Thailand Dairy - Day 1: Pune to Bangkok
Finally the D day had arrived. All the planning and hard work of past 3 months was about to get paid off. I was feeling a bit edgy and super happy at the same moment.
We had a early morning flight hence the plan was to hit the sack as early as possible. But the final packing, checking the checklist, clearing the trash, ensuring every minute detail was taken care of all these took much time and we ended up going to bed at 10:30 PM.
Our flight was at 6:05AM. It takes nearly 45 minutes to reach the airport from our home. So ideally leaving home by 4:00 AM was the thing to do. But when I had earlier contacted Indigo Customer Care just to be sure about the Check In time I was informed that I need to check in at the airport at least 2 hours before the flight time, which is the usual norm for an international flight. But the Pune-Kolkata leg was a domestic flight so I expressed my surprise over the 2 hour thing. The customer care executive seemed totally unsure and finally ‘recommended’ me to be there 2 hours before just to be sure! So now we needed to leave home by 3 AM. Hence the alarm was set at 2:15 AM. Which practically meant that we were just going to bed just as a ritual. But I was not complaining at all. My heart was racing all around the place and I simply wished the 3.5 hours to zoom past so that we can embark on our holiday!
We had so many options of transportation to choose from – Ola, Uber, local auto etc. But we decided to stick to good old Wings radio cab. Though they charged more but their service was bang on time. I had a disastrous early morning booking experience with Ola hence I didn’t want to repeat the fiasco.
The cab arrived before time and within minutes we were into the cab. It was pitch dark outside and there was hardly any soul on the roads apart from a few cars zooming by. We engaged in a friendly banter with the cab driver. When he knew that we were from Kolkata, he expressed his long standing of desire of visiting the shakti peeths of Bengal. We talked about Dakshineshwar, Goddess Kali and all kinds of spiritual things. It actually felt good. The day had started off well.
Traffic less Pune roads are like a dream come true. You feel like you have gone a century back when there were no gas guzzlers on the streets. It was pure bliss cruising through the empty roads. We reached airport by 3:40 AM. There were hardly a few cars in the departure area. And in the departure lounge there were even few people. Most of the people were dozing off in their chairs. The baggage screening belts were non-operational and not a single ground staff of any airlines was seen anywhere. This confirmed my doubt that we didn’t need to come 2 hours before departure to airport for a domestic flight. But we could do nothing except sit and wait. After playing candy crush, sugar crush, criminal case, for umpteen times and checking and rechecking whatsapp for the possibility of any night owl sending cool midnight messages I could still manage to pass only about 50 minutes. When I was just about deliberating the fact whether I too should seek a corner chair and doze off I saw a gaggle of yellow blue uniformed air hostesses making their way in. The jet airways crew was in. Everyone stirred in their chairs. Soon the jet screening belts whirred to life and passengers started queuing up. I was wondering where were these damn Indigo folks? After like 15 more minutes later which seemed like an eon, we finally saw the Blue uniformed ladies. As soon as the Indigo ground staff was spotted a long queue formed behind the Indigo baggage screening belt. No it was still non-operational but we Indians can never give up the temptation of reaching first everywhere. Finally the belt was started and we got our bags screened.
Suvarnabhumi Airport |
Suvarnabhumi Airport |
The security check was quick enough and then we went to the first floor to wait in the departure lounge. Though 5:30 AM was not a time to feel hungry, but since we were awake from 2 AM our body was already sending hunger signals. We got some sandwiches just to stall the hunger pang. We thought that we will have proper brunch at Kolkata airport. While we were waiting in the lounge we heard faint kitten calls. First I thought it was just my imagination. How could possibly a cat be anywhere near first floor departure area. For a while I didn’t hear anything else. Then I actually saw something. A mama cat with her little kitten going around the lounge! I was astonished beyond words. All the small kids in the waiting area gathered around the small kitten who seemed people friendly. I deliberated for sometime if I too join the kids in cuddling the kitten will the other passengers think I’m nuts? Should I behave in a more sophisticated manner as expected by a woman of my age? Then I thought what the hell? I am a cat lover and there right in front of my eyes was a tiny little kitty, does anything else matter? So I got up and went after the kitten. After sometime got hold of it and brought it to my chair. The other passengers seemed amused at my antics but I couldn’t bother less. I played with them for long till our flight departure was announced.
Kitties @ Pune Airport |
Suvarnabhumi Airport |
We had already given up hopes on eating anything. But I was in dire need to use the washroom. So I decided to make a quick visit to the washroom. Guess what again, the nearest washroom was near the intersection of the domestic and international areas. This was seriously getting unrealistic. As if the whole gamut of airport and ground staffs had pledged to make our lives miserable in each and every imaginable way. It took me nearly 10 minutes just to go and come back. The line had moved quite a bit by then thankfully.
Clearing the Immigration was possibly the easiest thing we had done in the whole day. After the immigration we had to just reach our mentioned gates. We were feeling quite hungry by then. But we couldn’t see any food courts nearby and we thought we will have brunch on flight with whatever they had t offer. Though strangely we saw a lot of passengers moving towards the gates with packed Thali lunches. We wondered why. Food would definitely be available on flight, though it might be a bit pricy, but was it really necessary to pack a thali for the flight? Little did we know the surprise that lay ahead of us.
