First, we flew from Seoul to Bangkok and that went smoothly. The South African and I had to pick up our train tickets from the cargo terminal in the Bangkok airport, so all we had to do is take "shuttle A" from the passenger terminal to the cargo terminal. We were going to spend one night in Bangkok and the following day, then we had plans to go down to some islands and beaches in southern Thailand, so we wanted to experience the passenger train. I bought the tickets ahead of time on the internet. Because I booked late, there was no train ride from Bangkok to Phuket (and because it was New Year's Eve) so that wasn't available. But the return was available, so we decided to book a flight from Bangkok to Phuket and keep the train ride from Phuket back to Bangkok. So when we got to the desk to get our tickets, they weren't there. Typical. I had a very stern voice and simply said, "here is my e-receipt, it says confirmed booking and tickets issued, the money has been taken from my account, I want my tickets." They were nice enough to call the number on my e-receipt, so I talked to this woman that I have talked to before. I had to buy Skype credits and call Thailand because we were almost ready to leave the country and our train tickets weren't booked yet. So I was frustrated emailing back and forth, so I called this number via Skype. I talked to her and she told me to wait at the terminal and the tickets would be there in 50 minutes. I thought was impossible. Why would they be there in 50 minutes but not be there when they were supposed to be? When reserving the tickets, I had to include my flight number, the airlines I was flying and the time our plane landed. There is no reason the tickets weren't there. So we waited and in about 45 minutes, the woman at the desk came running to the front with our tickets. It was a miracle. I thought we would have had to pick them up the next day or just not get them. So everything worked out well.
Then, we were on our way to the hotel. We booked a Marriott because a friend of mine from college works there and she has a friend and family rate. I have used it before in the States when going to weddings in Eden Prairie and Rochester, so I knew all would be good. But when we arrived to the hotel, the manager said that this hotel didn't qualify for that discount. We were bummed, but after the hoopla at the airport and long day of traveling, we weren't going to put up a fuss. We were originally going to pay $35 each, but it doubled. It was supposed to be more, but the manager felt bad, so he didn't pay us the full price.
The next day we had to out of the hotel and carry our bags with us the whole day, so we wanted to do a bus tour of the city. They didn't really offer that, but they did have a boat ride where you could go on the river, visit a temple and boat through the canals. We decided on that one. It was a great choice because we could set our bags down and rest a while.
We went to the Wat Arun - Temple of the Dawn - which was awesome. You could climb the steep steps that led to the top. I saw the beautiful panoramic view of the Bangkok skyline. It was very difficult climbing with my heavy hiking pack. I made it anyway. After spending some time there, we continued with our tour guide and cruised through the canals. It was such a different feel seeing all those houses with their foundations just inches from the water. Even the big wooden power lines poles were led right down to the bottom of the water. It was crazy. I would imagine that that was what Venice is like, but Bangkok wasn't as "European" if you know what I mean.
After the long tour, we had to make our way back to the airport to catch our flight to Phuket. We heard from many people that there wasn't much to do in Bangkok, so the south African and I wanted to go to other beaches and islands. We had plans to be in Phuket for a few days, take a ferry to Koh Phi Phi for a few days, and catch the train in Surat Thani back to Bangkok. then we would have another full afternoon before we had to catch our flight from Bangkok back to Seoul. Lots of traveling, but all worth it. We took ever mode of transportation possible: plane, train, taxi, long boat, sky train, tuk tuk, ferry, city bus, coach bus, subway. It was a great adventure.
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1 comment:
First Comment!
Hey Andrew! This is from Ger from cohort.
Hope you have a good time there!
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