That question still lingered few days prior to departing for Bangkok. Is this the right time to go to Bangkok? The explosion around Erawan in Bangkok is still not completely resolved, the falling ringgit, and also the depleting pocket. But I have bought the flight ticket long before all these happened so I have to brace it and ride that plane.
It was the worst time as far as the ringgit performance against Thai baht is concerned. If it was RM11.27 for 100 baht back in July when I first check the currency exchange, by the time I did the actual exchange, it was at RM12.04. Really unlucky but I still have to carry on with it.
Obviously we didn't bring much baht even though the concept of travel this time is urban shopping. We have to think about that exchange rate still. Hmmm and the flight has been delayed for few hours as well.
Luckily, MALINDO Air sell food on board nowadays, and we like that idea so much.
Finally, all doubt about our decision have been cast aside when we saw the vast paddy field beneath us.
No wonder Thailand is exporting rice and Thai rice is always better than ours. They seem to make use for every inch of the land.
We safely landed at DongMuang airport, the designated airport for Malindo airline. We have a good impression after taking Toyota Altis taxi from the airport to our hotel. Taxi is clean, the driver is nice and friendly, and most of all he used the meter. It only cost us 300 baht for the taxi ride but since we used the highway (they call it tollway), the toll charges is on us too. All in we paid about 375 baht. My study of the route showed the taxi cost to be around 400 baht so I am not far off this time.
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| Toll slip. |
After we unpack our bags, we hop on to the BTS or skytrain, the name they give to train service running on top of Sukhumvit Rd, which I suppose the main road in Bangkok. Going back to the theme of our visit, which is leisure, I had planned our trip to include river cruise with dinner on board. I made a book in advance and when I call the personal from the cruise company, they have our names in record and we have been advised to be at the right jetty latest at 5:15pm.
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| BTS Nana station |
The print out information that we brought from home indicates that we have to ride the boat at Si Phaya Expressboat pier no 3 near Royal Orchid Sheraton. We ride the BTS from Nana station with interchange at Siam station and head to Saphan Taksin station. As we look for pier no 3, we walked northbound for about one kilometre without realising that we are suppose to take a pick up boat at the Taksin Bridge pier just in front of the Saphan Taksin station.
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| Exit from Saphan Taksin station. |
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| Taksin Bridge pier. |
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| Taksin Bridge crossing Chao Phraya river. |
We knew we will not be able to catch that 5:15pm timeline so we decided to let go off the cruise this time. Tired after that walk, we stop by a spa and get a good 30 minutes feet massage that cost us 150 baht. You can do the conversion and see how cheap they are.
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| The unplanned massage. |
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| This look like a school. |
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| Some makeshift canopy for stall. |
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| Bangkok is generally clean. |
In the midst of that great walk, we encountered a mosque.
Along the Sukhumvit Rd, there are plenty of shopping malls. Bangkok is always associated with modern malls so it is no surprise to see so many malls but the Siam Paragon is one of high end malls.
It is located at Siam station where the interchange is.
Looking for halal foods in Bangkok is generally easy since there is a big Muslim community in Bangkok as well as Thailand.
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