Chiang Mai to Bangkok to Delhi in a day

Empress Premier hotel lobby

The next morning, my guide from the day before who doubles as a Grab driver, picked me up at my hotel and I said goodbye to the wonderful Empress Premier Hotel. He zipped me to the airport and promised to keep in touch. I tried to pay him 200 baht (the ride to the hotel was 150 plus I gave a 50 tip) but he refused saying it should only be 100. We were standing at the airport drop off so I explained that it wasn’t much money to me so he reluctant took it. That felt pretty yucky so I later messaged an apology for being rude and explained that it wasn’t much money compared to the excellent service he had given as a guide the day before and it was an extra tip for that, which went well. As I mentioned before, tipping is a little tricky.

My 1000 baht adventure: My flight to Bangkok went smoothly and I tried to take a Grab to the diamond dealer where I was purchase some 5 point (.05 carat) diamonds to set into jewelry. Grab didn’t work but the metered taxi people set me up with a driver and we went for the agreed upon price of 450 baht. We got there and I saw the meter said 329 so this worked out okay for him. I said I was going to be about an hour and if he wanted he could take me back, figuring he would have trouble getting another fare in that time since a number of taxis were just sitting around at the airport waiting for people. He agreed and I was able to leave my bags in his car. Unfortunately, the diamond buying didn’t go as smoothly as I’d hoped. They had the diamonds but 5 points is super small, way smaller than the sample setting I was planning to put it in. The diamond seller said my setting needed closer to 20-25 points, which would be way out of my range.

nice Chinese family in Bangkok

I tried contacting the other two diamond suppliers I had but neither could meet on such short notice. And this was my only day in Bangkok. Aargh! At this point, I sat down outside on the steps next to my driver without the foggiest idea what to do next. I decided to randomly try stores on the street. I found one open about a half block down and they invited me into through the locked door. The man was very nice, an older Chinese man and he called his son to come since he handled the diamonds. While we waited, we chatted about our families and how his father immigrated to Thailand and how my great grandfather immigrated to America. His son arrived and confirmed that I needed a 20-25 point diamond for the setting. At least I had a second confirmation. I also met the older man’s wife and she explained how it was Chinese New Year’s and they would be closed the next few days to honor the ancestors. I really enjoyed meeting them.

cake and orange

I knew I couldn’t tip the son for his estimate but his daughter was playing in the next room so I was able to give her a 50 baht note for New Year’s. It’s never an insult to give money to the kids. The wife reciprocated with a cake and orange for good luck (New Year’s tradition)! I was disappointed that I wasted a whole day with nothing to show, but then I decided it was a good 1000 baht adventure. Once we got to the airport, my taxi driver actually wanted 600 baht for waiting time so technically it was a 1100 baht adventure but that doesn’t sound as good. Once at the airport, I checked the email from my settings supplier and saw that their diamond quote was indeed for a .05 carat (5 point) diamond so that was where I had gotten the size from. They must have been meaning they could custom make a smaller setting. The 5 point was too small, but perhaps they could custom make a 10 point size, which would actually be the size I would have chosen.

trolley support at wierd Bangkok Airport escalators

I now had about 6 hours to kill before my flight. I took the escalator up to the second floor. To my surprise steps did not appear. Instead the floor tilted upwards and I had to adjust to keep my balance. Then about halfway up it went straight again and again I had to adjust to keep from falling forward. I guess they do that so if you are on the ground with luggage on top of you, you have some time to recover before it tilts up again for the last ascension. It was weird. Okay, maybe elegant or architecturally interesting, but strange. Also, apparently a bit dangerous as they have “airport trolley” helpers stationed at each landing (so two on each floor) to help make sure people don’t have their luggage carts get out of control. They had to help twice while I was sitting there. Both times the people coming off the escalator seemed shaken and a bit confused about what just happened.

