Tel Aviv to Bangkok

We had a relaxing final afternoon in Tel Aviv wandering the shopping area and Julie managed to quickly make some last minute purchases.  This meant more time for a coffee looking at the passers-by and fending off beggars.  We walked back to the hotel with Mal looking for a particular card lying on the street to photograph. The card in question belongs to a set of business cards for various escort services and massage parlours which are liberally strewn on Tel Aviv streets.  However the one he wanted was not to be found.  It showed a scantily clad female posterior with a male hand apparently giving a deep massage to the gluteus maximus area.  The idea was to photograph this then pretend it was the emblem for the town of Caesarea.  …….Think about it………..oh come on, that has to be one of the better dad jokes.

This wreck is the former Dolphinarium disco which was bombed in 2001 killing 16 people.  It seems there have been arguments over what to do with it ever since.  Photo taken from our breakfast table. 

Speaking of which, 2 rockets fired from the Sinai came into the seaside resort town of Eilat yesterday, no damage done.

The group then congregated in a conference room at 6pm for the tour evaluation, then onto the bus to the airport where Mal became the official leader of the group to answer all the searching questions Israeli security pose – why did you come to Israel, who was your tour leader, where did you go, will the Swans beat Geelong?  (I only put that last bit in because they are currently playing live and direct on our Bangkok hotel TV.)

The flight took off on time at 11.05pm, and then it was time for a meal and sleep.  No temptation to watch the inflight “entertainment” because the ancient El Al system did not have on-demand movies or TV shows.  We both got about 6 hours of sleep with only a few wakings up, so not too bad.

Half an hour early into Bangkok where we said goodbye to the group, none of whom also took up the opportunity to spend some time here, then found our way to the airport city rail line which took us from the terminus to one Skytrain station away from our hotel.  The prices here seem very cheap: the airport train cost $1.50 each and the Skytrain 50c, but the downside is no lifts or escalators to the roadways, and the tracks are a looong way up.  Lucky our suitcases only weigh 18kgs.

For a small price we accepted an offer to upgrade to a suite with breakfasts included.  This is one of the nicest hotel rooms we’ve been in,  with plenty of room for parties, if we had any friends.  The Skytrain station is right next to the hotel so we might get to use that a bit.

We settled in then went for a walk around the locale, observing a small river nearby and walking through shopping centres where we got a filling hong kong style meal for 300 baht ($10) each.  Back to the room through the muggy heat by 8pm both starting to feel quite weary. View from our window:

The quite ugly, but very handy Skytrain system:

Nearby river:

 

Peak hour traffic at 7.45pm: