Another update on our two-week holiday in Thailand (Part 1 here). We're now in blissful paradise in Koh Chang and the spa we're staying at has internet (though v slow) so here are some more highlights:
First thing on Monday morning we went to get fitted for a couple of tailor-made suits at the famous (within the Bangkok ex-pat community, anyway) Pinky Tailor. Pinky is a very charming and experienced chap who has a small and pleasantly cool shop near where we were staying, in which are every variety of suit and shirting fabric you can imagine. On the ground floor is the most expensive stuff, then on the first you have the next best, and on the second the rest.
I had decided to get two suits made, which at THB 10,000 (a bit less than GBP 200 - sorry, can't find the pound sign on this keyboard!) are a bargain. One will be very dark blue, the other dark grey with a pin-stripe. The fitting was painless, and as I knew precisely what I wanted (thanks to reading English Cut and Permanent Style - both great blogs, links to come later) the decisions weren't a problem either. Both are in the same style - fitted cut with narrow-ish sleeves, two buttons, single vent at the back, and medium lapels. Amazingly he did a first fitting in the afternoon, about 5 hours after I had been measured. This was with a waistcoat-like piece of the blue suit, where his assistant pinned and 'chalked' the fit. They will both be ready when we return to Bangkok on Thursday next week.
In addition, I ended up ordering five shirts, and a dark green three-quarter-length coat. I realise that this doesn't really square with getting out of debt, but it was a great bargain and I don't regret it at all :-) Though I may be living on baked beans and toast for a while...
After the tailoring we headed to the Grand Palace, which is a complex of buildings built in very grand traditional Thai style. The highlight (in my view) is the monastery of the Emerald Buddha, which is sectioned off from the rest of the Palace. Inside are 4 or 5 beautifully decorated buildings, one of which is the temple containing the Buddha, which is reputedly very ancient and is carved not from emerald, but from jade. It sits about 3 feet high on a high pedestal, surrounded by an enormous quantity of gold-encrusted carvings. There is also a faint smell of incense. Sadly photos are not allowed but I have plenty of the rest of the monastery.
The remainder of the palace is interesting but fairly unremarkable. A couple of throne rooms are fairly spartan, with the exception of the (obligatory) gold thrones in the center. And there were also armories with swords and guns.
We then headed back to the Conrad Hotel, where we were meeting Rob and Jane before going off to see the celebrations that night (giving thanks to the river) which are beautiful - people release small floating circles of flowers with candles in, and the scene is very picturesque. However Liz was taken ill with some kind of bug (we initially thought it was dehydration, which she had experienced the day before) and after checking she was okay to travel, we then went back to the house. Liz went to bed to rest and Rob and Jane and I had some takeaway food.
Thankfully in the morning Liz was feeling much better so we headed to Koh Chang, via a 5-hour coach ride (air conditioned and spacious, it wasn't a hardship at all really!); back-of-a-pickup; and then ferry; and pickup again. We arrived around 8.30 and after dinner (v nice) we retired for the night.
This morning we have been enjoying relaxing by the pool at the spa. It's AMAZINGLY beautiful - I hope that photos tomorrow will do it justice. In the mean time you can inspect the website here: http://thespakohchang.com/ which give you some idea. The plan is to relax today, and maybe borrow the bikes and go for a ride tomorrow. On Friday there is a shuttle bus to the local beach (White Sands...) and so we're probably take that.
I expect I'll probably post again once we're at the next place we're staying, where we go on Saturday.
Hope all is well at home.
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