A FMTY to Bangkok as a Travel Companion: Trip Diary
This trip diary has been shared with my lover’s not only approval but encouragement. I never write or publish any travel blog without my travel partner’s explicit encouragement, and when I do, I always publish these travel diaries with at least a six‑month delay from the date of the trip, for safety and discretion purposes. Generally, my lovers absolutely love having this kind of blog to look back on and re‑live the trip. I also do not write about many trips I go on due to lack of time or at the request of my travel partner not to. If we have a trip planned together, feel free to let me know in advance if you don’t want me to write about it.
My first time in Bangkok, and I was super excited (and equally excited to disappear from the gloomy UK for a while!).
A long-term lover invited me to this magical city for a week: during the first few days, we spent the whole time together, exploring and relaxing. During the last three days, he was mainly busy with work meetings, so I had the days to myself (and his credit card), and we usually met up in the evenings.
For the first half of the trip, we stayed at Aman Nai Lert Bangkok (chosen by me; if you know me, you’ll know by now I’m a huge Aman fan!).
In contrast with Aman core properties, which are resorts (that’s how it all started), Aman Bangkok (similar to their Tokyo and NYC outposts, which I also loved) is a city hotel, and the contrast with the noise and traffic of Bangkok is incredible: as soon as you walk in, you feel you’re in an oasis of calm.
The gorgeous pool area and spa were definitely much appreciated after full days of exploring (and shopping, of course).
And we never missed sunset time with a cocktail in hand!
The Aman Lounge was also good fun, with a very intimate setting and a great singer (hello, song requests!) on some evenings.
On our first morning we had one mission: getting to Jay Fai before opening, a hole‑in‑the‑wall kind of eatery that holds a Michelin star for its crab omelettes. Wait times can reach four hours, and we were definitely not going to queue for four hours, especially in Bangkok’s heat, so we had to get there early. Of course, we were running late, and as some of you may know, Bangkok traffic is insane, so we weren’t going to make it unless we took the metro. We decided to be adventurous and do that (the other option was the back of a motorbike that can be booked like an Uber, but we’re not that adventurous). The ticket was this super‑cute plastic coin token:
And, of course, even if we were running late and even if we were at a metro station, I still managed to do some shopping at a random stall:
And here we are, we made it. You might have seen this place on Netflix or read about it in some magazine features: the owner/chef is 82 years old and she works all day, every day, and makes all the omelettes herself.
The above is the only photograph in this article that’s not mine. What I really didn’t like was that despite the signs asking not to take photos of her, people were behaving like paparazzi. Very rude.
On the other hand, this is the photo of the one‑Michelin‑star crab omelette. The drinks we had were delicious too: iced tea (I’m a sucker for a sweet lemon iced tea!) and a yummy orange juice. My verdict: it was a fun experience and the omelette was enjoyable, but there’s no way I would have waited in line for this.
Next in line for our Michelin‑guide hole‑in‑the‑wall outposts tour was K Panich: an iconic family-run eatery that serves delectable mango sticky rice made to a recipe that has been handed down the generations for 80 years.
We enjoyed their famous dish there and grabbed some extra bits for takeaway (the sticky rice was 10/10, but the other things were just okay).
Luckily, neither of us needed the bathroom.
After we had just eaten like pigs, for some unknown reason we thought it was a good idea to walk into a typical Thai massage shop and be pressed into the floor for the next 90 minutes (actually a terrific massage, but I would recommend it on an empty stomach).
We then had a walk around. They surely have a lot of rules!
We had to walk through this, and it looked like a sketchy place, and the sign “do not go back” didn’t help our fear! It reminded me of “Abandon all hope, ye who enter here” from Dante’s Inferno.
Day 2 was dedicated to shopping!
We visited several shopping centres, including the newly opened and already ultra popular IconSiam.
Luckily I travel with three suitcases, because I filled half of one just with these super‑cute soaps to gift to friends and family (yes, I’m that cool rich aunt who hasn’t settled down and just travels the world and brings gifts).
Red wine face mask, another remarkable purchase.
We had otoro (fatty tuna) for both lunch and dinner. Life is good.
There were some very amusing food places, like this café that only sells durian‑based foods and durian‑themed merchandise:
Or this other one, in case you’ve ever thought of eating… well, literally just butter on its own:
IconSiam is on the river, and many of the 5‑star hotels on the river have their own little boats for guests, which I thought was cute.
The last day fully together before my lover started his business meetings was my favourite day of the trip! We woke up at 5am to meet our guide just before 6am. She took us to local markets where we could buy food to then offer to the monks.
I asked her which foods the monks prefer, but apparently they cannot express preferences; they just have to take what they’re given. From what I understood (I might be wrong because there was a bit of a language barrier, and I haven’t cross‑checked this info on chatgpt - crazy, right?), monks didn’t have it easy in the early days, because people didn’t like that the monks didn’t work in the traditional sense but had to receive food offerings. Fast forward to today, it is widely accepted and, in fact, monks receive more food than they can eat, and people in need can usually rely on the monks for food donations. Our guide herself told us that she grew up really poor and was fed thanks to the food gifted to the monks.
The basket was to place fruits and flowers, while these cute and colourful things are stacked bento boxes.
6:15am, and we were on our way with our offerings!
We were picked up by this traditional wooden boat (I’m not gonna lie, it was scary! It was rocking a lot!).
And here he is: this 82‑year‑old monk appears, rowing a tiny wooden canoe and visiting the houses that have offerings for him and the temple, then briefly blessing the offerers.
Then it’s our turn: he stops by our boat, and we give him our offerings, which he stacks in a perfectly organised system (my ocd loved this so much!). He then blessed us too.
What a special experience that will stay with me forever! I’m so glad we got to do this. This is the kind of travel I live for.
The next day, my lover’s meetings started (hey, someone’s gotta make the money!). We moved hotel to the SO/ Bangkok hotel, because it was walking distance from my lover’s meetings and because he has top‑tier status with Accor (you can take an American out of the US, but you can’t take loyalty schemes out of an American!).
The room design was cool and super modern, almost spaceship‑like. He had a big suite where we would usually gather, and I just had a normal room, which was more than enough for me to just sleep and have my own space.
I really enjoyed the bath tub.
Nice view too, don’t you think?
So, my lover, gentlemanly via the concierge, arranged for me two spa‑and‑pool days at two other hotels. First, the Rosewood Bangkok: impressive architecture, nowhere near enough sunbeds for the number of guests lol.
Steam room with a view.
I will happily pay any ridiculous mark‑up for a coconut delivered poolside.
Second pool-and-spa-day, The Sukhothai: what an unexpected, great surprise this hotel was! I had never heard of it before. I found out that it’s a member of Small Luxury Hotels of the World. Compared to the other hotels visited on this trip, which are all city hotels, this felt like a resort in the middle of the city.
Living my best cabana life.
The evenings during this second half of the trip were very low‑key because my lover was pretty tired from meetings (meetings that, by the way, he said were a success; he said that I must be his lucky charm because every time he takes me on a business trip with him his investment in me comes back to him x100 with new successful deals being agreed). We simply enjoyed some delicious food, the odd rooftop bar, each other’s company, and of course the trip wasn’t complete without a tuk‑tuk ride.
Did you enjoy reading this adventure? Want to make some memories instead of watching life pass by? Get in touch :)