So three MRT stops and a 5-minute walk down the road would lead you to the Hilton in Sukhumvit. There was a Conrad across from the Hyatt, but it was like $120/night vs $100/night. Crazy how cheap Thailand is, yea?

The hotel looked empty when I arrived, and I got upgraded upon check-in to an exec floor room w/ access to the lounge (yay).

A very Hilton-esque room.

Decent views.

So I mentioned I was pretty exhausted… so I spent some time in the room just reading. I had brought climbing shoes, and thought about going to the nearest climbing gym, but that was 45-min away by train, so I just went on a walk and wound up at the famed MBK Center. I liked it because I wanted to buy some souvenirs for folks, and the nature of the mall/market allowed me to wander.

The issue was though, there were so many stalls, it was kind of overwhelming, and I wound up buying nothing. It was fine though, and I got my steps in and soon, it was time for dinner. I came across a Din Tai Fung, saw it was pretty empty, so I went in, ate a bunch of dumplings, and got red bean and ice cream for dessert!

On the walk back, I had to pass by the Hyatt, and got a good view of the Erawan Shrine

The next day, I woke up early again (jet lag), and went for a swim and worked out at the gym

Then I went to the buffet for breakfast…

They also had 油条!

And a noodle bar!

The plan for today was to visit one museum, and at least one food court, and I decided to visit the Bangkok Art and Culture Center. They were displaying some works from a recent young Thai artist competition/festival thing

The building reminds me of the Guggenheim

Designed by Robert G. Boughey and Associates

The winner of the competition, Chaichana Luetrakun (ชัยชนะ ลือตระกูล), Wastescape

Jarun Pan-onta (จรัญ พานอ่อนตา), Nava (นาวา)

Know Love Unity

Little figures made out of twisty ties.

It was confusing on whether we could walk on this or not. The kids loved it though.

Fish on fish violence.

After getting my fix of museum time, I went to the Siam Center to visit their food court. The way these work, is you buy a debit card from the mall, and you use it to pay all the food vendors inside. You have to pay the mall cash for the cards, so I guess it keeps credit card transaction fees down? Anyhoo, I got Singapore/Hainanese chicken rice, and a brown sugar bubble tea. I think all of this was like $5 USD. Amazing.

Afterwards, I wandered around the town more, and eventually got back to the hotel to relax, read, and watch some movies. Sunset was nice.

I was able to sleep in the next day! Adjusted, just in time to go back to Seattle…

Breakfast included pancakes and french toast.

A trip to the omelette bar!

And of course, more of this.

I had a late check-out, and lounged around until then, and then hailed a cab to get to the airport. I didn’t want to get all sweaty on the way to the flight… So I’m actually writing this post in 2021, and backdating to when the trip took place. Since then, we’ve made their plane!

^Cool, yeah?