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Bangkok: Culture and Condoms

After an early start, international border crossing and 8 hour or so drive, we made it to Bangkok! This was our last night of tour and most people were heading off in the early hours or the next day, but L and I were sticking around for a couple of extra days to see a bit more of the city.

Arriving at the hotel was strangely reminiscent for me as this is where my tour finished last year. We got there late in the afternoon, so ventured into the subway (I love travelling on foreign metro systems - anyone else?) and took shelter from the rain in one of Bangkok's famous malls for a little while before heading back to get ready for our last group dinner!

We went to a restaurant called Cabbages and Condoms and this was easily one of my favourite restaurants of the trip.

This was brilliant for three reasons. 1) The food - I had the most delicious Panang curry, which in typical Thai fashion was very spicy even though I had asked for it not to be! 2) The decor - the outside was beautiful and fairy lights were hanging from the trees, though unfortunately due to the rain we had to sit inside.


And 3) the concept. Cabbages and Condoms was founded by the Population and Community Development Association, and the aim of the restaurant is to raise awareness of family planning & sexual health and to raise money for their projects. They make such a serious topic as fun as possible, giving you a condom instead of a mint at the end of your meal (that was a first!), have a spinning wheel "sex test" and a shop with lots of fun souvenirs. It was an ideal place to spend our last night as a group.







After this interesting experience, a few of the group headed to the Lebua Sky Bar where we were promised amazing views of Bangkok and we were not let down. One thing to note though is that the Sky Bar has a strict dress code - two of the boys were turned away at first as they were wearing shorts (even though they came to the knee and they looked very smart) and one of our friends was given a nicer hotel carrier bag to hide her plastic bag.

We all nearly had a heart attack at seeing the price of the drinks, although in fairness it's probably not anymore than you'd pay in a nice bar in London and it was definitely worth it for the experience alone. True to form, I plumped for a passionfruit cocktail - this time a martini - though I have to say I have never sipped a cocktail so slowly in my life. We realised we'd initially been ushered to the tourist/less-well-dressed-people balcony but had a wander around and discovered a much larger balcony with a view of the building's dome and with substantially less wind. Overall a very special way to spend our last night with new friends and it has certainly made me want to re-watch the Hangover 2, as this bar/hotel was one of the filming locations.





Our last couple of days were quite relaxed after a busy 3 weeks! I had been last year, but only visited Wat Po so this year made sure to see the Grand Palace which is incredibly impressive.








The rest of our time was spent moseying around the Khao San Road area where we were staying, doing some last minute shopping, having mani/pedis and making sure we got our fill of tasty Thai food.


A lovely end to an amazing trip! Have you been on any great trips lately?

1 comment:

  1. Ha, I love the idea for that restaurant, brilliant!

    These photos are gorgeous, you're making me so jealous!

    Hmm maybe...

    ReplyDelete