Transit day in Bangkok

people sitting to get paperwork checked

Upon exiting the plane in Bangkok, we were seated into aisles of chairs where workers in PPE checked each of our paperwork to make sure we had everything we needed and if we didn’t they helped us fill out forms. Then we took this paperwork and got checked through a few stations, picked up our luggage and exited. At the exit there were stations for different groups of hotels so I found the one for Doubletree and the person there checked off my name and ushered me to my taxi. The taxi had sealed hard plastic between me and driver to protect him from possible outside infection. Leaving the airport I saw the biggest billboard ever, it was 4-5 billboards long with just the name Bangkok Bank (see pic). They also had a synchronized series of electric billboards with messages from Bangkok city. He drove me 40 minutes to the hospital then 5 more minutes to my hotel. It was a little before 7am at this point and they gave me an early check in. I thankfully went up to my room and slept until noon.

plastic separating me from driver

electric signs exiting airport

room in Bangkok

bathroom in Bangkok

room in Bangkok 2

I love the new outlets in hotels that take any type of plug

coconut panckaes in Bangkok

By the time I was ready to go out at 2, my test results were back and I was able to leave and grab some lunch. I walked to the Superrich Thailand money exchange (the green one) which apparently gives the best rate. The rates were quite good, 32.70 baht/USD for $100 bills or $50’s and 32.42 for $20’s or $10’s. Then on the way back I got myself some excellent meat on a stick and some of the delicious coconut pancakes that London’s brother Nigel had introduced me to in Samui. These ones even had little bits of stuff in them (corn, coconut, and the last type was either red onion or beets I think). Once back at the hotel I took a taxi to a recommended tailor to see if they could replace the lining in my dress, but it turns out that is extremely difficult to do so I walked to my diamond dealer. On the way, I found a cute store called Silver Cottage where I got some carved wooden elephants and also some items carved out of buffalo horn.

super rich thailand currency exchange

street food in Bangkok

Silver Cottage

Buying souvenirs at silver cottage

carvings out of buffalo horn

parents and daughter of diamond dealer

I arrived at Mahaesak Gems and picked out the tiny accent diamonds I wanted. Then I took some selfies with his parents and daughter and chatted with his mother. She was one of the reasons they got into the gem business because she liked jewelry with sapphires and rubies. I looked at some of their sapphires, but I was not ready to purchase anything. I wanted some lapis and tiger eye bead bracelets and it turns out their daughter makes those so she called up her daughter who brought some over for me to look at. I bought a few bracelets and then headed back to my hotel. For dinner I got some Wagyu beef at a nearby restaurant, which was delicious though the service wasn’t very good. Walking around at night I noticed that the hotel must be in the “red light district” as there were many neon signs of massage parlors with names like Cherry, Dream Heaven, and Paradise with high heeled girls outside (no real masseuse works in high heels!). That’s okay, during the day there is great street food and it still seemed safe at night, not seedy. No worse than Patong Beach.

PXL_20220210_101107366.MP

stone bracelets

children of diamond dealer

restaurant menu

wagyu beef bowl

my breakfast

I packed my suitcase and a small bag with items I wouldn’t need in Cambodia, plus the backpack and half-filled backpack I was planning to take and went to bed. The next morning I got up early and grabbed breakfast at the buffet right when they opened at 6am. I ordered an omelet and got some other hot food and fruit. They had an amazing chicken noodle dish that had egg in it, which I will look forward to when I return after Cambodia. I then left my extra luggage with them since I am returning in 5 days for my Test and Go before I fly home. I took a Grab to the airport and once through security a woman was holding a sign directing people to a Priority Pass lounge so I went down to check it out. It seemed to have a good selection of food, which may come in handy next time since my flight back to the US is pretty early and I may not be able to get breakfast at the hotel.

buffet at Doubletree Sukhumvit

buffet noodle station

buffet bread section

buffet hot food section

cool wooden sculpture in hotel lobby

cute baby on plane

On the flight to Phnom Pehn I sat next to a couple with a cute baby. They have been living in Boston and were returning to visit family in Cambodia. When we landed there were a number of important looking uniformed officers with medals on their chests waiting for some passengers (looking at their phones as if they had photos of the ones they were searching for). I wasn’t sure if it was a good thing or bad thing to be the object of their search. As I waited in a long line I found out it was a good thing. The uniformed guys were airport officials escorting certain passengers (athletes maybe?) past the lines and straight to the area to fill out one last form before passport control. After we got through passport control, we all took a Covid test and waited for the results before we were allowed to go. I had a little trouble with the accent so when he called my name, he informed me that he had already called my name three times. Oops!

military looking airport official

Continued in next post to give you a little reading break...