As hoped for, it did turn out to be a fun-filled weekend. We started off on Friday night with dinner at Sphinx (one of my favorites). There were 8 of us, but I was the only one who knew everyone. I figured everyone would get along, though, and they did. The only downside to the night was that one person in our party ended up having a bit of a medical emergency involving alergic reactions, calls to the nearby Bangkok Christian Hospital and my first ride in a Bangkok ambulance! I won't name any names (to protect the innocent) but it was quite a scary, yet surreal experience to watch my friend get rolled down busy Silom Soi 4 on a Friday night on a hospital stretcher.
Luckily, after a night at the hospital and lots of medication, my friend recovered and was ready to go out and party again on Saturday night. So 7 of us met at MBK for dinner at Kanom Jin (another favorite), then watched Spiderman at the MBK VIP theatre (US$5 for big comfy lazy-boy chairs) and then it was back to Silom for some nightlife.
Sunday morning started early (well, relatively early for a Sunday morning) with the new breakfast menu at the now-open-24-hours-a-day Coffee Society. (Anyone else noticing I spend a lot of time on Silom when I have guests in town?)
Then, to finish off the excitement, Piyawat and I rode the brand new rot fai dtai din (underground train). We took it from Silom to Jutujuk Park. Since it was the first day (and a Sunday) the trains were jammed packed full of curious Thai people.
My thoughts on the new subway? It's quite impressive. It reminds me a bit of the MRT in Singapore. The stations are clean and roomy and the cars are exactly the same as the Skytrain. In fact, when you are inside the car, it looks and feels exactly like you are riding the Skytrain, except that there is nothing to look at outside the windows. For that reason alone, I like the Skytrain better. The subway (although it is clean and quiet and effeicient) is kind of boring because there is nothing to look at.
Not to mention the subway doesn't really go anywhere interesting that the Skytrain doesn't go, other than the Hualompong train station. Some friends have mentioned and recommended the IT Plaza on Ratchadapisek, so maybe I can check it out sometime.