Arrival at Thailand
Again, from a previous blog post, I view airports as a “window” to what the country is. But I also did research to Thailand’s airports.
Thailand has two major airports – the newer Suvarnabhumi Airport (in 2006), and their original airport, Don Mueang Airport. Suvarnabhumi, being the newer, modernised among the two, handles the bulk of Thai flight traffic. Most airlines land there. And from what I gathered, it is on par with most airports considered the cream of the crop in Asia. I’d certainly want to go there next time and see for myself. Don Mueang, on the other hand, is considered to be one of the world’s oldest international airports and Asia’s oldest operating airport. After Suvarnabhumi opened, it has become their domestic flight hub and the default budget airline hub, hosting AirAsia, Nok Air and Lion Air. So with that in mind, I was going to be way more forgiving for what Don Mueang could be when I see it for the first time.
As explained in the previous part, I booked the AirAsia trip that landed to Don Mueang largely because of the time it afforded me (the only trip that lands at 12AM).
We landed at around 12:20AM, so the delay wasn’t bad. Just a small delay indeed. I then gathered my things and went straight towards the arrows pointing me to the immigration lines. As with every country I visit, I was nervous with the airport screening officers, but this was my 7th time overseas, so I was able to maintain a “calm” face by now. Was out of the line by less than 30 minutes. Not bad at all.
The airport departure itself was quaint, to say the least. I presume the government over there will someday fully upgrade Don Mueang without sacrificing some of its original appeal, I hope.
First order of business was to buy a local SIM with a tourist-friendly data plan. In Don Mueang’s arrival area, there were options but only one was open at that time of night: AIS. They had a bright sign that said “AIS Traveller SIM” in blue, so as they were the only option, I had to get one. I took the second cheapest plan they had (399 baht, 25GB internet data). They also help with replacing your SIM card with the temporary one, so no need to fiddle with a SIM pin. Just remember to keep the previous SIM card in a secure place.
And then I had to look for the gate where my private airport transport car was to meet me. Thankfully, Klook had camped in a designated section with other similar service providers and had my name plastered on a notice board. For reference, this was the Klook service page I used to book for the private airport transport from Don Mueang.
One thing I noticed, the arrival area was no-frills. I mean, it’s as intended – there’s no point to linger and loiter there, you’re supposed to have arrived, and go straight outside as soon as you got your things in order. In that aspect I can respect the expediency. Also, it’s a stark difference from the arrival area at NAIA. My country’s arrival area can be… um, chaotic. It’s the “salubong” culture, manifested. I don’t hate it but I can admit it has room for improvement. Here at DMK, arrival area was CLEAN as heck. No chaos, no shouting, just chill and go.
I then met with the representative and got on board the designated car (it’s a BMW!) and within less than an hour I got into my hotel in the Nana area. The ride was smooth, went thru the faster expressways, I didn’t have to get my wallet out, the driver had proper navigation skills and usable English, everything was great. Prebooking this ride was the best decision for transportation I have done so far.
Except the driver followed Google Maps all the way and used a Sukhumvit alley with a lot of bars from top to bottom. My first look at Bangkok nightlife. Normally if I was alert, I would have been rapt and inquisitive, looking at all the bars and observing. But I was sleep-deprived, jetlagged and thirsty. So my observations might be not that much sitting from the back of a car.
- Street food vendors seem to be the designated “drunk people food” places, like some sort of Waffle House on a cart. I saw a scantily-clad lady and a European white dude seated side by side slurping noodles from a streetside noodle cart, the European still holding a bottle of Chang. There were carts selling hot peanuts (I think) and one I saw selling things from a basket. If that’s what I think it was (balut), amazing then.
- Some of the bars seem to mirror what I usually saw in Makati’s P. Burgos area. Seems that Asian night clubs can somehow look like each other without having seen one another.
- It’s kind of clear who were the Thais and the foreigners in the street, when it came to whose job it is to get the men in. The domestic gals wore things that explicitly attract men – hot pants, extremely short skirts that leave little to imagination, high heels, just enough makeup (I think)… some even wore two-pieces that accentuated ass more than the top, sleeveless paired with close-to-thongs, and just sexy attires. Not much else to say. The female foreigners clearly wore stuff that protected their assets from eyes. And the domestic ones were like… waiting. For something or someone, I presume. The lot of them were just standing there in areas, with pensive expressions.
When I got into the hotel (ParkRoyal Suites Bangkok), check-in was pretty quick, which I was thankful for because I was hoping I could lay down right away. The hotel rep gave me a high floor for the type of room I booked, and non-smoking too. King-sized bed as well. After I was through with the usual hotel “here-is-your-room-sir” chat, it was close to 3AM. I changed into some comfortables quickly and planned things out.