wierd escalators

they have regular escalators too which buzz loudly if you enter the wrong one

Nearby I did also see “regular” escalators so someone had the good sense to put those in as well. I guess these are really for the trolleys as they can’t take escalators so maybe the attendants give each trolley toting person a short tutorial on “don’t push down trolley handle on the escalator, but do push handle down at the end to exit”? The wheels lock in place unless you push down the handle. While waiting around and eating some of my excellent “Bangkok Airways” snacks, I saw some people sit down with a box of Krispy Crème doughnuts. What? I asked where they got them, but they either didn’t hear me, didn’t speak English, or were ignoring me. I’m guessing the middle option. A bit later on in my wanderings I saw it, a small outlet of Krispy Crème selling doughnuts. But as they didn’t have the full blown machinery I suspect they bring them in from outside and it wasn’t worth the calories. They are best right off the line!

many international airports all look the same as SFO

custom not hot shrimpr fried rice from lounge

Finally, it was time to check in. That part went smoothly and I made it through security. On the other side they had a very cool sculpture that everyone was taking pictures of so I had to also. At this point I was darn tired and I trudged along towards E gate. Out of nowhere I saw the Turkish Airline lounge like a little oasis. They are part of my Priority Pass lounges and I thankfully went in. It was nearly empty and served hot food. And by hot I don’t just mean temperature, even though they attendant claimed it was “not spicy.” However, they custom made me some shrimp fried rice which was excellent. I was glad to finally make use of my lounge access since all the airports on the way out had closed them due to Covid.

sculpture at Bangkok Airport

nice spread at lounge

too hot food at Airport Lounge

custom counter at lounge

Drinks at lounge

BKK airport has great seats for sleeping

completely empty flight 19 passengers

I decided that Thai Airways is my second favorite airline. They cancelled a few flights which made me shift my dates about 6 weeks earlier and now I know why. There were literally 19 passengers (about 7 of them kids) on this gigantic plane. Oddly, they put us all in the same 7 row section, but after the flight took off I switched seats to the section behind us and slept in that row. It was a far cry from my last international flight on Jetstar in steerage! And this is a big plane, a 777 with 9 seats across.

Upon arrival at the airport in Delhi, they selected me as the “2% of foreign passengers” that will get randomly tested. Sounds good. I follow a tall young man who walks super fast for a very long ways. He stops and talks to other officially dressed people and there is discussion of whether we are supposed to go back the way we came or forward. Eventually they must have decided forward and off we go again for another long ways. My carry-ons are getting heavy at this point especially as I try to keep up. Finally we stop at a table with 5 other officials and they say to go back to Gate 13 for testing. That sounds really far back, which is super annoying. They look at my papers and say I am green (part of the papers I had to print out from my application) so I can just go. We explain that I am part of the “2% chosen for random testing” and they ask for my plane ticket. They stamp it and tell me to just go. I’m really tired of carrying my bags at this point so I only weakly protest before going (later I found out that perhaps testing may have given me greater freedom, which would have been worth lugging my stuff back 2/3 mile to Gate 13).

uber cars have lots ant lots of dents

I tried to use two of the ATMs with no luck so I give up and order my Uber. A taxi driver was persistent in trying to get me to take his taxi instead but with Uber I can share my trip with friends back home who then know who the driver is so I feel it is much safer especially at 11pm. I have some trouble finding the Uber pickup spot. The driver kept calling and talking in Hindi, which only served to distract me and stress me out, but I manage to get there and locate my waiting driver. I had picked the “sedan” which was slightly more expensive hoping it would be nicer, but this car is pretty beat up with dents on the side and back, like pretty much all the rest of the Uber cars (and most of the cars in Delhi). Additionally the seat belts don’t work, but I guess that must be the norm since I am not his first passenger. The ride is cheap, only $7.60 for a 45 minute ride. I begin to remember what traffic is like in India. It’s hectic even close to midnight. Lanes are only a suggestion so a 2-lane road may often have large trucks going a few feet over into the next lane or there may be three cars across when someone is passing between them. My driver drove like a bat out of hell, which once I started watching the road to prevent motion sickness, it was just fine. I used Google Translate to apologize for being late. He said I was beautiful, which set alarm bells ringing especially since traveling all day “unkempt and bleary eyed” would have described me better. Then he said he was married and showed me a picture of his wife and daughter so I relaxed and figured it was just a general polite comment to earn a better tip. I told him his wife was beautiful and his daughter was adorable. He asked where I was from and I told him and also said he was a skilled driver.

