Not Khao-San, other places to eat and drink in Bangkok

The first time I was in Bangkok I was incredibly overwhelmed by the size of the place - the city seems never-ending and if you get up to any heights it stretches out in every direction the eye can see; the river winding through various sky-scrapers and low-lying shacks by the river. The enormity of it is still striking to me now but I've gotten to know another side of the city by now and can thoroughly understand why it offers expats a nice life.

From the Mariott Rooftop, Bangkok goes on forever

An old friend from Dubai, Becky, now calls Bangkok home. We go through long periods of not meeting up and our last meeting outside Thailand was a funny road-trip to Ennis, accompanied by a little green teddy. Yes, Becky and I do have some weird ideas of fun but we also share a very similar sense of humour and a deep bond from sharing some tricky times in Dubai. Becky's place is a far cry from Khao San Road; it's set in a pretty district of Sukhumvit, surrounded by other residences with pools and gyms and up market restaurants nearby.

I'm not a huge fan of enormous cities, probably because the city I come from, Dublin, only has a population of about a million people, which barely competes with the major metropolises of our world.
I like my cities smaller and easy to navigate. Having said that, I'm a big fan of Bangkok's various options of transport - the BTS is cheap and reliable, motor cycle taxis are ubiquitous, taxis themselves are crazy reasonable considering it's a worldwide city with an intolerable traffic problem. You can even take canal boats (not a pastime for hungover backpackers - the stench would shake even the sturdiest constitution) where you might chance upon a dead croc floating in the infected waters, true story - a friend has seen one.

So, to share some of the places I've been and liked in Bangkok, even though I fear giving too much away, it's nice to share with other travellers and for the owners to have patronage of those seeking out a different path.

If you've visited Wat Pho, which certainly is worth it from a historical perspective (It was the first university in Thailand) and to admire the colourful stupas in the courtyard, then you'll appreciate a cool drink or some food nearby. There are a number of options by the river, you can normally get a seat at Eat Sight Story, ESS to watch riverboats go by and enjoy the view of Wat Arun. It is accessed by a soi between two temples. There is also the better known The Deck, which boasts the same views and excellent food, but you may struggle to be seated.

Wat Arun at sunset

Bangkok is developing quite the cafe culture and a great spot for brunch is Gram, on Soi 49 of Sukhumvit. There's not much seating and it's probably to be avoided in the sweatier months but I had a long, lazy lunch there in March and it was very pleasant. They offer all day breakfasts and super smoothies.

I was lucky enough to be invited to Bellino wine bar and boutique, a stunningly picturesque little part of Italy in Bangkok. Go for the chorizo, stay for the reasonably priced and good (finally, good wine in Thailand!) wine.We had a lovely night there for their birthday party.

If you are pining for a bit of trivia, then you can head to pub quiz on Thursday nights at The Pickled Liver, a proper British pub which doesn't feel like it's just off Sukhumvit in Bangkok, a very unassuming joint with good pub grub.

And finally, if you're looking for a quieter Rooftop than Lebua (the rooftop scene's from the Hangover have made it a hotspot), head over to Octave at the Mariott for 360 degree views of the city. It also has great 2 for 1 cocktails between 5pm - 7pm so you can enjoy your sundowners at a more reasonable cost than most of the city.

Sorry Becky, if I've given away some of your secret spots, but not all :)

White-water Rafting - Omis

We were already in motion as breakfast took place on Friday morning. I was in great spirits after a good night sleep and was dancing around our cabin. Sarah was just laughing at me, particularly when I managed to stub my toe off the end of the bed and yowled in pain. I wasn't excited it was the last day but I was definitely going to make the most of it.

After our morning swim we all congregated on deck to chat about our plans for the day and night. Most of us had signed up for white water rafting which we would reach by bus from our next stop in Omis. Some of the girls had opted to stay behind for some shopping and Louise said she would organise dinner and drinks for Allan's birthday that evening.

So we boarded a couple of buses to take us to our start point and I got to catch up with Katie and the goings-on with some of our other passengers and accompanying Sail Croatia boats. It seemed there was no end of scandal and the final night was sure to bring some more! Put it this way, there'd been lots of secrecy about who was with who and as a result some egos had been hurt and others had been doing things as revenge. Possibly a little childish, but what does anyone expect with boatful's of single people?

All of our group couldn't fit in the one boat, which was a little disappointing but we kitted up and got ready to go. I'd never tried it before and was very excited, if a little nervous that I might get flung off over some rocks! Gary and Gareth took up the front, Cahal and Pearce behind them, Lucie and I were opposite eachother with Doug and Lisa beside the instructor(whose name escapes me right now). Doug had chosen to ride with us for some good photo ops.

Our instructor was brilliant and it seemed pretty clear. There was also something very sexy about him in a real rugged, outdoorsy way :)
We could row forward or back and Boomba! meant get your oars flat on the side of the raft as quick as possible and duck! It started off rather gently but we were in hot pursuit of the other boats and enjoyed a bit of splashing them with our oars, particularly one of the other boats who were rowing around in circles. We seemed to get a good rhythm going between us, but I think I may have poked Lisa or Lucie on the knee once or twice with my oar. I'm not hopelessly uncoordinated but nor am I a natural! It was much better fun whenever the instructor shouted "Boomba!" as the trees came in low and we all had to scramble low in the boat. Once I managed to miss this and got walloped by a branch but I thought it was quite funny.

We also rowed hard up against some rocks to get right up and over having a proper splash down and emptying our helmets of water over ourselves and other boats to cool down (It was utterly freezing water) and have some water fights. The scenery was absolutely spectacular. We made our way slowly through these towering rocks (which people have been known to base jump off) and it was like a scene from Lord of the Rings. Once again, Croatia was taking my breath away and I've no idea why it's such an under-rated place for holidays.

We stopped at a little place to climb to our next part as apparently the rafting was too advanced and dangerous in one part of the river. That was a little disappointing but a stroll through the hills in the sunshine was lovely and Lisa tried to convince Phil that a tumble in the jungle might be some fun - unfortunately there was no time for that!

Back in our boats we had some more fun, picking up speed to make the drops more exciting. There was plenty of laughter on our boat and the girls had pushed through the pain barrier (It really hurts your arms at the start then it doesn't seem to matter so much anymore) so we all had a good rhythm going again. We rowed in under a freezing waterfall and got some great photos of Lucie and Gareth enjoying splashing around in a cave (I swear both must have been dogs in a former life - and I mean that in a good way) and then onto a rest stop where the boys took turns in jumping off some of the rocks. Plenty of belly flops there! Cahal seems to have jumping off things down to a fine art as he can back flip and move in mid-air - very graceful!!!

We were sad when it came to an end but it meant celebratory beers and chips after an exhilarating day. I'll definitely be trying that again, absolutely loved it!

Thanks again to Doug for the photos - none of our cameras were waterproof!