Upon arrival in Bangkok, my husband whisked us all away to a night of luxury at the Oriental hotel, which really is Asia’s best and most historic hotel. Having stayed there earlier this year for our anniversary, you can imagine how different things were this time around with our offspring.
Within half an hour, the beautiful room overlooking the swimming pool and river beyond was quickly becoming a disaster zone. The lovely fruit basket which lay on the table was now in disarray, banana bits dotting the carpet, a half eaten rambutan under the desk, the fresh orange juice on the silk sofa and so on. The toys they had brought (and Dad had brought from his trip to Singapore) were all over the place, and at bathtime, my son promptly smashed the celadon container with bath salts into a million pieces.
Our poor butler (every room has one at the Oriental, and you can reach him through a buttton by the bed), who probably wished he were assigned to a different room,had to come in several times to help limit the damages. Luckily, he came with a basket full of DVDs after a few visits, which got the rug rats calm for a bit. We then took them for a quick ride on one of the hotel’s charming boats on the river, which my daughter loved, but keenly observed ” Mom, why is the river so brown? I dont think I should swim in it“.
Expecting the chaos and overwhelming sense of oh-my-god-why-did-we-take-them-on-holiday? , my fabulous husband had already slyly planned something for us that evening, a plan which involved a babysitter and the most amazing restaurant in the city.
So that evening, we left the kids with a very sweet hotel babysitter (whose name was “UH”), room service and dvd, and had the most wonderful evening at Cirocco’s, which I have to say is the MOST incredible restaurant I have been to in my life. On the 63rd floor of the State Tower (Bangkok’s second tallest building), the restaurant has some FANtastic views of the city, not to mention delicious food AND a jazz band entertaining you as you literally feast in the stars.
With some time left before the babysitter’s departure, we quickly sneaked a nightcap at the hotel’s Bamboo Bar, another favourite haunt of ours. We got back to the room just in time, the kids in bed but awake, all kisses and smiles (apparently the babysitter was a good one, thank goodness!) Such a wonderful evening, and a wonderful way to start a holiday, dont you think?
[tags]Bangkok travel with kids,Oriental hotel with kids,Cirocco[/tags]
Originally posted on November 16, 2006 @ 10:52 pm
