class thing could become addictive.

Onto the flight at the last minute and immediately the Qantas service kicked in.  I was very impressed. Nothing a problem, seats genuinely comfy and a massive seat back inflight system with the best range of entertainment I’ve seen on any flight.  Food was honestly fantastic – believe it or not after eating and drinking our body weight of product in the business lounge here we were an hour or so later tucking in again with an icy cold beverage and/or bottle of red.

I bought Karen some nice noise cancelling headphones for Mother’s Day even though she is not my mother, so she would stop “borrowing” mine.  Best. Idea. Ever. Literally five movies and a couple of Jebediah and Bruce Springsteen albums later we landed in Bangkok after a 9.5 hour flight and we hadn’t spoken to each other at all..Best. Idea. Ever!

Pretty standard immigration process followed – too many people, too few immigration officers but we got through easily without arrest for possible previous offences in Thailand, and met up with Cath and Greg. Into a cab with probably the most entertaining cabbie I’ve ever met.. This bloke looked twenty, but had a couple of twenty something year old kids, worked 18 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year and he was having the time of his life and just laughed the house down.  One funny human to keep us entertained for the long slow trip into town.  He pointed out approximately twenty thousand “massage” places – some aroma massage, some boom boom massage. And he cracked himself – and us – up.  In the end, he said “massage everywhere – this Bangkok – hahahaha”

I booked us into a funky hotel called the Siam@Siam and it lived up to its reputation. Very eclectic open beamed ceilings, funky art everywhere including on the elevator doors.  We were treated to lovely rooms second from the top floor with commanding views over down town.  Awesome. Drinks on the roof after a very enjoyable shower (no massage) showed off Bangkok in all its night time finery.  It’s a very spread out city, with an awesome night time skyline despite the humidity being about 137%

We went for a wander around and as usual ended up in a market place checking out the foods etc.  standard Asian fare of chicken, pork, seafood.  All looked and smelled sensational. I might add though, there was a shit load of stuff that I had no clue what it was at all.  Until we got to the insect stuff….hmmmm. Deep fried, grubs, cicadas, frogs, spiders…..despite having had a few beers, neither Greg nor I could convince the other to have a crack.  I’m glad about that.

We had been up for about 20 hours so just fell into a local restaurant that was ok without being outstanding for a late night snack before preparing for our next day flights.

The entertainment from old mate Kapchong the Cabbie the day before was too good to miss out on so we had pre arranged for him to collect us bright and early for the trip to the airport which took 25 minutes as opposed to the 90 minutes the night before..he didn’t let us down.  He had us in stitches by the time we’d driven out of the hotel.

Just when we thought we’d be bidding Cath & Greg farewell, another chance to try the First Class Lounge was presented – we couldn’t say no.  Now this is becoming habit forming.  Bloody Mary sir? Mm mm okay.  Eventually Cath & Greg headed off on their Finnair flight to Helsinki while Karen and I got to sit in luxury and indulge for another hour or so before out Air France Flight to Paris.

This wasn’t Qantas.

While nothing was wrong with the flight, apart from really very uncomfortable seats, it just didn’t compare with our National Carrier.  Small, almost tiny IFE with not the same selection, food was just “ok”, better than a lot we’ve had but underwhelming.  Service was very clinical. Flight attendants went missing for long stretches of time. The red wines were however a highlight, and a little bottle of port with lunch was nice touch.

I think because of the rock hard seats, it became the longest 11.5hr flight ever.  Anyway, as I regularly tell my clients, the flight is just a means to an end – getting you to your Desto to start your holiday.  Now if it can be enjoyable as well, then fantastic but no one ever died as a result of bad aircraft meals. I think…

In the week leading up to our departure, we had become a little concerned at the ongoing industrial action going on through France.  Right up until we were in Bangkok we didn’t know if we’d get to France as a result of pilots strike and air traffic controllers strike.  On top of that Paris has had torrential and dangerous flooding, the Seine bursting its banks and the Louvre basement flooding. Awesome!

So we arrived and wandered for what seemed like an hour from our gate to immigration – this Charles De Gaulle airport is freaking huge!  Then we found out the trains were on strike.  They were running an emergency service only, rather than every ten minutes they were every 40 or 60 minutes.  As you can imagine it was uncomfortably crowded. Almost scary to be honest.

Forty minutes later and out at Gare Du Nord, and a quick walk to our hotel in Montmartre.  Very funky, happening area very much like Paddington and/or Darlinghurst.  Moulin Rouge is just up the road, Sacre Coeur behind us. We’d been here before but not stayed in this arrondissement. Our room has a “view” of the Eiffel Tower from our little balcony which is nice.

It was about 8pm by now, so anther long day had gone.  What better way to spend the night than at a Hawaiian Tiki Bar in the Pigalle area called “Dirty Dick” around the corner..brilliant!  So over the top gaudy it was insane.  Exactly how a Tiki Bar Should be.  It’s only quite small, but was packed even at that early time.

(This pic was taken later in the evening….)

We were just calling in for one quick cocktail and to check this place out that we’d read so much about.  One quick cocktail. Of course we were……I ended up besties with one of the barmen. It was awesome because we were having such a fantastic conversation – probably because neither one of understood the other! I started wth a Hawaiian Craft Beer (in a tiki bar because that’s what you do,right?) and Karen had some enormous pink fruity thing….it tasted very good.

We ended up sitting at the bar, taking photos for everyone in their little groups..it was a crack up.  Then old mate barman decides to make me a “special” cocktail, not on the menu.  When he put the fifth shot of poison in I should have known…..then he set it on fire, as you do.  It was sensational. Karen had another something in a weird looking glass that again tasted great, so I couldn’t leave her drinking on her own, so old mate whipped me up something else just for fun. I needed another beer to, well just because. I think we will go back tonight.

So we stumbled – literally – through some back lanes and happened upon a lovely little bistrot that seemed like all of the customers knew the owner and chef.  We sat outside, it was a little chilly but enjoyable and ordered some comfort food.  Karen had a three dip thing with a crusty batard and I had a Hamburger made of thinly sliced home cured beef with a corn and mustard relish.  Ormagawd! Of course it was washed down with a local craft beer, and Karen had a couple of chilled glasses of Chablis.  Nice work – getting the trip off to your usual high quality start.

So we ended the night sitting and chatting to all these locals, most aged in their late twenties I guess who were delightful company.  I’d be interested to hear what they thought of us…..we were speaking Swahili by that time but thought it was French.

Somehow found our way back to the hotel quite late – after we had set out for just one quick cocktail…..just woken to overcast skies and looking forward to a day at the Montmartre flea market and food fair.  I’m excited. Cocktails tonight fo sho..

We pick up our hire car tomorrow morning for day One of our road trip. I can’t wait, and we get to see Erin in Nice later in the week. So much to look forward to.

That’s about it for this first update – a lengthy one, sorry….we will check back in later in the week for probably more stories about compulsive eating, irresponsible drinking and conversations with locals ending badly….

For More of our pics of Paris click this link

C’est la vie!