travelswithalice

January 09, 2007

Bangkok- bombed on New Year's Eve, literally!

BANGKOK
Bombed on New Year's Eve. Literally!

That was December 28, our first full day in Siem Reap. This was our Holiday holiday. We had been in Bangkok for Christmas, came to Cambodia for Stuart’s birthday, and were to return to Bangkok for New Year’s. It all worked out very well, despite the bombs in Bangkok.

I’ll tell you about the night the bombs went off in Bangkok before I tell you about magical Angkor.

Actually, there isn’t much to tell.

We were on our first round of hotel bubbly- Stuart had refused to call it champagne after seeing the label. Nonetheless, it was free and it tasted good so we were not complaining. We had four more hours to kill before midnight.

Two of the guest relations ladies were out of uniform and looked festive in their cocktail dresses. The lounge buzzed with holiday chatter. CNN was on mute.

The Breaking News banner appeared on screen and the bottom ticker said something about bombs in Bangkok. Before my mind could begin to register what it all meant, people started to congregate around the TV, drinks in hand.

I walked over too, almost in slow motion. There were sketchy reports about bombs going off in several parts of Bangkok, one in the market area.

I said softly to no one in particular, “Oh my goodness, we were just there.”

Or very near there anyway. We had gone for a massage somewhere and passed the market on our way back to the hotel earlier that afternoon. I wanted to go to the night market for the countdown but we had already booked at the hotel club. So we thought we’d just freshen up and have a drink at the lounge, then go back out to the night market while waiting for party time at the hotel.

I wish I had more dramatic events to report- eyewitness stories and all that. The fact is, at 87+- that’s the club at the Conrad Hotel- it was business as usual. Apart from us canceling our pre-midnight sortie to the market, our party plans were hardly dented by the bombs that shocked the rest of the world.

Labels: Bangkok, bombs, CNN, night market