Ben and his wife Kym are friends from our Brunei days, and they still live there. In fact, all but two out of the about 45 guests at the birthday party had flown in from all over to take part in these celebrations! So cool!
We took off Thursday morning after having dropped the kids at school on the way to the airport. Met up on the flight with another couple from here, Rob & Devon, who were also friends of Kym & Ben. Of course we had to take the obligatory "We are on our way!"-photo for the party chat! Never too early for champagne!
Nearly everyone was staying in the same hotel, the Sofitel Sukhumvit. Perfectly located, and very flash. Nathan had been in charge of getting us a room, so of course we ended up with our own suite!
Bangkok is three hours ahead, so once we had landed and made our way to the hotel it was already time for dinner. We met the others at 'Cabbages and Condoms', a classic Bangkok restaurant. A bit of a hidden gem where we sat in the outdoor garden. A great first night with some pad thai, beer and cool white wine.
Once we had had dinner we went back to our hotel and met up with Will and Tash in the hotel bar, as they had landed a few hours after us and hadn't come to dinner. The boys were so happy to be back together! Naaaw!
Since it was Valentines Day, I was lucky to get a pretty red rose:
Neither Nathan nor I felt the need to go out the next day, or do sightseeing. We've done Bangkok before. Instead we spent the Friday, after having had breakfast, back in our suite for once just enjoying the nice hotel room! We stayed in and ordered room service for lunch, and went back to bed to charge up for the main celebrations later that evening.
Before it was time for the party, I joined my girls Tash & Pip and went and had our hair done - 30 AED for a wash and blow-dry! Bargain!
The boys prepped for the birthday party in a different way:
We started the evening with free drinks at the Club Lounge, and the hotel had very kindly organised a birthday cake for Ben:
Ben and his Mum:
Ben had invited us all to the 'No Idea Bar', where there was free-flowing drinks and snacks all night. We had the whole upper floor to ourselves.
The girls and I planted ourselves by the back wall, and had a perfect view over the whole venue. We ended up becoming the "fun corner" - everybody came to us, so we didn't have to stand up and mingle! Good for us!
There was another birthday cake, and a few speeches of course:
Oh dear, what could possible go wrong with this... Morris, Nathan and Will, mischief all around!
It was such a great night! So much fun to party with our Brunei crew again, we sure miss them!
We actually did manage to get up for breakfast the next day though, and while the boys went for recovery Margaritas, the girls went for a spot of shopping. Well, I didn't shop, but happily went along to MBK to spend time with Tash and Janis who got themselves a few new bags and wallets.
Saturday night was going to be our last night, although not even, as we had to leave for the airport just before midnight. We still had time to join in the Club Lounge drinks of course!
These girls, it was so good to see them again!
After the Club Lounge, the others went to a Cuban bar, but we opted for some Mexican food just the two of us, close to the hotel so it would be easy to get back, get changed, pack up and get going.
Flight left after 2 am, but of course - it's never too late for champagne..!! Ha ha!
Cheers and Happy 50th Ben! Thank you so much for a fantastic weekend!
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