The
Shangri-La
The
Shangri-La hotel lobby has floor-to-ceiling windows
that overlook the Chaopraya River. The traffic on
the river includes tourist boats (constructed after
historical models and made of dark wood crafted
with flowing curves and ornamentation) work-boats
carrying goods and cargo, passenger ferries and
taxi boats.
There
are three riverside restaurants in the Shangri-La:
a traditional Thai restaurant, an upscale Italian
restaurant, and a sort of fusion restaurant, called
Next 2 Cafe and Restaurant. The Next 2 Cafe is closest
to the river and has an outdoor sitting area along
with a lunch time buffet. We ate at Next 2.
The
lunchtime buffet at Next 2 is relatively expensive,
about 800 baht per person. There are all the normal
buffet items: prime rib, seafood, sushi, and an
extensive dessert section. Buffets are good because
people with different dietary wants and needs can
always find something that agrees with them. Also,
you can hang around talking, eating, or reading
without feeling pressured to leave.
The trick to eating buffets is to go slowly. You
have to concentrate on the balance of food rather
than the mere quantity of food. You eat small plates,
and the first few plates should be samplers to determine
what's good. You can bring a book to read or a friend
to bide the time as you munch away.
At
Next 2, you can eat outside and look out over the
Chaopraya River. It's a glimpse into the past when
the Chaopraya was in its glory. You can see the
symphony of boat traffic. Some boats only go across
the river to the other bank, and are flat and square.
There are the ferryboats that carry up to 200 passengers
and look modern and sleeker than the other crafts.
There are small tugboats pushing huge tracts of
logs upriver. There are the hotel boats that are
made out of traditional wooden rice barges of smoky-colored
wood. They are like floating works of art. There
are longtail boats that act as taxis in Thailand.
Longtails are powered by automobile engines with
a propeller extended on a long metal pole that can
be shifted and turned in the water to steer. Noisy
and painted in bold colorful designs, longtail boats
are the motorcycles of the river community.
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