Thursday, August 24, 2006
Everywhere's yellow shirt in Bangkok. From the immigration officer to cab driver. So it's the King's birthday! On reaching Bangkok 3 days ago (Monday 21 Aug), I walked to Don Muang railway station, wanted to catch a train to Hualamphong station which is near Twin Towers Hotel where I'll be staying. I thought the train would approach in an hour's time at 7.25pm, without realising I would have to wait for 2 hours in reality due to time difference! I totally forgot Thailand is 1 hour behind Singapore time. And there I was reading my book away.
Without any further waiting, I walked to Terminal 1 of Bangkok International Airport and hopped onto Airport Bus A2, which took me to Urupong. From there, I boarded a taxi with an unknown driver to Twin Towers Hotel, who almost wanted to alight me at a rundown building telling me it was Twin Towers Hotel. I insisted on "NO IT"S NOT!" and he finally asked for direction, not reaching the hotel until almost an hour later. When I alighted, he asked for 'tips.' But I said 'no tips!' I won't give tips to someone who is incompetent and out to drop me somewhere other than my intended destination.
I was being awarded a complimentary upgrade to Superior Floor where the rooms are much bigger on the 12th floor (no. 1252). Soon after putting down my luggage, I took a cab to Erawan Shrine or Four-faced Buddha before stepping off at Sala Daeng BTS Station which is a short walk to the bustling shopping bazaar of Patpong. The hordes of tourists or farangs made my head spin into action, not wanting to stop and keep a look-out on what’s on bargain.
The next day after a hearty American breakfast, I crawled onto the bed and dozed off, waking up only after midday for a visit to Wat Pho, the Reclining Buddha near Grand Palace for a marvel at the intricately-sculptured golden Buddha statue. More than 30 steel pots lined the length of the Reclining Buddha, where I dropped coins into each and every of the steel pots praying for the longevity of my family. A tour of the entire temple took almost 2 hours.
I crossed the busy road of Bangkok (all of a sudden feeling life is so precarious) and paused at Tha Tien pier for pork noodles and a bottle of soya bean milk for lunch before hopping onto the ferry for a ride to Tha Sathorn. As I was uncertain if that particular boat goes to Tha Sathorn, I asked a man who turned out to be a fellow Singaporean on his ‘loner’ trip as well. From my accent, he asked if I am a Singaporean or a Malaysian. He kept telling me all the temples he had been, when at that time I wanted to enjoy the sights and surrounds. Without choice, I acted as if I was listening when in actual fact, I’m not. When he asked where I was heading to, he replied saying “I’m also going to Mahboonkrong (MBK).”
Soon after disembarking at Tha Sathorn, he wanted to smoke a cigarette and I made my way to Taksin BTS Station for a ride to National Stadium where MBK is located. I bought two boxes of Daily Focus’ daily disposable contact lenses for 900baht, initially thought I was conned until sis told me it is cheaper than what I will have to pay in Singapore.
I took a cab home, showing my hotel card to the cab driver. I asked the driver to switch on the meter, but he said "100baht." I snatched back my hotel card and said "NO! Switch on the meter" with my finger pointing at the meterboard. He replied "Ok, ok say open meter." I am not a fool to pay 100baht for a 5-minute ride to the hotel. It will be much expensive than Singapore.
On the third day which is the last day of my presence in Bangkok, I woke up early at 7.30am for breakfast before making my way to the airport. Soon the monsoon season will make its way to Thailand as the first rain or so was received on my way to the airport. I reached the airport in good time for check-in at 9.35am. Check-in was a nightmare. My queue was so slow-moving and I switched to the other line. And worse, that line doesn’t move a single inch because a group of idiotic Chinese nationals hogged the counter for a great deal of time!
Everywhere’s queuing and waiting. The Jetstar flight that I was on was 5th or 6th in the queue before airborne.
On landing at Singapore at 2.50pm, I wanted to queue for bus no. 24, without knowing I got into the wrong queue for bus no. 854 instead. There goes my bus and a fat guy behind was blocking my movement as I tried to run to the bus.
I reached home at 4pm. Totally drained out of energy, but forced myself to SA Tours to settle payment for my tour to New Zealand next Friday. Sis then treated me to Ajisen for dinner at Funan, before hitching a ride on roy’s van home.
This concludes my solo trip. To phrase it badly, my loner trip. But come to think of it, I really do enjoy the trip as much as going with a companion. When will I have such opportunity again? But I realised my skills at map reading was so lousy. Initially I planned to walk to the nearest train station from my hotel - National Stadium, but couldn't find my way out from the map I was holding onto. In the end I aborted the idea and flagged down a cab instead.
|Melvin Ng| 5:46 pm|
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