Wednesday 3^rd March

This was actually the day we were to leave, but since our flight wasn’t until midnight, we had the whole day to ourselves.  First stop was the Jim Thompson house, again recommend by various friends, and certainly well worth the visit.

 http://www.jimthompsonhouse.com/

 A beautiful property, wonderful furniture, and of course the mystery of what happened to him when he disappeared.  We bought a few small silk elephants to take as presents, and decided to skip their restaurant. 

We had come by taxi – again someone who assured us he knew where he was going, and then overshot the road.  We had seen a huge shopping area just before the house, and decided to walk there. 

We then spent several hours walking around this enormous shopping mall, mostly just looking, checking prices, etc.  Had wonderful fruit smoothies in a food hall where no cash changed hands – it was all put onto your individual card, and read by the cashier at the exit.  We thought about taking in a movie while we were there, but as they were all in Thai, changed our minds quite quickly. A taxi back to the hotel, and packed for our final flight(s). 

Leaving Bangkok,   we both felt that we would not be coming back again – just too big for us.  Next trip we may have to transit there, but will try harder not to have to spend time in the city.

But Burma of course, as nearly everyone says, is magical.  It was the highlight of our trip, and a great introduction to South-East Asia. One of our Australian friends talked about how much she enjoyed being in Buddhist countries, and we can certainly understand that feeling.