gas station in Delhi

He stopped for gas, which took a long time because we were stuck behind a large truck that was blocking the entrance. When we finally got in line for the pump he said I should get out and wait inside. However, there was no way I was leaving my bags alone in a car with a stranger in a foreign country so I asked if I could just stay in the car. Pumping the gas didn’t take too long. There were a bunch of guys hanging out. They put a sign that said “stop” in front of each vehicle until the transaction was completed. After gas, he returned to the beautiful comments and shared pictures of his brothers wedding. He said his anniversary is tomorrow and I congratulated him. He then invited me to his house tomorrow, again alarm bells rang though I was tempted to see real Indian life with a family. However, caution won out and I made excuses finally relying on my surgery the next day and my promise to my doctor (who had family in India) that with the Covid situation I would not go anywhere in Delhi but my hotel and surgery. He pleaded several times, but that just made me more resilient in my decision.

friendly uber driver wanted a selfie

At my hotel, he asked to take a selfie with me, which is not unusual at all (I have taken tons on this trip). We used my phone and he asked me to WhatsApp it to him but it didn’t work so he had to message me first so I could send it. My phone was still having issues so instead he just used his phone. Again, my Whatsapp number I give out pretty regularly when traveling to taxi drivers I might reuse, tour guides, other tourists etc.

bathroom Crowne Plaza Rohini

Then I went to check in. They were very welcoming but then they saw my boarding pass which was still stuck in my passport. It had “7-day home quarantine” stamped on it. He said they were not authorized to take 7-day home quarantine guests. I pointed out that they were the address I used for the visa approval so this was where they expected me to be. I also pointed out that being in the hotel would be better than me roaming about on the streets of Delhi at midnight with nowhere to go. He said I could stay the night but he would have to check in the morning to see what he could do. As a Platinum member (free with credit card), I got upgraded to a nicer room. I got up at 6am and caught an Uber to the hospital for my eyelid surgery. I saw 32 messages in WhatsApp from the driver probably trying to convince me to visit his family. I ignored them. While awaiting surgery, I tried to read them, but they were all in Hindi so I asked the nurse what they said. She said he was just flirting and I should block him so she did. I said I would use a different driver and she agreed that would be best. Later I copy and pasted the messages to Google Translate. They may just be harmless in India, but to me they were creepy. Especially the one about him waiting outside my hotel at 2am for me to come down and meet him. It reminded me of the warnings my friend from India gave me when I came 12 years ago. She said NEVER get in a taxi, they will kidnap you (of course she left India when she was very young probably 20 years ago and was clearly from an upper caste so she might well have been in danger of kidnapping back then). Still I am very glad to have his picture and car license as backup just in case I mysteriously disappear in Delhi. Though rest assured I plan on going directly to complete a couple quick errands and then back to the hotel until I leave tomorrow morning with a different Uber driver.

nice room at Crowne Plaza Rohini

Addendum
After some reflection, I realize that maybe my tip may have caused some confusion. I had no rupees so I gave him $3 saying “for your anniversary” since I felt bad about declining his invitation. Unfortunately, I did not use Google Translate for this so he had no idea what I said so maybe he thought he had himself an American Sugar Mama. I would have just tipped him on Uber but they limit the tip to 100 rupees ($1.30) no matter how long the trip. Luckily, after I blocked him, he only sent 3 more texts to my regular phone, two saying sorry in Hindi, then one more that said “Hi” in English and after I did not respond he seems to have gotten the message. So not really a stalker, just really really hopeful (and a little slimy, hitting on someone on your anniversary!)