I had been promised a couple of days to relax, so our sightseeing was restricted to Jim Thompson's House - an oasis of calm and tranquillity - and the Grand Palace and Wat Phra Kaeo - a hive of tourist activity. It seems odd that the temple of the Emerald Buddha should be the busiest place that we have been since arriving but I guess I could say the same about the Grand Mosque in Casablanca or the Alhambra in Granada.
My protestant upbringing has difficulty with the concept of merit-making while my western eye finds much of the decoration overdone.However I love the simplicity and functionality of traditional Thai architecture and the grain and texture of the teak.
As usual, we had identified a few places to eat - some recommended by friends, others the result of reading too many guide books. For simple meals, the Bus Stop and the Seven Seas on Sukhumvit Soi 4 were good - too early in the trip for hawker food! Cabbages and Condoms may be an institution but the food was still excellent- wonder if we could introduce the concept to the West of Ireland?
Brown Sugar - Soi Sarasin - was a great Jazz bar with a good resident band, a jam session on Sunday night and the food wasn't bad either (thanks PL). Curries and More... on Soi Ruam Rudee was upmarket Thai food and on the pricy side while La Gritta - Soi 13? was an expensive - very good - Italian which we chose by mistake because we had forgotten the name of the place Jimmy C recommended (La Giusta for future reference).
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