If I sleep by 3AM, I had to wake up by 6AM. And I had a strong fear that I might oversleep and miss my target waking hour. The actual time for the tour company’s meetup is at 8.45AM. If I woke up by 6, it will give me a good full hour to shake the webs off, get dressed and prep my things for the tour, 7-8 will be the travel time I allot and 8-9 was the safety leeway. I couldn’t give myself a tight timeline, I barely knew the country yet. It took me months before I was comfortable with timing my travel when I first moved to Singapore.
I slept at 3AM after setting three alarm stops of varying tones on my phone. And I woke up 6.15AM after the second set of beeps. Tell you what, three hours of sleep ain’t much. But I’d gladly take it over 0 on this specific occasion. That’s rare for me. I’d usually rather ride the hours out.
I had no breakfast. So I turned on the TV to help shake off the grogginess, had the kettle on to boil for my coffee, and prepped for my tour attire.
BTW, these are the only channels I willingly watched for long in Thailand:
- Global Trekker
- Arirang
- NHK Global
- CNA
- Al-Jazeera
- Any channel with football/soccer on
There’s no NBA, no MTV, no CNN (thank God), and no BBC. Good taste there. There’s still some Western presence there in the form of ABC News, but it’s just airport news filler. There are movies though, but flicking thru the movie channels seemed a waste.
I then took a shower. The hotel supplied the room with fragrant shampoo and body wash in liquid form, plus bare amenities like lotion and soap in tiny circle bars. I took those disposables with me in my luggage later. No toothbrush and toothpaste either. As I brought my own toothbrush and toothpaste with me, no big deal, but sad all the same. The shower took a while to heat up. And it was overhead, thank heavens. I enjoyed the feeling like it was the 90’s again and I was bathing in the rainstorms out in the street.
After a very hot shower, I dressed in a sleeved hoodie (an Under Armour quick-dry shirt), light denim (same one I wore a few hours ago) and Skechers shoes, no socks. With a Superdry cap. Nice, I thought. Then I finally used the personalized perfume I got from Maison 21 many years ago. Smelled very exquisite. Should be enough to cover any possible body sweat stink.
I had a small shoulder bag. Inside was a folded umbrella, mints, my passport, a small face towel, and a folded plastic carry bag with a sturdy handle. I wore lightly and I didn’t look like a white tourist begging to be identified.
But I kind of misjudged the time so I went past 7AM. Thankfully the hotel concierge had the hotel’s tuk-tuk ready and I hopped on as a sole passenger after a short wait.
The hotel’s tuk-tuk looked white, very sanitized and devoid of any colorful personality compared to a couple of tuk-tuks I saw that went past, but as far as experiences go, I can technically say at least I rode one. The ferry via tuk-tuk was a short trip, as the end destination was the Bangkok Train Station at Nana.
As I am now familiar with most foreign train stations by now, I trooped to the nearest ticket dispensing machine, selected my trip endpoint – Siam Station towards Khu Khot – and waited for the train.
As it’s the morning and the train was aboveground, the morning breeze was welcome. Cool and refreshing. looking around the station’s ad signs, I was definitely impressed. Cleanliness was a bonus, won’t lie. But on how Thailand kept its identity despite everything. In writing, especially. I mean, the old Filipinos had “alibata” and it went into endangered mode once the Spaniards came to town. Wish we were able to have kept that.
Thailand did for theirs. Their script endured the ages. Can see it in the markers, the ads, the business signs, the placards. Probably the only ones that remained using full English were the ones designed to be landmarks and gigantic signs, like malls. They do still have and use English, but only when necessary. Like how Japan treat English sometimes.
The train ride itself was cool. Inside was chilly, the airconditioning smelled fresh and everyone was orderly. I did not take any photos inside the train out of respect, and I do not have editing software and the free time to tastefully blur some things. But rest assured, their BTS trains were clean and well-kept. As with riding a foreign public transport, my eyes and ears are all in attention mode for my destination. No distractions.
So I alighted at Siam Station and went down to the Centralworld mall to get duly accounted for the tour. And true to their word, the tour bus left the area on time.
And yes, the tour. To be specific, it’s a Bangkok full day tour of Wat Pho, Wat Arun, and the Grand Palace.
Our tour guide was Sam. Fluent, articulate, and patient, cheerful but firm. Everything you’d want for a tour guide. He was patient with the elderly tourists in our group and even kept an eye on the Japanese solo backpacker in our group as well. Nothing to complain about his skills as the tour guide.
Briathrail // Albert 2MNG 
Leave a comment