Wednesday (1/19) – Suk 11 Hostel (New Bangkok):

We are doing our best to make the most of our remaining time in Thailand. My pizza was awesome – I’m glad that I splurged and bought the “medium” size. There’s no way the menu was correct when it said that it could feed two to three people – at least not two to three American people…


After my lunch I joined Ashlee for her lunch at the Thai food court. She was a happy girl because she got to have both dim sum and sticky mango rice.


At about 12:30pm we found ourselves full of food with four hours till our movie. We decided to use the skytrain (we bought a day pass) to get back to our hotel to finish checking in.

Our place is called Suk 11 and it seems to be a fixture among Bangkok’s hostel. It is deceptively large and it has character and a fun décor – with its rooftop garden with vintage tuk-tuks to its labyrinthine hallways that make you forget you’re inside to all the supposedly proscribed messages scribbled on the wall by former guests. The whole place sort of reminds me of the long entrance to the Indiana Jones ride at Disneyland. Ashlee made arrangements for us to have our own room complete with bathroom and AC. What a girl.


Back at the mall we got a small caffeine fix after following a series of signs to a 5th floor food court offering free Thai iced teas to international visitors. We love free stuff!

A little after 4pm, we headed to the movie theater. The doors to our theater weren’t open yet, so we wandered over to the concession stand where we had a funny moment. On display behind the counter they had three types of popcorn: salted, cheesy, and caramel. Intrigued, we ordered the cheesy kind. The woman helping us sort of laughed and offered us a sample of the popcorn before she filled our tub. We both popped kernels into our mouths and then looked at each other funnily as we chewed and swallowed them. We looked back at the sign over the popcorn a little more closely: cheesy corn popcorn. Cheesy corn? The lady just laughed again and understood when we changed our order. After sampling the other flavors we got a mixed tub of the salted and the caramel kind.

Soon our theater opened up and we eagerly found our seats. At the top of the theater there were four cushy love seats complete with reclining backrests, cupholders, and snack trays. The floor was also lined with carpet. The couch was really nice to sit in and it made the theater experience feel a little homier.


The movie was okay, nothing to rave about. The best part, actually, was just sitting in the air-conditioned theater on that comfy couch and scarfing on snacks. The only other thing that stands out in my mind was when before the movie started the theater played the national anthem and showed a little video montage honoring the king. Everyone in the theater stood up to show his or her respect.

We got out of the movie at 7pm – just in time for dinner. We already had the place all picked out: a Mexican joint called Charlie Brown’s right next door to our hotel. While it was our most expensive meal yet (we had to get margaritas!) it was well worth it. We got chips with salsa and guacamole and a combo plate with a taco, chimichanga, and enchilada. It was delicious. People must have thought we were animals if they heard us say “Mmmm!” after each bite – and then fingerlick the bowls of salsa and guacamole clean. Hey, they can’t judge us until they have spent some time in Mongolia.


After dinner we picked up a few ice creams from 7/11 and decided to stroll around for a bit. The sidewalks were filled with vendors hocking food, clothes, pocketknives, and bootlegged media. At one stall I was very tempted to buy the complete series of “West Wing.” I didn’t.

At one point during our walk we were happily licking our ice creams when we came across a small cross street that was tastefully lit with lots of twinkling lights. We made it about halfway down the street before we realized we were entering part of the red-light district. All of a sudden we noticed the street was lined with young scantily clad Thai women, “clubs” with blacked out or heavily curtain windows, and plenty of people passing out fliers for ping-pong shows. A bit red-faced, we both backed our way back to the main street and returned to our hotel.

Alas, tomorrow is our last day in Thailand. The good news is that our flight doesn’t leave until nearly 11pm, so we still have a full day. Also, we are both looking forward to our 7-hour layover in Seoul, although I’m sure we’ll be pretty tired. Eh, we’ll sleep when we get to UB.