Suvarnabhumi Airport |
But the problem was we were terribly hungry. And after seeing the unaffordable prices our stomachs started growling even more. I had a lot of INR cash on me but we had limited USD and Thai Bhat and that too in bigger denominations. I asked the air hostess if we can pay in INR equivalent of USD but she straightaway said a No. Only Thai Bhat or USD we were informed. It was a difficult decision to break the $100 currency note into lesser denominations just for buying a box of cookies but we did it finally. The loose change we got back is not usable as no one would convert less than $10. The lessons and experiences seemed piling up throughout the day.
Bangkok Sky View |
First glimses of Bangkok City from the flight |
It nearly took us 2 hours 30 minutes to reach Bangkok from Kolkata. When we were nearing Bangkok the clouds that had blocked our view so far slowly faded away. The first glimpse of Bangkok seemed like a maze of canals and farming lands. But the demarcation was very linear, very uniform. It almost seemed like someone had marked the entire land with a ruler. We could see temple like structures and some high rises interspersed between the landscapes. We could also spot the Chao Phraya River looking like a giant silver serpent. The airhostess announced the local time before landing at the Suvarnabhumi airport and we adjusted our watches accordingly. Thailand is 1.5 hrs ahead of IST. We were given the arrival and departure forms which we had to fill in before landing.
The temperature was quite balmy at 38 degree centigrade. We were informed that first we need to visa on arrival, clear the immigration and then collect our baggage from conveyor belt 19. The excitement came back to me and made me forget all the sour experiences we had till then.
Aarival Departure lounge - Photo Courtsey Internet |
Beautiful Artwork on the walls @ Suvarnabhumi Airport |
Suvarnabhi Airport - Photo Courtsey Internet |
After we got our bags we remembered we were still very much hungry. It would be quite late by the time we would reach our hotel so we had to eat something before that. We came out of the baggage reclaim area and spotted some food stalls.
The first food stall had some tiny sandwiches lined up in the freezer. We asked the lady at the counter did they have any chicken sandwiches to which she gave a confused look. After asking for two three times she said , “no English” and called another lady from inside. The later informed us chicken was sold out, only ones in pork and ham was left. So we moved to the next one. It was a pastry shop and we were looking for some real food so we skipped that too. The next one was a bit far away. Some of the items written on the board in front of the shop caught our attention. Thai red curry fish and rice we decided. I happily asked the burly women at the counter can we have two of that to which she gave a really nasty look, turned her back on us immediately and started talking with another lady sitting inside the shop. Wow is this the kind of hospitality we were going to experience in Thailand? Why everyone seemed so irritated and angry we pondered.
Whatever our hunger problem still remained sorted. We thought to walk down the corridor maybe we will spot something. But our energy and patience was also draining fast now that we were also dragging along our big baggage. Like a god-sent visual we saw the icon of food court a few yards away. It indicated to the floor above. Thankfully we found the escalator too quickly and just as we went up we saw what our sour eyes were waiting for – lines of proper restaurant in Thai, Japanese, Italian etc.
We went us to one Thai restaurant which had the least walking distance. The menu had real food but the prices were a bomb. We selected the ones costing the least – prawn fried rice with egg on top and chicken kung pao and rice. While we waited for our food to arrive a Thai lady in a skimpy yellow suite came walking from the adjacent restaurant and asked us “Do you want beer?” We were a bit surprised that how can someone from another restaurant advertise their beverage in a different restaurant and what made her choose us? Maybe because we were sitting just at the entrance and rest all were ladies in this restaurant. We politely declined her offer and she went away.
Prawn Fried Rice @ Suvarnabhumi Food Court |
Chicken Kung Pao with Rice @ Suvarnabhumi Food Court |
Photo courtsey Internet |
Rail Map |
Ratchaprarop Station |
Train crossing on the road |
Citin Pratunam |
We asked for rooms in the new building at a higher floor as suggested by all tripadvisor guests. Higher floor room would ensure the street noise didnt reach up to the room. Though they provided room in the new building but they could only provide a room with twin bed. We wanted to rest quickly so we agreed to the room. I had read the hotel required the guest to deposit 1000 THB during check in as security amount which is refunded on check out. But we didnt have that much THB with us, only dollars. We told the same to the reception person. He told then we should deposit $50. $50 is obviously more than 1000 THB, plus keeping that money with the hotel meant it cannot be utilised for any shopping either. We were not happy with this policy. They could have kept the charge lower so that tourists are not required to block the big amount. Anyway we paid in dollars and after that we were given the room. They also provided the wifi details with the room keys.
The new building is just a short walk from the main building. Also there is a seven eleven bang opposite to the new building, so in case you need anything even at odd hours you can go to this shop. The Spa of Citin Pratunam is also located in the new building, so if you are planning to frequent the spa often then staying in the new building is a good idea.
Soon we reached our rooms. The rooms were not much to talk of but still pretty decent at the price offered. Neat and clean rooms with fairly sized beds, TV, in room safe, fridge and payable snacks and drinks.
We decided to freshen up and take a quick nap before we venture out to experience Bangkok by the night.
1 comments
I'm loving that strange looking warrior's statue at the airport.
ReplyDeletemeet and greet at luton