Day 4 in BKK (incl. the TB Dangerous meet up in BKK)

We had breakfast again with Thomas. He had to go to meet his friend so we decided to do some sightseeing. Two things I definitely wanted to see with my own two eyes were the Grand Palace with the green Buddha and the Wat Arun (the last one I saw from a distance when we were sailing on the Chao Praya).
I dressed myself properly that morning, so it was no problem to enter the palace. They told Ron on the street that he would have a problem entering the palace, 'cause he wore shorts. So we bought a lovely purple pair of pants for him. I thanked the man who sold it to us by saying: "He looks so handsome now!" At the same time Ron was buying the pants, a woman tried to sell me a fan (you know, such a lovely thing that you can wave in the air so you get some fresh air). At first she asked 200 Baht. I told her that for that amount I was able to rent her with the fan for a whole day!! She smiled :)) and lowered her price. After a few minutes hard bargaining I paid her 50 Baht. She happy, me happy.

The Grand Palace is beatiful, so many tiny details, gold, mirrors, mosaic..... and we did see the green emerald Buddha inside.!

After seeing the Grand Palace, we went with the ferry to the other side of the Chao Praya to visit the Wat Arun. This Wat looked so special from a distance that I had to see it nearer by. At the river bank we saw hundreds of big fish at the surface of the water! Wow, what an astonishing sight. The water must be healthy was my conclusion.
We climbed the stairs to the top of the Wat Arun and had a breathtaking view over the river and the city. The Wat herself was also beautiful.

After all we spend hours at the Grand Palace and the Wat Arun and noticed that it was time to go! We had an appointment in Ekkamai BKK for the TB meet up and it was 16.30 hr allready! We hurried with the expressboat to Saphan Taksin and went with the skytrain to Ekkamai. There we took a taxidriver and asked him, like Natty told us on the forum, "We're going to Waterside leab tang doun Ekkamai-Ramindra, please"......

"We're going to Waterside leab tang doun Ekkamai-Ramindra, please".......
The good man didn't understand a thing of what I was saying, so I gave him the book where I wrote down the sentence Natty told me. He understood Ekkamai, but didn't understand the word 'please'! I tried to explain that it was English and meant something as 'Koph Koen Kah'.... I think he understood it after all. But he had no clue where to bring us! He called a friend and handed the telephone to Ron. The girl on the phone was supposed to speak better English than he did, but it didn't work out. She didn't know the place where we had the meet up. The taxidriver stopped at three places and at the last one, a petrol station, were some men that knew the restaurant. We arrived more than an hour late. But much to our surprise, we were the first (after Natty our host of course)!!
After a few more minutes the rest of the group arrived: Ket, Bennie, Jeff, Rose, Ruby and Renate!

Natty had ordered great food, different kind of Thai specialties and we ate it with great taste! It was great to meet the TB friends. And I was right that I saw Ket, Bennie and Ying (we met him later that evening) a few days before at the beach on Koh Samed! I recognized Ket's yellow pants that evening, it was the same he wore on Koh Samed! LOL
It was a great evening, chatting with them, laughing, taking pictures, eating and drinking draft beer. Unfortunately Ruby was treated with a splashing headache. Despite of my paracetamol, it wouldn't dissapear.

After finishing a great dinner, we took two taxis to Ko San Road area. Ruby had to leave us due to her headache. Maybe see you next time and then a little longer under better circumstances!
The group went to a bar on Koh San Road where there was a good live band playing and Renate met some travel friends (surprise!). After a while we left the bar to go to another one, more quiet so we could talk. Ying joined us from there on. Somewhere at that point we 'lost' Natty! :(( Natty, again thanks for everything, it was a great meet up, you did a splendid job!!

Most people of the group had to leave the country the next morning to travel to Vietnam and it was getting awful late.... So we said goodbye there, gave eachother best wishes, cheek kisses and promised that we must see eachother soon again.

Ron and I were the last of the Mohican.... Old but strong huh?! We ordered another drink and talked about our splashing day in BKK. A little girl was walking beside our table, selling red roses. It's not like Ron to buy flowers (hahaha) but he did this time!
After handing me the rose and taking a smiling look at my eyes, he asked me to marry him........
Finally, after more than three years living in sin!!!

Yes, we have a party next year!! :-D