FIRST VIEW OF THE FAR EAST - SINGAPORE/BANGKOK

Saturday 8th December 1984 – Singapore/Bangkok

We were up bright and early this morning to finish the packing and to test the video camera. Unfortunately it was overcast and drizzling and, having read very rapidly through the rather complex instructions, I think I cocked up the first few feet of film. Anyway, we’ll see in Harare! (Clearly at this stage I hadn’t fully grasped that there was immediate viewing with a video camera, unlike a movie camera where the film had to be developed.) I managed to get my Hewlett Packard calculator to replace the one stolen just before we left, although that was a close thing.

We got to Changi Airport very early but that meant we could all sit together on the dividing line between smokers and non-smokers (the party being divided exactly evenly between these two categories). There were a few bridal parties coming to have their photographs taken there while we were waiting. It certainly is a charming background in parts, but the favourite choice – a map of the world showing the time in various capitals – seemed a curious choice.

We spent a few bob in the duty free and changed our Singapore dollars into Thai baht at an appalling rate – last time I will listen to the ‘experts’ who said you would get a better rate that way. The flight – in an Air Thai Airbus – took off on time and was very pleasant if a trifle warm. It was the first aircraft we had been in where there were no individual air nozzles to adjust one’s individual temperature. We had window seats but there was no view – cloud all the way. Lunch was prawns and fried rice – delicious. There was booze, and good booze at that, aplenty. Again another first because the spirits were poured willy nilly from the bottle – no miniatures or measured tots. Remy Martin all round concluded a memorable meal. The party was literally in high spirits when we landed.

It had been said tht it would be cooler in Bangkok, being further north and winter. Both Jennifer and David wore jerseys. Not really necessary at 32C which is what the temperature was when we arrived. Unfortunately a Kuwaiti plane had touched down just before us and there were enormous lines waiting to be processed at Immigration. I suppose it took about 25minutes to get through.

Our guide Sam was waiting for us and we were led out to the coach where we were presented with orchid leis. We received so many dire warnings about conditions in Bangkok and the town looked so bloody awful and tatty that I felt very anti, especially as I just couldn’t work out how to work the camera. (Lynne and Sam both reiterated that crime was a major issue; that no one should wear jewellery; we should take a minimum amount of cash and be very aware of pickpockets; if we lodged our valuables with the hotel, including travellers cheques, we should check that we received everything back – and check that all the cheques were there. We didn’t encounter any problems and when I was going out on my own, Rab asked the doorman at the hotel if it was safe for me to do so. Looking up at the 12 inch height difference between me and the average Thai he said with a grin “I don’t think so.” )

The elegance of the room - with the orchid garlands we were given

The hotel is magnificent and all the rooms have views of the river which is a very busy one indeed. I started cheering up and when I finally got the camera going I felt fine. Drinks in the hotel are, once again, exorbitant so we went out to a nearby supermarket and got a couple of beers and some fruit juice. There is a new shopping centre  adjacent to the hotel, so we went in there and had a snouse around, mainly looking at the silk shops. What gorgeous material and very reasonable. We began to run out of time, so dashed back for a quick wash up before setting off on our evening optional tour by the river bus to the nearby Oriental Hotel where we had a barbecue on the terrace. What a setting! And what a meal! Everything was delicious although naturally we tended to gravitate towards the prawns and lobster. (This was because it was almost impossible to obtain either in Zimbabwe at the time. Very few goods were imported and there was no seafood in the landlocked country.) There was a very nice sweet and sour sauce which went with the fish – there was also squid (clearly before squid went upmarket and became the very much more expensive calamari!) and snapper – and one could (and did) eat as much as one wished. After dinner we had a look around the hotel which was in business 106 years ago. Lovely old place – well, that might give the wrong impression, palatial magnificence being more the order of the day.

The hotel pier with a waterbus ready to go

And so to bed, via another water taxi.