Everybody have probably heard about LEBUA bar well known from Hollywood movie Hangover. But I know about one another super cool and secret place. 

Bangkok layovers are always about good massage, Pad Thai, Mango sticky rice and crazy night out. If you like cool places, original cocktails, cigars, retro style and old Cuban vibes, HAVANA SOCIAL is the place for you. The address of this place is 41, 3 Sukhumvit Rd, Khlong Toei Nuea, but still, you won’t be able to find the entrance if you don’t know the secret. From outside it looks like an old phone boot in some side dark street. There are no signs or ads linking to the bar, just an old phone boot! But when you dial a secret code, only then doors open to one cool Cuban bar. It is this kind of place you probably enter knowing nobody but leave knowing everybody. 

P.S.: Don’t worry about the code, there is always some guard who will help you. 🙂

P.S.2: Before you go to Havana Social I recommend you to get in mood at rooftop cocktail bar in neighborhood called Above 11 (11 – so locals call the neighborhood). Walking distance! 

P.S.3: You can finish your day at the spontaneous street after party at crazy Khao San Road. Just don’t eat scorpions, please… 

After a long time, I fly again to the bustling Thai Bangkok. While Easter is celebrated at home, in Thailand there is a great water festival now called Songkran and celebrations of The Thai New Year. Celebrations in the streets take place similarly to us. The city is full of young and drunk people, all in raincoats (but it’s not raining) armed with spray guns and phones in waterproof plastic bags hanging on their necks. While in our country, guys splash girls only, in Thailand, everyone splash everybody. If you’re walking down the streets at a water festival, get ready for a shower from everyone around you. I just got it with a garden hose! My goal is to visit one of the world’s most famous sky bars – the Sirocco Restaurant & Sky Bar at the Lebua Hotel. You will know it too! Just remember the movie Hangover 2 happening in Bangkok! I don’t want to enter this luxurious bar totally wet, but fortunately in Bangkok it’s so hot that by the time I arrive, I’m totally dry. Though Thailand is one of the cheapest countries, Sirocco doesn’t belong to cheap ones at all! However, it is worth to visit! In front of the lifts there is a long line of waiting guests and a guard who closely monitors the dress code. In flip-flops and shorts you won’t be allowed to get in. But, no need to go back to change, right in the vicinity of the hotel you will find several smart merchants who sell or rent a jacket and elegant shoes for you. 🙂 Maybe the Sirocco bar is known especially from the movie Hangover 2, but I rather feel like Audrey Tautou in the movie Priceless. The atmosphere is amazing! A soul band on the terrace, under the feet the blazing Bangkok, a light breeze in the hair, and champagne pouring into the glasses. And what, we live only once! I also order a cocktail of genuine champagne for 60 Euros and I enjoy it in the last breath… I just miss Audrey’s nose for millionaire. 🙂

On the next morning, I decide for some mandatory sightseeing. While most of the crew are relaxing in beauty salons, I’m heading to the Temple of the Reclining Buddha called Wat Pho. It is one of the oldest and most extensive temple complex in Bangkok with the largest collection of Buddha portraits. The temple once served as a center of public education, and it is still delivering to public secrets of Thai medicine. Just between these decorated walls, a traditional Thai massage was born. Monks still teach their techniques here. The complex is really huge and I really enjoy hanging around. I look through the slit of the open door and quietly listen to the class. Or, I observe monks in intimate prayer. In another corner, a group of young girls rehearsal traditional oriental dances. Then I take of my shoes and with a group of other tourists I enter the main hall, where is resting 46 meters long Buddha. And why is he resting? The statue of the lying Buddha represents its entrance into the state of Nirvana. Later I find myself laughing that the Buddha had flat legs. Forgive me, I know, we should not be making fun of the saints… There are exactly 108 bronze jugs on the side, in which the believers throw coins. If you throw a coin into each one, you will have a good luck. In addition, you will contribute to the maintenance of the temple. Unfortunately I do not have 108 coins, so my luck has to wait… Is it because I said you have flat legs, Buddha? 🙂

What is the probability that you will get a common layover together with your best friend in a company that employs about 6,000 stewards and stewardesses? The truth is more than miserable … But what seemed so unrealistic, eventually happened. When I see in my roster that the closest two layovers in Bangkok I’m having with Veronica, I’m jumping two meters high for joy. Bangkok ?! With Veronica ?! This combination of circumstances promises to be more than just an excursion …

Cabbage a condoms

After arriving to the hotel, most of the crew go to bed to catch up sleeping after the night flight, but me and Hajjar from Morocco decide not to waste a time. We stop the taxi and tell the driver to take us “somewhere in the center of action”. Hajjar heard that shopping is great in Bangkok, so we’re heading straight to the shopping malls. Once I promised to my boyfriend that I would bring him souvenir from every destination. At least I can “get off” my promise right at the beginning. After two hours of strolling, we go to the small salon for a deserved leg massage. Price for 60 minutes: about 5 Euros! At eight o’clock we are already waiting in the hotel lobby where we meet the rest of the crew, even stewards and stewardesses from the flight, who had landed in Bangkok a few hours after us. Among them is, of course, Veronica, which I have been impatiently waiting for. Thanks to us, two crews joined together. I have never seen such a big aggregation! The captain orders a super-sized taxi for 15 people and together we go for the true Thai dinner. The restaurant that the captain chose has not only the funny name – Cabbage and Condoms, but also design. There are funny pictures on the walls with a sexual theme, and in the entrance hall we have a mannequin in the clothes made of used condoms. Even Santa Condom! I order traditional rice dish Pad Thai and Tom Yum soup, which could be also called as Tom Yummy! Most of all I like Veronica’s Chicken Satay (chicken skewers) with peanut sauce and Kai’s Thai tea with sweet condensed milk. With the bill everyone instead of menthol candy was given a package of condoms. After a delicious dinner, most of us go for a drink to some bar while me and Veronica prefer to go sleep. For the next day we have big plans…

Floating market

We are meeting at breakfast at seven o’clock and at eight taxi driver already waits us to drive us to the well known Floating Market. Something you really need to see when you are in Bangkok. It’s a market that really floats on the river. Every salesperson who has something to offer sails along the river while the shoppers stand on the coast and look around for the floating goods. Eventually, they are also paddling on the river among vendors. We choose the way on the water, too. You can buy anything on the river: bananas, fish, coconuts, flowers, artwork, t-shirts, Thai hats, Buddha statues and other souvenirs. The fruit you buy here tastes completely different from what you’re used to at home. Bananas (though tiny) are sweeter, mango more succulent. After an hour and a half of boating and shopping we can still get to the nearby elephant village. Just a Facebook photo of one of my friends riding an elephant brought me to the profession of flight attendant. I also wanted to travel around the world and have photos with an elephant! And today I have finally fulfilled my dream!