Day 21 Leaving Bhutan for Vietnam via Bangkok

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Left for Paro Airport for an 11.00am flight to Bangkok, Imogen in full 'Kira'. After boarding the plane we were informed that we would be making a local stop in Central Bhutan after 25 minutes and the Captain greeted us all with "Your Royal Highness, Ladies and Gentlemen" .............ok ............. thats different? We found out that we had the King's brother, the Prince of Bhutan, sitting 5 rows in front of us (He was in the small area for 1st class, of course). Imogen was hoping to meet her first Prince as she had read about them in books, she just couldn't work out where he had put his Horse? ........... and as if by some freak of fate, the Royal Body Guard was sitting next to Fred. ......................... what a result!!! ............ This was going to be his most well behaved flight since starting our journey! .................. 'This sounds like a Pimm's moment!!!' ..................... Unfortunately Imogen didn't get to meet the Prince, despite Jo putting in a good word, so we are now on the hunt for a good looking Frog!!

We arrived at Bangkok at 4:00pm getitng to our Airport Hotel, as only an overnight stop before going on to Vietnam. Just had time for a quick turnaround and a 1 1/2 hour trip back into the city for a look around and a good Thai meal. Bangkok was bussling with street stalls and mobile vendors selling everything and anything for dollers, still going strong at 10.00pm, but the difference with Bangkok to other cities was the humidity and heat. Bangkok, the city of 'fake goods', the children thought this was great as things now appered within their price range and the packaging and the goods themselves looked exactly like the real thing. The children found it hard to understand why things that looked exactly like the real article, were so cheap. they were in heaven! What they failed to realise was that the internal mechanisms were made out of 'rice crispies'. I tried to get a batterry for an old watch I had bought with me but couldn't get the back off. I then found it would be cheaper to buy a fake watch to last the trip than actually buy a battery! ...........My honest vendor stated with confidence: "is waterproof"...... "is waterproof, sir" ............................... "yeh right! ......... as waterproof as my underpants", ......... which actually for a man approaching 50 was perhaps not the right simile to use!! ....... and as I suspected, daring to walk into the bathroom later that day caused my new 30m waterproof watch, to completely steam up inside, which now meant I could only tell the time when the weather was cooler, i.e. in the air conditioned hotel room at night when I was asleep. ....... I soon got bored of setting my alarm every hour throughout the night just to make sure I got my monies worth!!

After getting fed up of trying to work out what was real and what was fake and what was fake and what was real we tried to find good real Thai food. Trying to eat late proved a little more difficult as we were not yet ready to subject our stomachs to the street food, but we eventually ended up at a very good Thai restuarant, pricey but worth it.



The children encountered their first enormous cockroach at the hotel the next morning, causing much excitement and Freddie bless him, was very vocal with excitment, amongst the other guests. The Hotel Manager, trying to hide his discomfort and not being so amused, was helplessly watching the 'gold stars' fall of his Expedia Hotel Rating page, as Freddie described in detail the size of this awesome beast.

Our "One Night in Bangkok" was fun but was extended by a 6 hour delay to our flight the next day - we spent 9 hours at the airport for a 75 minute flight to Hanoi - but having managed to try my 'priority pass' plasic card, kindly provided to me by Wexas Travel, we managed to get into the first class lounge which meant the long wait was eased by comfortable chairs and free food and wine!! ..... The wait seemed to go by rather effortlessly!!


Our Flight to Hanoi was with Vietnamese Airlines, a technical hitch with the first plane i.e. it was broken, but now fixed!? and ready for take off. Everything went smoothly until starting our descent into Hanoi. We were asked to strap up as we were heading into a storm. ........ they were not joking!! We went from clear blue sky to Black cloud, very black cloud. The plane became dark and you could see the darkness light up with lightning ................. not sure I even feel too comfortable about this!!!! Fortunately I was sitting next to Freddie, my 9 year old son, who decided to keep my spirits up by asking me why all the planes disappeared over the Bermuda Triangle ... "Was it because of an electrical storm like this one Dad?" and ...... "What happenns if we get hit by lightening ....... will we crash and die?" .... "Freddie! keep your voice down, I don't think the other passengers want to hear about this right now" ................ and in the only way a 9 year old boy would think, not wishing to tempt fate, Freddie proudly announced, whilst hitting some serious turbulance ...... " I think it would be good to crash Dad ........ then I would be lost in the jungle and I could make my own tree House!" ............... You know, I knew there was a plus side to enterring the eye of an electrical storm at 35,000 feet in a dodgy Vietnames Airline, ......... I just couldn't see it. "Thanks for that Fred!"
Fortunately, Freddie didn't need to use his specially packed survival kit, although he had started eating the Haribos just in case!
We arrived safely in central Hanoi at about 8pm just giving us time to venture out into the maze of streets in the Old Quarter - another frenetic place with its own character, where the Dollar is king!