Arriving in Bangkok was a bit of a culture shock, it is a big city (almost 11 million) and with traffic that is widely known for being terrible. Even at mid day it lived up to that reputation and our drive from the airport was full of waiting and then darting.
Did I mention is was hot, 36 C°
Our hotel is the Riva Surya right on the river front in the tourist part part of town. I kid you not there are at least 100 hotels within a few square blocks of our location. Not that this part of the city has anything resembling a "square" block.
We ventured out into the heat of mid afternoon because Nina needed to get her nails done before we move to the "wilderness" of Bhutan in a couple of days. This involved a short walk to a local massage place that also provides cosmetic services. To get to this place we entered what I can only describe as "backpacker" heaven or hell. The couple of narrow streets we had to walk were lined with pubs, food places, cheap hotels, and bespoke suit tailors. The streets themselves were packed with gen-z backpackers out being-seen.
Dinner on the hotel patio with a rising moon and setting sun over our shoulder. It is sure nice that the temperature drops a little after the sun vanishes.