It is now the end of the school holiday season! This time we had a 7-day trip to Thailand, visiting Bangkok and Cha Am Beach. I booked our flights with Air Asia and even though 3.5 hour flights seemed so long without personal TVs, we all survived. ;)
We had an early morning flight to Don Mueang Airport (DMK) in Bangkok, and we landed at 10:30 am. DH and I have been to Bangkok before, but we took Tiger Air which landed at the newer airport. We had planned to buy the Tourist SIM card at the airport when we arrived but this plan evaporated into thin air when we realized that this airport was much smaller, older, and did not have any of the cell phone provider selling sim cards. There were a couple of convenience stores there who offered them at a much higher price, and I was not willing to pay that kind of price.
We took a taxi from the airport to the Park Plaza Hotel Soi 18, which we booked with points, by the way. (Score!) And after check in, we went on a hunt for lunch and our tourist SIM card. We went to the North East Restaurant on Sukhumvit that was recommended by our friend. When we entered the restaurant, something smelled funky in the air..... but it looked decent and clean, so we took a table. We ordered fried crab cakes, grilled pork neck, and stir fried mixed vegetables. The food was great! The grilled pork neck was the family favourite.
After lunch, we continued our search for the tourist SIM card and went to Terminal 21 which is a big shopping centre and there were supposed to be several cell phone provider stores. To our disappointment, after a transaction with one of the providers, what we bought was not the tourist sim card that we asked for. They finally said they were out of those, but did not inform us prior to. Geez! Anyway we got our money back and only later on we found out that the tourist SIM cards were only sold at either the airport or the convenience stores like 7 Eleven. And all those time we wasted! Luckily not too far away from Terminal 21 there was a 7 Eleven in the Exchange Tower. All we needed to do was cross the road using the bridge. This is one reason I like Bangkok. Most of the buildings near a BTS (sky train) station are connected by a sky walk. A much safer way to cross.
If you are Indonesian then you probably know that the presidential election just took place last week. I am proud to say that I voted, even though I had to vote outside the country. The voting in Bangkok took place on the same day as our arrival. So after I got my SIM card I headed to the Indonesian Embassy while DH and Miss Kiki went back to the hotel to enjoy the swimming pool.
The Embassy was not too far from the hotel, but it wasn't walking distance. As usual, I consulted Google Maps for my trip. Google Maps said that I can take the bus (14 minute trip), or the BTS (25 minute trip). So I thought I would go with the bus, since it wasn't too far anyway. All alone, I hopped on to one of the number 2 buses. It was so ghetto! It looked like it was made in the 50s or 60s, with wooden floor, no air conditioning, broken stop buttons, and all scratched up interior. There were no signs about how much it would cost, but I assumed it would be cheaper than BTS. At one of the stops a lady got on the bus and sat next to me. I asked if she could speak English and if she knew how much the bus ride cost. Well, she told me that the bus ride is free! So I thought free ride, 14 minutes, can't be that bad....
That was when I experienced the Bangkok traffic jam first hand. The 14 minute trip turned into an hour trip. I was lucky that the bus was empty, so other than the smoke from the outside and the heat, it was not unbearable. I even got to take some pictures from inside the bus.
I was so tired by the end of it, so for dinner we took it easy and went to a nearby Ramen place called
We had an early morning flight to Don Mueang Airport (DMK) in Bangkok, and we landed at 10:30 am. DH and I have been to Bangkok before, but we took Tiger Air which landed at the newer airport. We had planned to buy the Tourist SIM card at the airport when we arrived but this plan evaporated into thin air when we realized that this airport was much smaller, older, and did not have any of the cell phone provider selling sim cards. There were a couple of convenience stores there who offered them at a much higher price, and I was not willing to pay that kind of price.
We took a taxi from the airport to the Park Plaza Hotel Soi 18, which we booked with points, by the way. (Score!) And after check in, we went on a hunt for lunch and our tourist SIM card. We went to the North East Restaurant on Sukhumvit that was recommended by our friend. When we entered the restaurant, something smelled funky in the air..... but it looked decent and clean, so we took a table. We ordered fried crab cakes, grilled pork neck, and stir fried mixed vegetables. The food was great! The grilled pork neck was the family favourite.
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| Fried Crab Cakes |
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| Grilled Pork Neck |
After lunch, we continued our search for the tourist SIM card and went to Terminal 21 which is a big shopping centre and there were supposed to be several cell phone provider stores. To our disappointment, after a transaction with one of the providers, what we bought was not the tourist sim card that we asked for. They finally said they were out of those, but did not inform us prior to. Geez! Anyway we got our money back and only later on we found out that the tourist SIM cards were only sold at either the airport or the convenience stores like 7 Eleven. And all those time we wasted! Luckily not too far away from Terminal 21 there was a 7 Eleven in the Exchange Tower. All we needed to do was cross the road using the bridge. This is one reason I like Bangkok. Most of the buildings near a BTS (sky train) station are connected by a sky walk. A much safer way to cross.
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| In front of the Exchange Tower |
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| Bangkok Traffic |
The Embassy was not too far from the hotel, but it wasn't walking distance. As usual, I consulted Google Maps for my trip. Google Maps said that I can take the bus (14 minute trip), or the BTS (25 minute trip). So I thought I would go with the bus, since it wasn't too far anyway. All alone, I hopped on to one of the number 2 buses. It was so ghetto! It looked like it was made in the 50s or 60s, with wooden floor, no air conditioning, broken stop buttons, and all scratched up interior. There were no signs about how much it would cost, but I assumed it would be cheaper than BTS. At one of the stops a lady got on the bus and sat next to me. I asked if she could speak English and if she knew how much the bus ride cost. Well, she told me that the bus ride is free! So I thought free ride, 14 minutes, can't be that bad....
That was when I experienced the Bangkok traffic jam first hand. The 14 minute trip turned into an hour trip. I was lucky that the bus was empty, so other than the smoke from the outside and the heat, it was not unbearable. I even got to take some pictures from inside the bus.
I got off at the Platinum bus stop and walked to the Embassy about a block away. Then it started raining. I think this is the very first time I ever made such effort to vote. This election is very important though. This could be a turning point for a much better Indonesia. So here's proof!
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| Proud voter! |
Tonkotsu Kazan Ramen (豚骨火山らーめん). I would say Ikkudo Ichi is still my favourite.
And here are some pictures from Terminal 21
Note: I did not take my Nikon D50 on this trip so most of the pictures are taken by DH with his Olympus. I have to admit, processing someone else's photos are not nearly as much fun! :P
Stay tuned for Part 2!
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