Post #117 - February 5, 2013 - Bangkok, Thailand

What we did: flight to Bangkok, MBK mall
Budget: 3000B/$100; Spent: 2532B/$85

This morning we woke up with a purpose: we were leaving India!! As sad as it sounds, I was practically giddy at the thought of getting the hell out of that country. We have certainly had mixed experiences in India, with some very important highlights, but it was time to go. Both of us felt this way, though I think my desire to get on a plane was greater than Patty’s.

We were packed and out the door approximately on schedule. We had no problems getting a taxi and soon enough we were at the airport. The drive took a little longer than we thought it would, but we still had plenty of time. We’re learning!

We checked in and waited about an hour for our flight to board. Unfortunately, the international section of the airport in Kolkata is extremely small and there were few food options. This was disappointing since we had counted on eating breakfast at the airport! Thankfully, it didn’t take long for the flight to serve the food we had ordered online at the time we booked our flight. The food was actually pretty tasty and filled us up quite nicely.

Air Asia is pretty comfortable if you’re willing to pay for everything. For instance, we paid about $8 total for both our meals, which, in the grand scheme of things, is nothing, especially if you consider how cheap our flight was. The two coffees we bought, however, for $2.50 each, were not so reasonably priced…and I’m talking instant coffee, here, not the good stuff. But, we were able to use some of the Indian rupees we still had kicking around in our pockets, so we thought we might as well.

Our flight was only about 2 hours. I slept most of the time, while Patty worked a little on the blog.

Arriving in Bangkok was literally like coming home. We arrived at the smaller Don Mueang airport that we had arrived at from Vietnam, which is unfortunately not connected to public transit other than buses. But, since we’d done this before, it didn’t feel daunting at all. We quickly asked at the tourist counter for the bus number we should take to the nearest skytrain stop and were on the bus in no time. Thankfully, everything in Thailand is air-conditioned, including our bus.

What a difference between India and Thailand. The streets are clean, the buses are clean, things make sense, there are always helpful people around…oh man, arriving somewhere never felt so good. And what a city to “come home to” after India. When the bus dropped us off, we got slightly lost and entered the subway system instead of going to the skytrain, but we quickly realized our mistake, and in no time we were riding the skytrain to the centre of town.

The skytrain in Bangkok is one of the most pleasant experiences we’ve had on public transit on our entire trip. Everything is clean, efficient, and easy to use. Not to mention the experience of the ride itself. The skytrain runs along some of the busiest streets in the city and the view along the train is unbelievable. Ever wondered what a massive city looks like from four stories high? Bangkok can show you.

We had to switch lines once, then take the train to the next stop. The ride was short and easy. Turns out our hotel is located about two minutes from the skytrain stop called “National Stadium”. More importantly, however, our hotel is located about a two minute walk from MBK and Siam Square, which are two of the biggest malls in all of Bangkok. It was these malls we had come to on our initial one-night stay in Bangkok before heading to India. Nothing like a good location for a hotel!

And then, as if things couldn’t get any better, it turns out we have free internet at our hotel because we booked through Agoda! It’s always such a pleasant surprise to receive things for free..., although “free” isn’t the right word to use; we’re actually just getting a lower rate for unlimited internet access because we paid slightly more over Agoda than the walk-up fee for the hotel, which doesn’t include free internet access. We were also presently surprised by our accommodations. It is recommended by Lonely Planet but has some pretty negative reviews on Trip Advisor. We could understand why people might have a negative opinion of the rooms, which are quite cramped and have the tiniest washroom we’ve had so far on the trip. But this is where it matters: it was clean, the beds are comfy, the bathroom works (even if it is slightly uncomfortable), there’s AC, cable TV, useful furniture, and enough space for all our things. I think another blessing India has bestowed upon us is some PERSPECTIVE. We know now how bad things can get and we know what we need. This room is PERFECT for us. We are very happy! Whoever had written the negative comments on Trip Advisor had clearly never been to India before.

Anyway, none of that really matters…because what truly matters is that we are in Bangkok and can’t wait to have our first pad thai! And for this, we knew exactly where to go: MBK mall, where we had had an excellent pad thai our first time in Bangkok!

We rushed to MBK mall, starving, and made our way to the food court. We actually found our way there no problem, even though the mall is gigantic, but learned that it was close to closing time and they were out of pad thai! This hurt our souls. We felt like India was reaching out from beyond the grave to curse our stomachs once again! So, we ended up getting some decent fried rice. There’s always tomorrow.

On our way home, we saw again all the little street shops that pop up in the evenings. There’s a really fantastic vibe this city has; it’s so alive and vibrant, not to mention clean and, well, not India!! It’s a wonderful big city, that is so very inviting. Or maybe I’m just so excited to be out of India my perspective is wildly skewed. I guess we’ll never know.

We were still hungry and stopped at a restaurant close to our hotel to grab a snack. Patty ordered some sort of papaya salad, which was very odd: it was super spicy (like, Patty-could-barely-eat-it spicy) and it came with wonton-like chips. It was actually delicious. Bangkok is a little pricey though, especially compared to India, so that’s something we’ll have to get used to.

When we got back to our hotel, we stayed in the lobby where there is a small internet café with tables. It’s actually quite nice. We worked on the blog for a couple hours and ordered two very cold beers because it is hot even at night! We worked on the blog until about 2am…we have so much catching up to do!!