Day 44
For our last morning in Shenzhen, Leo and his family treated me to a delicious dim sum breakfast at a local restaurant. After everyone in the group had a chance to wake up and pack, we met at the ferry terminal for departure. We said goodbye to our wonderful hosts, with great hopes to visit again soon, and boarded the ferry back to Hong Kong Airport, where we flew down to Bangkok. Our flight ended up delayed several hours, so we were lucky to not have a performance that night! By the time we arrived, it was dark out and we were all ready for bed. Our hosts at The Sukosol sent a couple of vans to pick us up and bring us to the hotel. The Sukosol is an absolutely stunning 5-star resort, and after checking in, we were all beyond thrilled with the comfortable accommodations that awaited us.
Day 45
I think by this point, all of the Dins were enjoying living life in luxury. We slept in but woke up in time to enjoy the Sukosol’s delicious breakfast. It was without a doubt the most incredible, diverse, and gourmet buffet breakfast many of us had ever seen - another huge perk of staying here. We then made the trip out to Pinky Tailor to fulfill the age-old Din tradition of getting custom made suits there. We were worried about having enough time to do so, given that we had just 2 full days to spare in Thailand, but we talked with the store on the phone and they insisted they were happy to make the suits overnight for us. So a strong contingent of us came in, chose fabrics and materials outside and in, and stood for fitting. Some Dins made a point to not let the others see their materials, so that it would be a surprise for a “fashion show” that we wanted to hold at a later stop. Obviously, we all look like runway models, so this was a fitting way to display our brand new fine attire. We left the tailors to their…tailoring, and took the subway back to the hotel, where everyone enjoyed some much-deserved free time. Myself, Sean and Kavi chose to spend the rest of our afternoon at the luxurious rooftop pool, where we ordered drinks and food and relaxed to the extreme - that is, until it started raining, as is apt to happen on these kinds of tours. Anyway, it was just about time for rehearsal, so we didn’t mine too much. That night, the Sukosol provided a delicious dinner for us, and we then sang a sold-out performance, of course staying behind to sign merchandise and mingle afterwards. To cap off an excellent day, we took a trip to one of Bangkok’s night markets - no one ended up buying all that much, but we had fun exploring the area. Eventually, we landed at what was meant to be an Irish pub - the only natural thing to do in Thailand - and hung out over drinks before returning to a wonderfully comfortable night of sleep.
Day 46
Our mornings were all spent differently. After another amazing breakfast, I went out to explore the Royal Palace, which was absolutely stunning. I met up with most of the rest of the group via taxi at our lunch spot - a Michelin-star Thai restaurant. Needless to say, it was one of the most jaw-droopingly good meals we had all of tour. Even better, they were trained carefully with regards to allergies, and consistently brought me delicious substitutes when I couldn’t eat the main dish being served. We regrouped at the hotel, barely in the nick of time due to traffic, where we realized this was the last time we would see our host contacts, with a morning flight the next day. Thus, we said our goodbyes and took some pictures (plus received some awesome purple elephant branded stuffed animals). We then headed to The Siam, another absolutely beautiful and luxurious hotel. We received another great dinner before performing, this time in a more intimate environment. We considered another night out exploring the city, but with the group tired, settled instead to enjoy some drinks at the beautiful bar back at The Sukosol. They had a number of special drinks, which were all absolutely delicious, so we had a pleasant evening of chatter while I sorted out rooming assignments for the next stop (the work of a TM quite literally never ends). We enjoyed our last night at the beautiful Sukosol - we can’t wait to come back in 2026!
