Guest Blogger: Grace O’ Donnell
So you’ve spent a few days in Bangkok, you’ve had your fill of scorpions and other insects on Khaosan Road, the ping pong’s show have lost their allure, and your head’s sore after one too many crazy nights, you’re looking for to stray from the madness that is central Bangkok.
Welcome to the Atlanta Hotel. A quaint establishment unchanged since the 1950’s with art deco decor. I was super excited to hang out with the 17 turtles, several cats and one dog that call the hotel home. The squeaky clean pool was soooo refreshing in the 40 degrees of heat, and the quirky “no sex tourists” signs scattered throughout the hotel are one of the many remnants of the hotel’s history, which add to its unique charm. I could have happily spent my whole trip to Bangkok here, but I wanted to go exploring.
We went for a blind massage, the therapists are all blind and the massages take place in dimly lit rooms. The massage was excellent, she kneaded at my back with expert hands, feeling her way perfectly along my back. It was a really different experience and something I’d definitely do again.
Looking to save a bit of money we decided to do something free next. So we went to Lumphini park and hung out with the monitor lizards. It’s really fun watching them plodding along the ground slowly and then slip into the water where they move so quickly and gracefully.Another free and underrated thing to do is to hang out in the fancy malls in BKK. Plenty of aircon and you never know what’s going to happen next. We tried out some segways, Virtual Reality headsets and saw some really cool interactive dinosaur displays (my boyfriend’s inner child had a field day!).
All the photos of myself -the red-haired girl- are by the very talented photographer and designer Mike Weinhandl, to see more of his photos check out his instagram account @weinhandlm. All the other photos are my own, for more of them or to see my videos, check out my website www.fallinggracefully.com
