I have two final points on
the short holiday in Bangkok. Both are unconnected to each other.
Most people who recommend
Bangkok will tell you that you must
visit the bar called Distill at the top floor of the Lebua State Tower. Let me
explain what they are talking about. The State Tower is a 68 storey building
[not the tallest, but the third tallest in Thailand] and is located in the Silom
area. The building is rather unattractive and made with lots and lots of
concrete. It has no glass cladding. The architectural feature of this concrete
tower is a golden dome on the very top. The building has mixed use; there are
apartments, serviced apartments, offices and a so called five star hotel all
located in the building. The building is located close to the Chaopyra River
that flows thru Bangkok. Because the building is tall, from the higher floors
the view is spectacular. From one side you can see the river and the city
beyond the river. The other view is of the City of Bangkok. You get the
picture?
Now what does any sensible
person do if he has control of the top of such a tall building so stunningly
located? He sets up an open air bar on the open terraces and a series of
restaurants in the covered areas. He then calls the area the Dome. The bar has
two parts called Distill and the Sky Bar each offering one of the two views I
have written about. There are also restaurants serving Indian, Italian,
Lebanese and Thai food. To add to the glamour, part of the highly successful sequel
to Hangover, imaginatively called Hangover 2, was shot here and they make a big
song and dance about it. There is also the hype about the fact that the view is
great, and being there at sunset is super-great and eating there means you get the
best food in Thailand.
Naturally HRH the Queen of
Kutch and I set of to this heaven on earth, this gourmet paradise, this wondrous
drinking place. This involved a taxi ride thru Bangkok’s legendary traffic.
Getting there was somewhat of a pain. The informative taxi meter showed us that
we had spent 32 minutes stationary in our 50 minute ride from Siam Kempinski to
Lebua.
We arrived at the building
to enter a most peculiar hotel lobby. The lobby was oddly shaped and full of
the strangest bounders I had seen in Bangkok. Lots of hostesses in the lobby
directing us to the elevators to take us up to the Dome. Tacky lobby and even
tackier wobbly elevators. We were whisked and shaken up to the 68th floor
where we exited into the waiting rapacious hard selling waiters at the bar. I
was rather taken aback at this. I thought this was a fine dining place but this
seemed like a bit of a seedy bar. We were among the first, soon more punters
arrived and I was growing increasingly horrified. The fellow punters looked
like what we would call `Hippies’ in Bombay except because there was a semblance
of a dress code, the `Hippies’ wore trousers. Absolute Lonely Planet type
people. Anyway, I thought, the view was good.
Waiter comes up and suggests
Champagne without giving us a menu. By now my antennae was up and on full
alert, so I asked for the menu. A glass of Champagne cost an eye popping Rs
2000/- per glass [USD 38]. Yes, unfortunately I was not born yesterday. I flipped
a few pages and zeroed in on a beer, a single Singha equivalent to a Kingfisher
at a heart wrenching Rs 800/- [USD 15]. HRH the Queen of Kutch had a small
single malt which was about as expensive. Yes I know that we were paying for
the view but this was, I thought beyond the limit charging. It is obvious that
the hype and word of mouth is paying rich dividends here. It is the ‘must visit’
place in Bangkok and the Hotel have decided to fleece the punters for the
pleasure.
We finished our drinks, paid
our bill and took the jerky elevator ride down.
Tourist Trap. Do not even
think of going here. Have a look at the photos. Decent view. If you want to
drink with `Hippies’ and the Lonely Planet crowd then this is the place for
you.
On to the second point. A useful
travel tip, in case you already don’t know about it.
One of the more sensible
things you can do is buy alcohol at a duty free shop in an airport. Please do
remember that duty free does not mean profit free! Anyway, alcohol in duty free
shops is much cheaper than in the city. The duty free prices for most alcohol
at Mumbai Airport or if you want to be correct, Chhatrapati Shivaji
International Airport, are low. Yes folks booze is cheap in Mumbai. Stay away
from the Champagne and wines. Most spirits are extremely cheap by our retail
shop standards. Mumbai Airport does not have a great selection, but all the
normal stuff is available and is cheap.
To be extra sensible, my
suggestion, is the following. When leaving India go to the Duty Free shop,
select and pre order the booze you want. You can pay for it with your credit
card. You get 5% off. It’s not much guys, 5% on a USD 50 booze bill is just USD
2.5 which is less than Rs 150/- but Rs
150/- saved is a couple of burgers for the kids at MacDonald’s!! What the duty
free guys do is give you a receipt. Then, when you arrive back in Mumbai, you
pass Immigration, shuffle through another queue to show a havaldar the
multitude of rubber stamps in your Passport and finally arrive in the Customs
hall/Baggage claim area. Here is located a Duty Free shop. You march up to the
shop show them your pre paid receipt and collect the booze. No sweat, no `kat kat’ no `jhanjhat’. No need to buy booze outside the country and carry it
thru your flight in mortal fear of the bottles breaking. This was a revelation
for me.
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