The BKK birthday

My first birthday outside of England started with a rather confusing taxi journey from the Lub d hostel to my first ever stay in a 5* hotel. The highlight of this stay being the elephant shaped towel animal on the bed and the rooftop swimming pool complete with a panoramic vista over Bangkok city. I did feel slightly odd walking into such plush surroundings in my cheap ali ba ba trousers with a grubby back pack slung over my shoulders (mother would've been proud), however the staff on the door were very welcoming and we were soon offered a fresh glass of orange juice whilst grubby back packs were taken by the bell boy and we were whisked off up to the 8th floor. Very fancy.

(I would just like to say as an aside, I highly recommend the Lub d hostel. Although you can probably find cheaper (Jon told us about a hostel he stayed in for 3 pounds per night that was basically an office that was probably still in use) it's worth a few pounds extra a night. It's inpecably clean and all the staff are friendly and helpful. There are loads of resources and information available in the hostel's bar and drinks are reasonable. It's perfectly located for exploring greater Bangkok as well, especially if you want to avoid the touristy Khao San Road area. I'd stay there again without a doubt.)

Of course it was straight to the roof and the views were amazing, very reminiscent of the views of Chicago from the rooftop swimming pool in June. After a leisurely swim it was back to the room to get pretty (which took about 10 minutes - it's that easy) and then down to the hotel restaurant to make the most of the complimentary drinks and food. After we'd piled our plates up with offerings and had some really rather tasty guava juice, we headed on out to the sky train to make our way towards Mo Chit to meet up with Jon and Noo Noo for dinner.

After a phonecall from Noo Noo to the taxi driver (a very worthwhile thing when trying to get a taxi in Thailand, in fact it is wise to make use of any directions you can get written in Thai when trying to get somewhere - most hotels and hostels provide business cards with directions in Thai) off we went to the restaurant which I'd left in the capable hands of Noo Noo to choose. And I wasn't disappointed.

Dinner was a veritable feast of fresh water fish, pork kebabs with satay, shrimp in this curry sauce, fish cakes, shrimp salad and all manner of dips and accompaniments. Along with this a beautiful chocolate guiness cake for dessert prepared by Noo Noo the ever talented cook (her spring rolls are also amazing).

After dinner unfortunately Noo Noo had to go home to work but Jon, Ty and I hit the bars. It's clear that tourism levels are down in Bangkok this peak season as most of the bars were fairly quiet if not empty. I had opted to head for a bar called Cheap Charlie's, aptly named perhaps, which turned out to be an al fresco bar which was sort of set on the corner of a side street. This was about the only really busy place we'd seen. After drinks and chats we noticed that all the lights on the street had gone out and it was probably time to head back to the hotel.

After a birthday chat with mum and dad I hit the sack (at approximately 4am) feeling very contented about my birthday shin dig.