We flew over to Bangkok and after our time spent in Chiang Mai, we weren’t quite ready for a big busy city again. We took it pretty easy during our short time in Bangkok. We spent the day window shopping at the glitzy Siam Mall. Our favorite thing we did was go to a movie. We had read about Bangkok’s “ultra-modern” theatres and had no clue what that could possibly mean. We thought it might just be an Imax theatre. Well, ultra-modern was a great way to describe it. We bought our tickets and were taken to the pre-movie lounge. We were served drinks and pastries here. After walking around all day it was nice to relax while waiting. They had great massage chairs, the best I’ve ever seen actually. So of course I enjoyed myself a nice hour massage before the movie. Once it was time for the movie we went into the theatre and were pleasantly surprised by the seating arrangement. You can see below the reclining chairs are arranged in twos. They were so comfortable and every one had it’s own silk blanket and silk pillow. It was the best way to watch a movie!
After the movie we had some dinner then made our way out of the mall. We were heading up the street in the direction of the nearest train station. We were getting prodded along by a crowd of people. Doug was thinking that there must be a soccer match about to begin. As we got herded further into the crowd I started to pay better attention to my surroundings and realized everyone was wearing a red shirt. Then it dawned on me- we were stuck in the middle of a red-shirt political riot! When I say stuck, I literally mean stuck. We were moving slow as molasses. I got a little frightened, being two white Americans trapped in a group of 30,000 people who may or may not be peaceful. The street were blocked as far as we could see. We finally found an escape route and made it back to the hostel safely but Doug insisted an taking a few photos first. If you are interested in reading further here is a short article on the riot: http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Asia-South-Central/2011/0110/Thailand-s-antigovernment-red-shirts-gear-up-for-elections
After 17 days, countless massages, a few tan lines and some of the best meals of our lives we were excited and ready to return back home. We loved Thailand and hope to return again sometime in the future.